Apple Says Future iOS Upgrade Will Require Explicit User Approval for Contact Data

Apple has broken its silence over the much publicized issue over the use of contact data by iOS apps. In a statement to AllThingsD, the company had this to say:

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

Prompts for access to our location are very clear in iOS, but now it appears a future upgrade will also make it explicit when apps want access to our entire contacts list and data. iOS 5.1 currently sits at beta 3 for developers, released last month.

It was recently discovered the social networking app Path had gained full access to user data without permission. Other apps such as twitter stores your data for 18 months, and in a recent university study it was noted App Store apps breached your privacy more than jailbreak apps via Cydia.

How concerned are you over the access to your contacts by apps?

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