Apple added a specific switch for the UWB chip in the latest beta version of iOS 13.3.1.

As a move to counter the privacy issues related to location services and the iPhone 11 Pro, Apple has added a specific switch for the UWB chip in the latest beta version of iOS 13.3.1 .

KrebsOnSecurity, has found that the iPhone 11 Pro continues to track user locations even when all available locations are turned off (except the main switch). This caused a number of concerns as the reason was not immediately clear.

“We don’t see any real security implications,” wrote an Apple engineer in response to KrebsOnSecurity. “It is expected that the Location Services icon will appear in the status bar when Location Services is enabled. The icon appears for system services that don’t have a switch in Settings. ”

After the problem created additional questions and concerns, Apple said the behavior was due to the fact that the UWB chip in the new iPhones has not been widely approved around the world , so the iPhone 11 uses location services to verify whether UWB can be used or not and that:

“Ultra broadband compliance management and its use of location data are entirely performed on the device and Apple is not collecting user location data,” said the spokesman.

Finally, Apple said in December that it would bring a dedicated location services switch to allow customers to completely disable the feature.

Identified by Brandon Butch, the second beta version of iOS 13.3.1 carries that switch and is labeled ” Networking & Wireless ” in Privacy> Location Services> System Services.

At the beginning, Apple gave a vague answer:

When it is deactivated, Apple tells users:

Disabling location for networks and wireless can affect the performance of Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and ultra broadband.

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