There's an Ultra Wideband radio in the iPhone 11 and newer that isn't legal to use in all countries. Apple uses a location request sometimes just to determine if the device can legally run that radio or not.
If that's the case, they wouldn't need to report the location back to themselves, would they? The phone would simply check its coordinates, and turn it on or off.
This appears to be the case. From the linked article:
> The management of Ultrawide Band compliance and its use of location data is done entirely on the device and Apple is not collecting user location data.
I don’t think anyone is saying that iOS does report back to Apple (and I don’t think there is any evidence that iOS does this).
The original concern was caused because iOS would still activate location services and display the icon during these checks, even if you had turned location services off completely in settings.
It's nice of you to accept Apple's calling it "radio" but UWB is radar technology. Newer iPhones have radar built into them to make their location tracking more precise. Most people don't understand (or can't understand) the details, which is why the semantic load of calling UWB "radar" instead of "radio" is important for conveying its intended purpose.
There's an Ultra Wideband radio in the iPhone 11 and newer that isn't legal to use in all countries. Apple uses a location request sometimes just to determine if the device can legally run that radio or not.
If that's the case, they wouldn't need to report the location back to themselves, would they? The phone would simply check its coordinates, and turn it on or off.
This appears to be the case. From the linked article:
> The management of Ultrawide Band compliance and its use of location data is done entirely on the device and Apple is not collecting user location data.
I don’t think anyone is saying that iOS does report back to Apple (and I don’t think there is any evidence that iOS does this).
The original concern was caused because iOS would still activate location services and display the icon during these checks, even if you had turned location services off completely in settings.
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Thanks!
It's nice of you to accept Apple's calling it "radio" but UWB is radar technology. Newer iPhones have radar built into them to make their location tracking more precise. Most people don't understand (or can't understand) the details, which is why the semantic load of calling UWB "radar" instead of "radio" is important for conveying its intended purpose.
The RA in RADAR stands for RAdio. It’s like saying “light pointer” instead of “laser pointer”. For most people the distinction is irrelevant.
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