Gadgets: Apple iOS 4.3.3

While not everyone bothers to install iOS updates the minute they arrive, today’s 4.3.3 push shouldn’t be ignored if you count yourself among the legion of iPhone users who let out a collective horrified gasp when Apple’s kinda-sorta-secret location database was outed by researchers recently. While security pros like F-Secure’s Mikko Hypponen believed the data was being used to feed Apple’s global location database — enabling iOS devices to avoid unnecessarily probe for coordinates using GPS when a less power-hungry read could be accurately ascertained using WiFi. Plenty of other brainy types agreed, and it turns out they were right. Apple confirmed as much only days later.

Today’s iOS 4.3.3 update makes it very clear that it’s designed to nip location concerns in the bud, reducing the maximum size of the cache and deleting the database entirely when a users chooses to disable Location Services. The update also prevents the location database from being backed up to iTunes.

It remains to be seen how that whole lawsuit thing will be resolved, but remember that Apple did get users to opt in — albeit somewhat cryptically. Hypponen points to the fairly innocuous-looking “you can help Apple improve its products” dialog which appears during the iTunes installation process. While “diagnostic information” doesn’t sound at all like location data, clicking through to Apple’s privacy page makes it clear that your whereabouts are indeed part of the delicious information you agreed to transmit back to the collective.

Updating Over-the-Air

Updating any device with new firmware can be a real pain in the ass, and  its a time consuming process, depending on the device in question. The frustration of having to apply an update can be minimized by allowing the user flexibility of when and how to apply it.

In the category of how an update can be applied, Apple falls short compared to the competition requiring your iPhone be hooked up via USB to a computer running iTunes. Other smartphones offer the convenience of over-the-air updates, but until now Apple has not.

9to5Mac has multiple sources stating that Apple is about to change its limited update method and introduce over-the-air updates for iOS. Whether your iPhone has access to these updates will depend on your carrier, though, as they have to sign up to support these large downloads (iOS 4.3.3. is over 600MB). As well as handling the large downloads, carriers will have to have some form of backup system in place in case a phone battery dies, or the connection is lost making it more than just a data transfer problem.

The best way to avoid large data access fees, and potential data loss of over-the-air updates is to be in a location where WiFi access can be had.