iOS Update Removes Location Tracking

Apple has released the iOS 4.3.3 software update sooner than expected.

The latest version of iOS is launching just days after Apple promised to address concerns regarding privacy and location data collection — by fixing several “bugs” that stored a year’s worth of location data in unencrypted log files.

Apple noted in a late April press release that the next iOS update would “reduce the size of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database cached on the iPhone, ease backing up this cache, and delete this cache entirely when Location Services is turned off.”

Apple reportedly planned to include a few tweaks and enhancements regarding battery life and the ‘iPod’ application, but such fixes are not mentioned in the software’s release notes.