Both vibration patterns are going to be identical.” “If you are on the bus and a passenger is sharing their precise location with Facebook,” they explain, Facebook can easily tell that you are in the same location as the passenger. The researchers cite the example of a bus journey to show how such data might be used. Worse, even when users toggle off this reporting feature in the Facebook app, Mysk told me, “nothing happens when you shake the phone, but the app continues to read the accelerometer.”
As for the shake to report function, Facebook could use Apple’s functionality to limit how much data it pulls-but that’s not how Facebook operates. It would be simple for Facebook only to tap the accelerometer when needed.
While there may be valid benefits in using the camera, this does not explain why your movements are tracked constantly, rather than only when those camera features are in use.
Facebook on mac app store how to#
In other words, the user wouldn't know if an app is measuring their heart rate while using the app.” MORE FROM FORBES How To Disable Facebook's Image Location Harvesting On Your iPhone By null Worse, all iOS apps can read the measurements of this sensor without permission. Apps can figure out the user's heart rate, movements, and even precise location. “Although the accelerometer data seems to be innocuous,” Mysk says, “it's jaw-dropping what apps can make up of these measurements. Facebook confirmed to me that “we use accelerometer data for features like shake-to-report, and to ensure certain kinds of camera functionality such as panning around for a 360-degree photo or for camera.”
Given Facebook dominates iPhone social media installs-this will impact almost all the billion-plus iPhone users around the world.