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New iOS 11 Settings Will Stop Apps From Tracking Your Location (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader quotes The Verge:
Apple is giving users the option to enable much stricter location rules with iOS 11, according to MacRumors. The company began this effort last year by adding a new option to iOS 10 that grants apps access to your location only while they're actively being used. But this "while in use" setting is up to developers to actually enable. The vast majority of popular apps did integrate that new feature. Others, however -- Uber chief among them -- still force iPhone users to choose between always or never providing location data. The latter choice breaks the functionality of an app like Uber, leaving customers with really only one option. Apple seems poised to eliminate this false choice in iOS 11 by making the "while in use" restriction available for every app.
There was an option that you could select so that when an app tried to get your location, it would ask you if it was okay.
That's how iOS works now, and also requires the app developer to give a reason why they are asking for location permission so you have a better understanding of what you are agreeing to...
And it'd stick until you closed it.
Once you opened the app again, the next call to get your location would trigger the prompt again.
That sounds way too annoying. I think the way that Apple is doing this in iOS11 is perfect - you have the option for any app that it can use your location only what running, which is what most apps should be set to. For a handful of transport or fitness apps, then sure you can let it have background location updates. But even those you can dial back to "when open" (or just off) if they go crazy.
Prompting every time you run an app is almost worse than no prompt at all, because over time it's not only annoying but you start to just agree by reflex. I don't think agreeing to any system resource like location should be a habit you ingrain into users to accept without thought.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Like you, I have never been a big fan of Apple, and have wanted to move away from the world of iOS ever since I had the phone forced on me. But with the controls that they give to the user to limit what developers can do with your phone, it has become my preferred platform.
Apps on Android must show what permissions they require, but you can't do anything about it other than not install the app if you don't agree with one of those permissions. To be fair, this may have changed in later versions, but my Android devices are stuck with ancient versions. That's another thing that annoys me about the platform.