Apple Fires Back At China Defending ‘Security Threat’ iPhone

Apple has released a statement defending its "Frequent Locations" feature following a critical national broadcast last Friday on state-run China Central Television, 9to5Mac reports.

The iPhone and its "frequent locations" function, which tracks a user's movement from a location and the time they were there, were deemed "national security threats" by China, which cited a new report that claimed the country's economic situation and "even state secrets" could be obtained by those with access to the data.

However, Apple has since responded via its Chinese website by denying that user privacy is an issue.

"Apple is deeply committed to protecting the privacy of all our customers," the company said. "Privacy is built into our products and services from the earliest stages of design. We work tirelessly to deliver the most secure hardware and software in the world."

The CCTV made similar security claims against Microsoft's Windows 8 operating system last month, which followed the government procurement center's decision this past May to disallow purchases of new government computers running Windows 8.

Although research firm Analysys reports that the Cupertino-based tech giant currently holds just a six percent share of the smartphone market in China, it does have a strong stake on the high-end section of the market. According to research firm Umeng, Apple's iPhone makes up about 80 percent of all smartphones in the country priced $500 or more.

WSJ notes that many Chinese government officials and executives also own an iPhone.

Cult of Mac reports that Apple makes it clear, however, in a support article about the "frequent locations" function, that the data is "kept solely on your device and won't be sent to Apple without your consent. It will be used to provide you with personalized services, such as predictive traffic routing." The publication also notes that all a user needs to do to turn off location tracking is tap "Turn Off Location Tracking" in the iOS Settings.

You can read Apple's full letter on the issue via 9to5Mac.