It happens often enough that companies collect user data for their own use. Officially, users have to give their consent, but unfortunately that does not always happen. The new iPhone 11 Pro, for example, would undesirably collect the location data of users, even though they have explicitly indicated that they are not open to this.
Apple’s Privacy Policy states that if location services are generally on, your phone regularly forwards the location of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and masts to Apple.
The policy also states how you can disable location services, but journalist Brian Krebs discovered that the iPhone 11 Pro (and possibly other iPhone 11 models) still collects location data afterwards. Even if location data for all apps on the device are individually disabled.
A somewhat remarkable finding, given that Apple generally considers privacy to be of paramount importance. For example, the company refused to modify its software in 2016 in order to give the FBI access to an iPhone 5C that was associated with a terrorist attack. Apple refused to help the FBI, because according to CEO Tim Cook the privacy of all iPhone users is compromised if Apple builds a ‘back door’ into the devices. Safari has also recently added a function to prevent users from being continuously monitored.
Apple’s policy also states that there is a small arrow next to the battery icon on your phone when location services are off, but KrebsOnSecurity showed a video in which a phone still occasionally requested data even if the user had not given permission for this and the arrow in the screen was present.
However, according to Apple, this has no implications for the security of user data.
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