Apple could end up tracking your iPhone, even if it was turned off

Apple has patented a system that could track your iPhone, even it had been turned off.

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I'm sure the NSA didn't have to twist Apple's arm too much to get this done, but Apple has patented a system that tracks iPhones even when they have been switched off. Apple's patent would see the iPhone prompting a user to enter their security code to formally shut it down.

Apple could end up tracking your iPhone, even if it was turned off | TweakTown.com

If the code isn't typed in, or it is typed incorrectly a number of times, the phone will appear off. But this isn't the case; the iPhone is still "on" but it appears to be off to the user. While this sounds like a great idea for security, it does mean that Apple could track your iPhone even if you thought it was "off". You would be none the wiser.

This shouldn't come as a surprise to you, as it can be done on Android smartphones right now. This can be tested by having an Android-powered smartphone far away from a cellular tower, and then keep an eye on the battery usage on your smartphone. Researchers have used this method to track an Android smartphone by making a malicious application that didn't have access to Wi-Fi or GPS, and only kept an eye on the power consumption of the phone.

NEWS SOURCE:dailydot.com

Anthony joined the TweakTown team in 2010 and has since reviewed 100s of graphics cards. Anthony is a long time PC enthusiast with a passion of hate for games built around consoles. FPS gaming since the pre-Quake days, where you were insulted if you used a mouse to aim, he has been addicted to gaming and hardware ever since. Working in IT retail for 10 years gave him great experience with custom-built PCs. His addiction to GPU tech is unwavering and has recently taken a keen interest in artificial intelligence (AI) hardware.

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