

Foursquare Now Tracks Users Even When the App Is Closed - petethomas
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2014/08/06/foursquare-now-tracks-users-even-when-the-app-is-closed/

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martingordon
For what it's worth, iOS 8 has separate permissions for foreground and
background location usage. I got the background usage permission alert ~5
minutes after installing the app.

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mountaineer
Glad to hear the foreground/background permission is coming in iOS 8. I use
Foursquare when I want to search for places nearby to eat, and the occasional
checkin, but always go in and enable location for it before using and turn off
after. Most of the time I forget to turn it off and still see the location
indicator beaming when I get home, thinking to myself "they tracked me this
time, darn!". Same goes for google maps too though, so its not like Foursquare
is the only one.

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smackfu
One of the selling points of the new app is that it will proactively alert you
when you are near a restaurant that matches your tastes. Like if you say you
like pulled pork, and pass a great BBQ place, it will let you know.

So, that feature pretty clearly requires "tracking users even when the app is
closed."

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valverde
They have been doing that for a while.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7037575](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7037575)

~~~
mountaineer
I thought they had been doing this for a while too, the location indicator is
usually active in iOS, even when Foursquare is not running. Go into location
privacy and it shows Foursquare as the one getting location.

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msoad
Meanwhile my dad's flashlight app on Android was accessing his location,
contacts, calls, messages, network traffic and many more stuff without him
knowing it.

It's funny how Android OS is on the app developer's side in case of the
privacy but iOS cares so much about user's privacy

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nness
You still have to approve permissions during the app installation on Android.
Its made pretty clear exactly what is being accessed.

~~~
amake
You really think _anyone_ looks at that, much less OP's father?

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gohrt
Presumably OP's father doesn't pay more attention to iOS privacy settings,
then.

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emsy
Consider this: You really want a flashlight app. You go download the app and
see a list of permissions. You really just want to have a light so you go
ahead and click okay.

Now on iOS, you download the app and open it. A dialog pops up that says: "May
DubiousFlashlight access your contacts?" Of course you tap no. Your contacts
are safe and the flashlight still works.

I think the main problem is that on Android, it's the standard that most app
will have need a ridiculous list of permissions. Just look at the permissions
of the topmost entries for basic apps like barcode readers, flashlights,
compasses and so on. Now try the same on iOS and look what permissions you
will be asked for, and which permissions you will need to actually use the
app. Imo, iOS protects the average user much better than Android.

~~~
dublinben
This is only the case on the crap-infested, ad-riddled Play Store. On a market
like F-Droid, where the apps respect your freedom, they also respect your
privacy much more. The flashlight apps available there only require the
permissions they need, and don't collect any kind of personal information.

~~~
pessimizer
This is both true and irrelevant for the vast majority of users, who will do
what they're sold.

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calinet6
OT, but it doesn't much matter to me, as I've dissociated from the service and
uninstalled all apps after the forced Swarm switchover. The dual-app UX is a
mind-bendingly bad idea.

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jamesrom
The whole idea of the new Foursquare app is to make recommendations based on
where you are and who you follow.

Foursquare needs to know where you are to do that...

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cpayne
Codezero is correct - "need" is the issue.

Foursquare isn't paying me (or exchanging something of significant value) for
that constant stream of location data.

THAT is the issue I have with it

~~~
untog
_Foursquare isn 't paying me (or exchanging something of significant value)
for that constant stream of location data._

Are you paying them for their recommendation service?

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pyre
> (or exchanging something of significant value)

~~~
cpayne
You are correct. It doesn't have to be cash, Stackoverflow & XBox Live is a
classic example gamification.

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covercash
I can typically get through an entire day on one charge, but after enabling
background tracking, my battery hit 30% by mid day. It's now disabled.

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dreamweapon
_Foursquare updated its privacy policy this week to warn users that with the
new version of the app tracks and sometimes shares users’ locations even when
the app is closed._

Fun. Kind of like when one of your insurance provides radically alters your
coverage, and then buries this fact in some mandatory disclosure paragraph
that they know you probably aren't going to read anyway.

I would so hate to be working for Foursquare now.

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dchamberlin
Is this to serve as a reminder for all who have long since used the service to
uninstall the app?

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Irishsteve
You can turn off the constant access to location service in settings of the
app.

Constantly tracking a user destroys their battery life, really lazy move on
foursquare part. At no point would you ever think constant location tracking
is friendly to a user's battery.

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danielsht
"Starting today, users who download or update the Foursquare app will
automatically let the company track their GPS coordinates any time their phone
is powered on. Foursquare previously required users to give the app permission
to turn on location-tracking. Now users must change a setting within the app
to opt out."

A bit misleading... For users that had Location Services turned enabled for
Foursquare (iOS), there is no additional opt in because they have already
opted in in the past. But any new users still will get prompted to allow
Foursquare to use Location Services. So it is still opt-in. The fact that
Foursquare is checking your location periodically is not surprising as it will
give the company more data to improve its service...

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pacificmint
> The fact that Foursquare is checking your location periodically is not
> surprising

The fact that Foursquare checks my location when I use the app is not
suprising.

The fact that they track my every move, _even when the app is not running_ is
absolutely surprising to me, and I bet to the average user as well.

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jdminhbg
Really? I bet the average user isn't aware of whether the app is "running" at
any given time or not, and a not-insignificant subset of users wouldn't know
how to find out.

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sqrt17
they'd just be annoyed at the battery life of their fancy new phone going down
so fast.

For that single reason, I adore Android's "this app ate this much battery"
statistics.

And if they're using the 'offline' locations in recommendations, it will dawn
on people that the app has been stalking them.

~~~
jasonlotito
iPhones have a separate processor for that. Not really an issue. It's even
better in ios8 with regard to battery life tracking. As for the tracking, it
asks for permissions and is fairly obvious what it's doing. Yes, if you avoid
reading or doing any level of discovery... If you just blindly install the app
without thought, you could claim surprise. I find most people assume far worse
than the opposite. Ask for location permissions, and they assume they are
getting tracked by someone who is watching them in real time through their
phones camera.

