Apple has been in the news quite a bit lately as it pertains to privacy and security. Sure, most of that is due to their slight disagreement with the FBI over Apple’s stance on creating backdoors in user hardware, but overall the broader issue is privacy and security. Apple appears to be taking another giant step towards user privacy in iOS 9.3 by alerting users if their iPhone is being tracked by their employer.
Some companies provide devices for their employees, and when a company is handing out anywhere from a few to a few thousand phones, chances are good that company will want to have some protections in place to ensure that the phones aren’t compromised. That’s certainly within their rights, and I certainly don’t fault them for wanting to do that. Companies can monitor and administer their fleet of phones using Mobile Device Management, or MDM. Up until now it may not have been obvious to users if their work iPhone was one of these monitored and administered phones.
With iOS 9.3, Apple looks to be removing any question by including a permanent note in both the iPhone About screen and on the lock screen that the phone could be monitored by an employer.
The note on the About page reads:
This iPhone is supervised. [Company] can monitor your Internet traffic and locate this device.
This sort of notification will be particularly helpful for users that may have a work iPhone and a personal iPhone. This notice would allow them to know at a quick glance if they’re holding their work or personal phone. Sure, different wallpaper or phone cases could do the same thing, or any number of other small tweaks, but it’s also nice of Apple to keep iPhone users notified in the event that their phone may be monitored.
Admittedly, most companies aren’t going to go so far as to track their employees or record their Internet usage, but this is just another tool for users to show who might be able to see their phone usage. Hopefully Apple continues to fight for encryption, and iOS 9.4 won’t need to add a “Government Backdoor” warning.
Do you want to be able to see if your employer could be monitoring your phone? Let us know what you think in the comments below or on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter.
[button link=”http://9to5mac.com/2016/03/02/ios-9-3-makes-it-abundantly-clear-if-your-work-iphone-is-being-tracked-by-your-employer/” icon=”fa-external-link” side=”left” target=”blank” color=”285b5e” textcolor=”ffffff”]Source: 9to5Mac[/button]Last Updated on March 4, 2016.
