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Is WiFi access point geolocation by SSID or MAC address? Do mobile OS's require additional permissions for apps to get either of these data points?

gruez 2y ago
>Do mobile OS's require additional permissions for apps to get either of these data points? Yes on both iOS and Android as far as I can remember.
- Aachen 2y ago
  Android for sure, since version 8 I'm certain but probably even 5 or 4.x (so 10+ years ago) Always annoys me when I want to use a WiFi scanner to determine the range of an access point in different locations for example and it needs me to turn on location access first before it can get WiFi data. The open source app doesn't have an Internet connection so there's no way for it to send back data to the mothership even if it had an SSID database baked into the apk. For me, and traditionally, the location switch is to turn on or off energy-hungry GPS hardware, not gatekeep when I trust apps to collect my location. I can set those to "only while in use", deny their Internet access, or just not install them if I don't trust them with the location permission
radicality 2y ago
iOS definitely requires Precise location permission allowed for the app to see your WiFi name / ssid and other WiFi around you
- matthewdgreen 2y ago
  But all it takes is one app with that permission to tie you to all the others. And there are always apps that need your location at some point to provide useful data. At this point I’m not sure there’s any single app I trust.
  - ignoramous 2y ago
    > apps that need your location And, triangulating client's public IP address will also give away location with decent precision: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37507355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37507355 btw, we need a securephones.io [0] part 2 focusing on apps. [0] cert has expired
scarface_74 2y ago
On iOS at least you can set the MAC address to be different per access point or to rotate on the same access point or to use your normal MAC

gruez 2y ago

>Do mobile OS's require additional permissions for apps to get either of these data points? Yes on both iOS and Android as far as I can remember.

Aachen 2y ago
Android for sure, since version 8 I'm certain but probably even 5 or 4.x (so 10+ years ago) Always annoys me when I want to use a WiFi scanner to determine the range of an access point in different locations for example and it needs me to turn on location access first before it can get WiFi data. The open source app doesn't have an Internet connection so there's no way for it to send back data to the mothership even if it had an SSID database baked into the apk. For me, and traditionally, the location switch is to turn on or off energy-hungry GPS hardware, not gatekeep when I trust apps to collect my location. I can set those to "only while in use", deny their Internet access, or just not install them if I don't trust them with the location permission

radicality 2y ago

iOS definitely requires Precise location permission allowed for the app to see your WiFi name / ssid and other WiFi around you

matthewdgreen 2y ago
But all it takes is one app with that permission to tie you to all the others. And there are always apps that need your location at some point to provide useful data. At this point I’m not sure there’s any single app I trust.
- ignoramous 2y ago
  > apps that need your location And, triangulating client's public IP address will also give away location with decent precision: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37507355 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37507355 btw, we need a securephones.io [0] part 2 focusing on apps. [0] cert has expired

scarface_74 2y ago

On iOS at least you can set the MAC address to be different per access point or to rotate on the same access point or to use your normal MAC