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What are you talking about? You can easily disable location services on any Apple device.

lern_too_spel 6y ago
But if you disable location services, you cannot get your location at all. This is unlike more privacy-respecting platforms like Android, which let you get your location from the GPS sensor without enabling location services. Suppose Apple occasionally sent "anonymized" screenshots back up to Apple as part of "screen services." You could say you could disable screen services by not turning on the display, and that is what disabling location services is like on Apple devices.
- kmeisthax 6y ago
  That sounds like a bug on Android's part. If you disable something called "location services", then you would expect that the GPS sensor no longer works.
  - lern_too_spel 6y ago
    Why would you expect that? If you deny an app the location permission, you would expect that the app cannot use GPS, and that is exactly what happens on Android. If you want faster location information in return for sharing "anonymized" location information with Google, you can optionally turn on location services to do so. This is considered a big enough privacy invasion that Android devices with Google services ask the user about it on initial set up. On iOS, if you want to get your location at all via any app, even an app that keeps the locations it receives on the device, you automatically consent to having your location sent to Apple, and Apple doesn't even tell the user that they're doing this unless they go out of their way to find the privacy policy.
    - nexuist 6y ago
      > But if you disable location services, you cannot get your location at all. I think this is exactly what the average user would expect. In fact, users may not think location services have been disabled if apps are still able to show their location after the fact. Do you happen to know if the location look-up (probably for nearby hotspots) is anonymized or not? I can imagine this would be an issue if your specific query can be tied to a specific device. Obviously this isn't an issue if you have Find my iPhone enabled since you consent to Apple having your location anyways.
      - lern_too_spel 6y ago
        > I think this is exactly what the average user would expect Why would people expect that they can't get their location without telling Apple? On Google Android devices, there is a separate toggle to turn the ability to request your location on and off device-wide in the quick settings toggle that is separate from the ability to turn Google Location Services on and off, which you have to open the full device settings app to toggle after initial setup.

But if you disable location services, you cannot get your location at all. This is unlike more privacy-respecting platforms like Android, which let you get your location from the GPS sensor without enabling location services. Suppose Apple occasionally sent "anonymized" screenshots back up to Apple as part of "screen services." You could say you could disable screen services by not turning on the display, and that is what disabling location services is like on Apple devices.

kmeisthax 6y ago
That sounds like a bug on Android's part. If you disable something called "location services", then you would expect that the GPS sensor no longer works.
- lern_too_spel 6y ago
  Why would you expect that? If you deny an app the location permission, you would expect that the app cannot use GPS, and that is exactly what happens on Android. If you want faster location information in return for sharing "anonymized" location information with Google, you can optionally turn on location services to do so. This is considered a big enough privacy invasion that Android devices with Google services ask the user about it on initial set up. On iOS, if you want to get your location at all via any app, even an app that keeps the locations it receives on the device, you automatically consent to having your location sent to Apple, and Apple doesn't even tell the user that they're doing this unless they go out of their way to find the privacy policy.
  - nexuist 6y ago
    > But if you disable location services, you cannot get your location at all. I think this is exactly what the average user would expect. In fact, users may not think location services have been disabled if apps are still able to show their location after the fact. Do you happen to know if the location look-up (probably for nearby hotspots) is anonymized or not? I can imagine this would be an issue if your specific query can be tied to a specific device. Obviously this isn't an issue if you have Find my iPhone enabled since you consent to Apple having your location anyways.
    - lern_too_spel 6y ago
      > I think this is exactly what the average user would expect Why would people expect that they can't get their location without telling Apple? On Google Android devices, there is a separate toggle to turn the ability to request your location on and off device-wide in the quick settings toggle that is separate from the ability to turn Google Location Services on and off, which you have to open the full device settings app to toggle after initial setup.