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Any app that asks for your location can and will track you. This is so lucrative that Foursquare pivoted the whole company around the concept of location data a

Any app that asks for your location can and will track you. This is so lucrative that Foursquare pivoted the whole company around the concept of location data as a service (https://enterprise.foursquare.com/ https://enterprise.foursquare.com/). Fortunately, you just need to revoke the permission (or don't grant it in the first place) if you want to avoid being tracked. If you're concerned about this, I'd definitely suggest doing a quick check of the apps that track your location and disable the permission in the ones that you distrust.

jnnnthnn 9y ago
One thing that is clever about MoviePass, is that in order to use their membership, one must have location services activated at least for a brief instant every time they are going to the movie. Indeed, you need to “check in” in the app when you’re within a 100 yard radius of the theater in order to be able to charge the ticket price to the MoviePass-provided payment card. Odds are, most people won’t want (or remember) to turn location services on and off every time they purchase a ticket.
- ChadMoran 9y ago
  iOS 11 introduced the ability to allow apps to only access your location while you're actively using the app. Using this method should be a good mitigation.
  - theklr 9y ago
    Unfortunately apps don’t care. Waze lingers up to 40 minute after traveling in the background and that’s with supposed in app only mode.
    - ChadMoran 9y ago
      Unless I'm mistaken they don't have access to your location while running in the background. Running != access to location.
      - dannyw 9y ago
        GPS mapping apps can enter into an “active backgrounder” mode, where the app is active in the background. It is one of the few app categories that can do that; the other is VOIP.
        ikurei 9y ago
        But doesn't the status bar remain green while an app is doing that?
    - cityzen 9y ago
      From Apple: "When Location Services is active, a black or white arrow icon appears in the status bar." If Waze is using it for up to 40 minutes after traveling, you need to decide if you want to know where the cops are or if you want Google to know where you are.
      - dothis9 9y ago
        The colored location bar on top stays active too. I always force quit Waze at the end of the trip so that it (1) stops tracking me and (2) I don't waste my phone's battery life on tracking me
  - fitzroy 9y ago
    Mine is clearly set to only "While Using" on iOS 11. I don't see why it's surprising that MoviePass tracks your location when you open the app to look up movies or check in. Would that not be obvious?
- l9k 9y ago
  With the Android app I was able to check in from more than a mile away (multiple times)
- sixothree 9y ago
  I find that I often check the movie times using the application from my house or my office. I'm sure it captures that brief window as well.
DrScump 9y ago
I will never understand why people leave Location Services on all the time. I don't even install apps that request location when it isn't necessary for my needs (active geolocation, like mapping if I'm lost, hikes, and such). For Moviepass, and for the rare cases where I am lost or really need active directions, I turn Location services on. Then, it gets immediately shut off. (Similarly, I keep Bluetooth and NFC off except when in active, intended use.) In fact, for Moviepass and other apps that require locations, I install them on a secondary phone that I use only for nosy apps. It just stays in the car. (This is a good use for an old phone without a SIM; most apps will run fine over WiFi.) And when apps want to update and in the process try to add permissions they didn't originally seek and have no business using (e.g. Stubhub, Magnifier, Flashlight+), I just don't let them update.
- mwilliaams 9y ago
  I too choose privacy and battery life over the convenience of leaving location on all the time.
  - rimliu 9y ago
    With a motion coprocessors (Apple's M7-11) there is not that much battery drain.
    - mwilliaams 9y ago
      Oh that's cool, but I have an Android. GPS drains the battery.
- dannyw 9y ago
  People have different valuations. I turn on Location Timeline and allow Google to record my location 24x7, because I find it useful to be able to know where I was any arbitrary day or time.
  - z_open 9y ago
    Is it also useful to be contributing to the apathy that our privacy, as a society, isn't worth protecting?
AndrewCHMcM 9y ago
and any app that asks for wifi names or network connection info is also tracking your location can't turn those off though on android
- djrogers 9y ago
  Can’t get that info from iOS...

jnnnthnn 9y ago

One thing that is clever about MoviePass, is that in order to use their membership, one must have location services activated at least for a brief instant every time they are going to the movie. Indeed, you need to “check in” in the app when you’re within a 100 yard radius of the theater in order to be able to charge the ticket price to the MoviePass-provided payment card. Odds are, most people won’t want (or remember) to turn location services on and off every time they purchase a ticket.

ChadMoran 9y ago
iOS 11 introduced the ability to allow apps to only access your location while you're actively using the app. Using this method should be a good mitigation.
- theklr 9y ago
  Unfortunately apps don’t care. Waze lingers up to 40 minute after traveling in the background and that’s with supposed in app only mode.
  - ChadMoran 9y ago
    Unless I'm mistaken they don't have access to your location while running in the background. Running != access to location.
    - dannyw 9y ago
      GPS mapping apps can enter into an “active backgrounder” mode, where the app is active in the background. It is one of the few app categories that can do that; the other is VOIP.
      - ikurei 9y ago
        But doesn't the status bar remain green while an app is doing that?
  - cityzen 9y ago
    From Apple: "When Location Services is active, a black or white arrow icon appears in the status bar." If Waze is using it for up to 40 minutes after traveling, you need to decide if you want to know where the cops are or if you want Google to know where you are.
    - dothis9 9y ago
      The colored location bar on top stays active too. I always force quit Waze at the end of the trip so that it (1) stops tracking me and (2) I don't waste my phone's battery life on tracking me
- fitzroy 9y ago
  Mine is clearly set to only "While Using" on iOS 11. I don't see why it's surprising that MoviePass tracks your location when you open the app to look up movies or check in. Would that not be obvious?
l9k 9y ago
With the Android app I was able to check in from more than a mile away (multiple times)
sixothree 9y ago
I find that I often check the movie times using the application from my house or my office. I'm sure it captures that brief window as well.

DrScump 9y ago

I will never understand why people leave Location Services on all the time. I don't even install apps that request location when it isn't necessary for my needs (active geolocation, like mapping if I'm lost, hikes, and such). For Moviepass, and for the rare cases where I am lost or really need active directions, I turn Location services on. Then, it gets immediately shut off. (Similarly, I keep Bluetooth and NFC off except when in active, intended use.) In fact, for Moviepass and other apps that require locations, I install them on a secondary phone that I use only for nosy apps. It just stays in the car. (This is a good use for an old phone without a SIM; most apps will run fine over WiFi.) And when apps want to update and in the process try to add permissions they didn't originally seek and have no business using (e.g. Stubhub, Magnifier, Flashlight+), I just don't let them update.

mwilliaams 9y ago
I too choose privacy and battery life over the convenience of leaving location on all the time.
- rimliu 9y ago
  With a motion coprocessors (Apple's M7-11) there is not that much battery drain.
  - mwilliaams 9y ago
    Oh that's cool, but I have an Android. GPS drains the battery.
dannyw 9y ago
People have different valuations. I turn on Location Timeline and allow Google to record my location 24x7, because I find it useful to be able to know where I was any arbitrary day or time.
- z_open 9y ago
  Is it also useful to be contributing to the apathy that our privacy, as a society, isn't worth protecting?

AndrewCHMcM 9y ago

and any app that asks for wifi names or network connection info is also tracking your location can't turn those off though on android

djrogers 9y ago
Can’t get that info from iOS...