Apple iOS update fixes location 'bug'

Owners of iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch devices who are worried about their devices’ location tracking "feature" may now download and install a software update addressing the problem. Apple on Thursday released iOS 4.3.3, which patches the iOS location database to address privacy concerns of owners of mobile devices running the operating system. Screenshots of the installer software for the iOS 4.3.3 patch via news websites CNET and Gigaom and indicated that the update will:

• Reduce the size of the cache;
• No longer back the cache to Apple’s iTunes software; and
• Deletes the cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.

The patch is compatible with the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 1 and iPad 2, and the iPod Touch. Last Tuesday, Boy Genius Report’s Jonathan Geller reported a patch for iOS that would address the location tracking bug. BGR had indicated the latest patch to iOS will also provide battery life improvements and iPod bug fixes. In April, two researchers made public the existence of an unencrypted hidden “consolidated.db" file that stores location data taken from nearby cell towers and Wi-Fi hotspots. The file can also be backed up to computers running Apple’s iTunes. — TJD, GMA News