When we use an iPhone, even if we can't realize it, there are a whole series of apps and services that monitor and record our movements
Nowadays one of the most important aspects to consider when using an electronic device is our privacy. There are many tools and applications on smartphones that can monitor and record our every movement. And this also happens on iPhones.
When we use an iPhone, we often don't realize how much of our movements and information are recorded and addressed to others. Apple, in fact, as well as many other companies such as Google and Microsoft, asks users to be able to track the smartphone in order to make the user experience more performant. This is certainly true for some applications and services, but at the same time, granting these permissions will see our privacy decrease. Let's try to understand what our iPhone can record, while we use it, about us and our lives.
Tracking location
A couple of years ago it emerged that Apple set the iPhone to automatically record the location of the device, so as to have a list of places visited. This according to the US company is to improve some functions of the Maps app. But undoubtedly this is an aspect that does not make users happy and calm. And despite the complaints of many consumers, this feature is still present even in the new version of iOS 11. But it is possible to understand the main movements that the phone has recorded about us. To do this, we need to go to Settings, then click on Privacy, and here choose the Location Services section. In the menu that appears under the heading System Services we go to Frequent Locations and we will know what the iPhone has recorded of our movements. In this section we will also be able to disable the feature, which will otherwise remain set by default.
Passenger tracking
Almost all apps that track user data need interaction from the iPhone user. All except the health app and its Step Counter feature. This feature, which is always enabled by default at the time of purchase, records our steps whether we keep the phone in our bag or in our pocket. To find out what data this app has saved, just go to Health, then select Data from the menu and after that go to the Activity section.
iMessage
Do you remember that photo you shared with a friend or colleague months and months ago? If the answer is no, know that your iPhone remembers that media content instead. Photos that are still saved in your phone's memory. To figure out the media sent to a particular contact just go to the iMessage conversation and click on the About button located in the top right corner. This is a convenient way to retrieve or forward old photos but most importantly a good way to do a more thorough cleaning of your smartphone.
Our Habits
Not all monitored information comes to harm. As is to be expected, Siri also records our activities to customize its functions according to our daily use of the device. This will allow us to have quick fixes in case we have to perform some habitual actions. For example, if we have a favorite app for listening to music, as we plug in our headphones, we'll immediately see the icon of the application highlighted in the lower left corner.
Photo metadata
Every time we take a photo, our phone, in addition to the media file, also records a whole series of information about the shot. To understand what the iPhone records, just go to the Memories section of our gallery. Here we will see the photos grouped by history but also according to the geographical location where the photo was taken. This does not mean that Apple wants to know everything about you, only that before publishing a photo on social networks, with attached EXIF metadata, perhaps it is better to think about cleaning up the information present in the shot.
Battery consumption
Some information does not put our privacy at risk, indeed it helps us to improve the use of the device. One of these cases is the feature for monitoring the applications that consume the most battery. To take advantage of this service Apple just go to Settings and then select the item Battery. In the pop-up menu we have to scroll down to the Battery Usage item. Then we'll have to choose whether to see the apps that have consumed the most in the last seven days or in the last 24 hours. This way we'll know how to manage apps based on their effect on our iPhone's battery life.