Apple’s new security feature for iPhone and iPad restricts mobile networks from collecting real-time location information

New security features released for the latest models of iPhones and iPads this week will make it harder for law enforcement, spies, and hackers to get a person’s location information from their phone providers.

According to Apple, this new feature, when enabled, reduces the accuracy of location data that cellular iPhones and iPads share with the customer’s carrier. Sharing an anonymous location, such as multiple neighbors instead of a street address, helps protect the device’s owner’s privacy, the company says.

Apple said the feature change does not affect the accuracy of location data shared by apps, or shared with first responders for emergency calls.

Limited real estate is supported on iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, and iPad Pro (M5) Wi-Fi + Cellular, running iOS 26.3, and is available on carriers worldwide including Telekom in Germany, AIS and True Thailand, EE and BT in the United Kingdom, and Boost Mobile in the United States.

The company did not give a reason for the new feature, and an Apple spokesperson did not respond to the report when reached by email.

The new information comes at a time when law enforcement agencies are increasingly using cell phones to obtain information about their targets in real time, or monitor their location. he walked for some time.

Hackers often target cell carriers to gain access to their customers. Last year, several US giants, including AT&T and Verizon, confirmed it the constant intrusion of Chinese hackerscalled Salt Typhoon, seeking phone numbers and messages of American officials.

Recent attacks aside, long-known threats to mobile networks around the world have allowed vendors to monitor. search for information about public places anywhere in the world.

While telecom operators can determine the location of a person’s phone, the device plays a role in providing accurate location information to the carrier, said Gary Miller, a mobile security expert who works as a researcher for Citizen Lab and senior director of network intelligence at iVerify.

“Most people don’t know that devices can send location data outside of apps themselves,” Miller said. “Although (the devices) could limit the disclosure of GPS at the application level, they could not block the disclosure of one’s location on the network.”

“Apple’s feature, although limited to very limited networks, is the right part to give users more privacy,” he said.