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I turn off my phone but never that way. It either runs out of power or I hard reset it. Either way I don't want it spying on me.

wlesieutre 5y ago
Hard reset doesn't have anything to do with this since it turns back on afterward. As far as letting the battery die, I think it's going to be much more common that someone loses their phone, the battery is dead, and this helps them figure out "whoops, I left it at the bar we went to after dinner." The power reserve for this only lasts a few hours, but if you don't want that feature you can turn it off.
ArchOversight 5y ago
> Either way I don't want it spying on me. It literally isn't spying on you, it's allow you to find your after you've lost it.
- serf 5y ago
  >It literally isn't spying on you, it's allow you to find your after you've lost it. almost no mobile device has a feature that is 'literally spying on you'. the problem is when the devices have so many features that they can be easily turned into a consummate spy device by any nearby paying agency. in other words : no mobile device is spying on you, but the people who control them definitely do, and they're often willing to sell the rights to do so to groups that are poorly vetted -- using a device with less capabilities necessarily gives the controlling party less options by which to gather data for whatever reasons they may be compelled to do so. so.. the phone, lacking sovereignty , does not spy on you; but it's a big leaky gps/imu-enabled microphone camera that sits in your pocket or purse all day, and the list of groups with access to that leaky data-pipe increases every day with little concern and little reform regarding data retention policies and ownership rights.
  - avianlyric 5y ago
    I’m not entirely sure what your point is here. Clearly an sophisticated electronic devices full of sensors and radios can be used to track you, I don’t think anyone on HN disputes that. But that issues seems rather orthogonal to topic at hand.
staplers 5y ago
Either way I don't want it spying on me. Unfortunately iOS is filled with call-homes to apple servers with all sorts of telemetry data. You can "turn off" exact lat/long coordinates (location data), however your cell provider can triangulate your position and apple can triangulate via wifi/other Apple products. Read about how Airtags work.
- breakfastduck 5y ago
  This is nothing to do with iOS. A cell provider can triangulate any phone connected to its network.
  - manwe150 5y ago
    I think they knew that, as they mentioned they could get the location that way. Though Apple can’t use AirTags to triangulate positions, since they are just uncorrelated random number to Apple—only once they are decrypted locally can your device find the location of another device that it knows about. The other way to be aware of by which websites do get location though is from GeoIP.
katbyte 5y ago
> Either way I don't want it spying on me. then turn it off? most people will want this, and for those who don't it's easy to turn off.

wlesieutre 5y ago

Hard reset doesn't have anything to do with this since it turns back on afterward. As far as letting the battery die, I think it's going to be much more common that someone loses their phone, the battery is dead, and this helps them figure out "whoops, I left it at the bar we went to after dinner." The power reserve for this only lasts a few hours, but if you don't want that feature you can turn it off.

ArchOversight 5y ago

> Either way I don't want it spying on me. It literally isn't spying on you, it's allow you to find your after you've lost it.

serf 5y ago
>It literally isn't spying on you, it's allow you to find your after you've lost it. almost no mobile device has a feature that is 'literally spying on you'. the problem is when the devices have so many features that they can be easily turned into a consummate spy device by any nearby paying agency. in other words : no mobile device is spying on you, but the people who control them definitely do, and they're often willing to sell the rights to do so to groups that are poorly vetted -- using a device with less capabilities necessarily gives the controlling party less options by which to gather data for whatever reasons they may be compelled to do so. so.. the phone, lacking sovereignty , does not spy on you; but it's a big leaky gps/imu-enabled microphone camera that sits in your pocket or purse all day, and the list of groups with access to that leaky data-pipe increases every day with little concern and little reform regarding data retention policies and ownership rights.
- avianlyric 5y ago
  I’m not entirely sure what your point is here. Clearly an sophisticated electronic devices full of sensors and radios can be used to track you, I don’t think anyone on HN disputes that. But that issues seems rather orthogonal to topic at hand.

staplers 5y ago

Either way I don't want it spying on me. Unfortunately iOS is filled with call-homes to apple servers with all sorts of telemetry data. You can "turn off" exact lat/long coordinates (location data), however your cell provider can triangulate your position and apple can triangulate via wifi/other Apple products. Read about how Airtags work.

breakfastduck 5y ago
This is nothing to do with iOS. A cell provider can triangulate any phone connected to its network.
- manwe150 5y ago
  I think they knew that, as they mentioned they could get the location that way. Though Apple can’t use AirTags to triangulate positions, since they are just uncorrelated random number to Apple—only once they are decrypted locally can your device find the location of another device that it knows about. The other way to be aware of by which websites do get location though is from GeoIP.

katbyte 5y ago

> Either way I don't want it spying on me. then turn it off? most people will want this, and for those who don't it's easy to turn off.