Apple Stopped Supporting Carrier IQ in iOS 5, Complete Removal Coming in Future
In the wake of significant publicity about Carrier IQ, the mobile phone logging software that is able to transmit data back to carriers, Apple has now issued a statement to AllThingsD noting that the company stopped supporting Carrier IQ with iOS 5 on most of its products and that it will completely remove traces of the software in a future software update.
We stopped supporting CarrierIQ with iOS 5 in most of our products and will remove it completely in a future software update. With any diagnostic data sent to Apple, customers must actively opt-in to share this information, and if they do, the data is sent in an anonymous and encrypted form and does not include any personal information. We never recorded keystrokes, messages or any other personal information for diagnostic data and have no plans to ever do so.
Early evidence had suggested that Carrier IQ has been able to capture significantly more information, including keystrokes and other extremely sensitive information, on Android than on iOS.

Research into Carrier IQ's functionality on iOS has indicated that any transmission of information has been limited to phone call and location information, but Apple's statement today suggests that the company has even stopped using that information via Carrier IQ, although it does collect its own anonymized and encrypted information from devices unless users have turned off the diagnostics reporting functionality.
U.S. Senator Al Franken has requested that Carrier IQ explain just what information the software is recording and transmitting and how that information is shared with carriers and potentially other parties. Earlier this year, Franken spearheaded the government inquiry into location tracking concerns related to Apple's iOS and Google's Android platforms.
Popular Stories
Apple released iOS 16.3 in late January following nearly six weeks of beta testing. The software update is available for the iPhone 8 and newer, and while it is a relatively minor update, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes.
Below, we've recapped new features in iOS 16.3, including support for physical security keys as a two-factor authentication option for...
Apple has discussed selling a new top-of-the-line iPhone alongside the Pro and Pro Max models in 2024 at the earliest, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Based on this timeframe, the device would be part of the iPhone 16 lineup or later.
In a September 2022 edition of his weekly "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said there was "potential" for an iPhone 15 Ultra to replace the iPhone 15 Pro...
Online retailer TigerDirect has slashed pricing on the M1 iPad Air in several colors, offering the base 64GB configuration for just $313.99 in Purple and Pink.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with TigerDirect. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
That's a savings of 48% compared to Apple's normal $599.00...
A new version of the Mac Studio with the "M2 Ultra" chip is unlikely to arrive in the near future, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that since the upcoming Apple silicon Mac Pro is "very similar in functionality to the Mac Studio," Apple may wait until the release of M3- or M4-series chips to update the machine, or...
Google's Chromium developers are working on an experimental web browser for iOS that would break Apple's browser engine restrictions, The Register reports.
The experimental browser, which is being actively pursued by developers, uses Google's Blink engine. Yet if Google attempted to release it on the App Store, it would not pass Apple's App Review process.
Apple's App Store rules dictate...
Apple's next device with an Apple silicon chip may not be a Mac or an iPad, but rather an advanced external display, according to recent reports.
The display, which is rumored to arrive this year, is expected to sit somewhere between the $1,599 Studio Display and the $4,999 Pro Display XDR – but more exact information about the device's positioning and price point is as yet unknown. While ...
This week saw the launch of the final product from Apple's January hardware announcements, with the second-generation HomePod making its way into customers' hands.
Other news and rumors this week included signs of an interim iOS 16.3.1 bug fix update in the works as we await a fresh round of beta testing for a more significant iOS 16.4 update, a report on the potential dangers of using...
Today is the official launch day for the second-generation HomePod that was introduced in January, and we picked one up to compare it to the original HomePod that Apple discontinued in 2021.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. Design wise, the second-generation HomePod looks a lot like the first-generation model, featuring the same rounded design and acoustic mesh...
Top Rated Comments
Android users wanted a crappy OS made by an advertising company that doesn't care about privacy, and that's what they got.
Wrong. It IS an iOS vs Android thing. Apple does NOT allow carriers to put any unauthorized crapware on their iPhones. It's a walled garden that works. Google does allow carriers to put additional software, skins and, apparently, CarrierIQ.
Everyone who looked at their iPhones before iOS 5 new it collected data unless you turned it off. It is there plain as day. If you missed it, then thats on you since its right in the settings. Not to mention you have the option to turn it off, and it only collects unimportant things, not keystrokes and searches and such that the Android handsets were.
Google is a data mining company. Even though its the OEM's who put this software on there (they control the software to anyone who says the carriers do it), Google will take the heat for letting Android be modified in this fashion.
Another thing, Nokia claims this isn't on their phones, hence more evidence that its the OEM's not the carriers that require this.
We stopped supporting CarrierIQ with iOS 5
so you saying apple told you carrieriq was on your phone before then?
This is stupid.
I can't show you one person who has been "been truly hurt, punished, injured or in any other way disenfranchised" by a store who put video cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms and allowed employees to see them naked. But most people feel violated by it and don't like it.
I probably wouldn't be "truly" harmed if "Find my Friends" broadcast my location on a public website that anyone could look at. But I would still feel like my privacy was invaded and would not like it.
And if you are okay with corporations abusing your privacy, that's your prerogative. But I'm glad that most people actually care about their privacy and object when corporations spy on them.
You are incorrect. If carriers required it then it would be on Nokia phones as well, but according to Nokia, it is not.
Carrier IQ masquerades itself as a diagnostic tool. Apple used it as such. Other OEM's, who are responsible for putting it on there abused its abilities and also made it very hard to remove.