Facebook Preps Users for Apple's New Location Tracking Alerts in iOS 13

Facebook has attempted to pre-empt awkward questions about privacy ahead of the launch of iOS 13, with a blog post explaining what Apple's new location data alerts mean for users of its mobile app.


As we've covered elsewhere, Apple has doubled down on its privacy features in iOS 13, giving iPhone and iPad users a more granular view of how third-party apps access their location information – something that's obviously of concern to Facebook.

In a blog post titled "Understanding Updates to Your Device's Location Settings," the social network company highlights the fact that pop-up notifications now let users know when an app is using their location in the background, and even show a map of the location data that the app has tracked. The alerts also make users aware of how often apps are tracking them and their motivation for doing so.

Facebook points out that while iOS 12 gives users the option to allow apps access to precise location information "Always," "While Using the App" or "Never," iOS 13 adds an additional "Allow Once" option for permitting restricted one-time access. The social media giant clearly wants users to know that regardless of these changes, "Facebook is better with location..."

It powers features like check-ins and makes planning events easier. It helps improve ads and keep you and the Facebook community safe. Features like Find Wi-Fi and Nearby Friends use precise location even when you're not using the app to make sure that alerts and tools are accurate and personalized for you.

It's no secret that Facebook harvests huge amounts of data on all of its users, but the company is clearly trying to allay concerns when the alerts start rolling in on Facebook users' devices once they've updated to iOS 13.

Apple usually releases new versions of iOS one or two weeks after it unveils new iPhones. Apple's iPhone event takes place today at 10:00 a.m Pacific Time, so we should see iOS 13 drop relatively soon. MacRumors will be providing live coverage of today's event both here on MacRumors.com and on the MacRumorsLive Twitter account. Stay tuned.