A report claims that the iPhone sends analytics data to Apple regardless of whether the user declines the permissions.
Apple is always presented as the brand that puts privacy first in the mobile world, and that protects user data under rigid schemes in the selection of apps.
However, a report indicates that the Cupertino company accesses data regardless of the permissions granted or denied by its clients.
The Mysk firm maintains that the iPhone is capable of sending analytics data to Apple from native iOS apps, regardless of whether the user has granted or denied permissions.
“Apple’s analytics data includes an identification called a ‘dsId’. We were able to verify that this “dsId” is the “Directory Services Identifier”, an ID that uniquely identifies an iCloud account. That is, Apple’s analytics can personally identify you,” the researchers say on Twitter.
Myst maintains that in iOS 16, Apple allows communication even if the user uses a VPN, and that this data is extracted from Apple-branded suites such as Health, Maps and Wallet.
sensitive data
Note that we are talking about a study that refers to the passage of data from Apple services to its own servers, data that would have no problem being transferred for analysis and that is useful to improve suggestions within the store.
For the investigation, Myst used two different computers: a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 14.6 and a regular computer running iOS 16. Although the encryption does not allow the data sent to be recognized in the latter, it was verified that both computers were capable of transmitting information to Apple servers, despite accepting or denying the permissions in both cases.
The problem arises in the type of sensitive information that is shared. According to Gizmodo , these records include searches for apps related to LGBTQIA+ issues, abortion, and other personal topics that, in theory, should not be transferred to servers.
Let’s remember that, under the current data protection law in Europe, technology companies such as Apple, Google and others can receive considerable fines for this type of access to personal and sensitive information.
“I think people should be upset about this, ” Mysk said. “This is not Google. people opt for the iPhone because they believe that this type of thing is not going to happen. Apple has no right to monitor you.” At this time, Apple has not commented on this finding.