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Hang on. >The Tim Hortons app asked for permission to access the mobile device’s geolocation functions, but misled many users to believe information would only

Hang on. >The Tim Hortons app asked for permission to access the mobile device’s geolocation functions, but misled many users to believe information would only be accessed when the app was in use. In reality, the app tracked users as long as the device was on, continually collecting their location data. Does this mean that the prompt is completely useless?

Cd00d 4y ago
Not sure why this is getting downvoted. I think it's a good and reasonable question. I suspect it's the difference between an app's prompt and the OS's prompt.
9935c101ab17a66 4y ago
I suspect, at least on iOS, they would present users with a message in app during setup saying something like: “we aren’t scum bags, we promise, and we’re about to ask for access to your location data, but we’ll only use it to help you find stores and cool stuff like that!” And then they invoked the system permissions dialog that allows the user to grant location access, but instead of only asking for permission to access user data when the app is open, they told iOS to ask the user if they could always have access to location data. This is clearly a different prompt, but I’m almost certain most users either aren’t able to discern the difference, don’t know the consequences or think it’s normal. Tbh, there are very few situations I can think of where I’d want to let an app always have access to my location. I just checked my iOS location privacy settings, and other than system services, the only app that always has access to my location is weather (but I could probably turn that off). I wonder if apple’s app review team closely scrutinize any app that asks for always on location data? I couldn’t find any that had an option for ‘alway” on my phone other than Uber.
- alickz 4y ago
  >And then they invoked the system permissions dialog that allows the user to grant location access, but instead of only asking for permission to access user data when the app is open, they told iOS to ask the user if they could always have access to location data. It's been a while since I used CoreLocation but I do not think this is possible. To request Always location permissions iOS apps _must_ first request When In Use location permission. Only then, after the user grants Allow While Open (not Allow Once), and iOS starts delivering location updates to the app, will the iOS system give a _second_ prompt to the user requesting Always permission. There's no way to jump straight to the Always permission AFAIK. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocationmanager/1620551-requestalwaysauthorization https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/clloc... > If your app’s current state is CLAuthorizationStatus.notDetermined (the default) and you call requestAlwaysAuthorization(), Core Location uses two prompts before it fully enables Always authorization. > The first prompt displays immediately with the string from NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription. > The second prompt displays when Core Location prepares to deliver an event to your app requiring CLAuthorizationStatus.authorizedAlways. If the app is in the Provisional Always state, the system displays the second prompt with the string from NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription. Core Location will typically display the second prompt when your app isn’t running.
  - 9935c101ab17a66 4y ago
    Ah! Nice. It definitely looks like you're correct. Thanks for the information and for following up.

Cd00d 4y ago

Not sure why this is getting downvoted. I think it's a good and reasonable question. I suspect it's the difference between an app's prompt and the OS's prompt.

9935c101ab17a66 4y ago

I suspect, at least on iOS, they would present users with a message in app during setup saying something like: “we aren’t scum bags, we promise, and we’re about to ask for access to your location data, but we’ll only use it to help you find stores and cool stuff like that!” And then they invoked the system permissions dialog that allows the user to grant location access, but instead of only asking for permission to access user data when the app is open, they told iOS to ask the user if they could always have access to location data. This is clearly a different prompt, but I’m almost certain most users either aren’t able to discern the difference, don’t know the consequences or think it’s normal. Tbh, there are very few situations I can think of where I’d want to let an app always have access to my location. I just checked my iOS location privacy settings, and other than system services, the only app that always has access to my location is weather (but I could probably turn that off). I wonder if apple’s app review team closely scrutinize any app that asks for always on location data? I couldn’t find any that had an option for ‘alway” on my phone other than Uber.

alickz 4y ago
>And then they invoked the system permissions dialog that allows the user to grant location access, but instead of only asking for permission to access user data when the app is open, they told iOS to ask the user if they could always have access to location data. It's been a while since I used CoreLocation but I do not think this is possible. To request Always location permissions iOS apps _must_ first request When In Use location permission. Only then, after the user grants Allow While Open (not Allow Once), and iOS starts delivering location updates to the app, will the iOS system give a _second_ prompt to the user requesting Always permission. There's no way to jump straight to the Always permission AFAIK. https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/cllocationmanager/1620551-requestalwaysauthorization https://developer.apple.com/documentation/corelocation/clloc... > If your app’s current state is CLAuthorizationStatus.notDetermined (the default) and you call requestAlwaysAuthorization(), Core Location uses two prompts before it fully enables Always authorization. > The first prompt displays immediately with the string from NSLocationWhenInUseUsageDescription. > The second prompt displays when Core Location prepares to deliver an event to your app requiring CLAuthorizationStatus.authorizedAlways. If the app is in the Provisional Always state, the system displays the second prompt with the string from NSLocationAlwaysUsageDescription. Core Location will typically display the second prompt when your app isn’t running.
- 9935c101ab17a66 4y ago
  Ah! Nice. It definitely looks like you're correct. Thanks for the information and for following up.