Apple's iPhone 18 Modem Switch Comes With a Quiet Privacy Benefit

[MacRumors]

Rumors suggest Apple plans to expand Apple-designed modems to the entire iPhone 18 lineup, ending support for Qualcomm modems. The transition will bring speed and efficiency improvements, along with a little-known privacy benefit.

In iOS 26.3, Apple added a Limit Precise Location setting that cuts down on the amount of location data that's available to mobile networks, improving user privacy.

Mobile networks determine your location using information from cellular towers that a device connects to, but with Limit Precise Location enabled, some of the data typically provided to mobile networks is restricted. Instead of seeing location down to a street address, carriers may be limited to the neighborhood where a device is located.

The problem is that this feature is currently only available on devices with an Apple-designed C1 or C1X modem, which includes the iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, iPhone 17e, and M5 iPad Pro. Devices with Qualcomm modems like the iPhone 17 Pro models do not have the Limit Precise Location setting.

With the iPhone 18 Pro models and the iPhone Fold expected to use Apple modem technology, this is likely a privacy option that is set to expand to the full iPhone lineup.

Reducing location precision does not impact signal quality or user experience, nor does it affect the precision of location data provided to emergency responders during an emergency call. It is only meant to limit the location data given to cellular carriers, and it is distinct from location data shared with apps through Location Services.

While Apple's next set of iPhones will all likely have the new privacy feature, carriers do have to implement support. So far there are a limited number of carriers that have added the feature, but if it expands to the entire iPhone lineup and there is customer demand, it could see more widespread adoption.

In the United States, only Boost Mobile supports limiting precise location data, but EE, BT, and Sky all support it in the UK. Carriers in Austria, Germany, Denmark, Ireland, and Thailand have also adopted support, with a list available on Apple's website.

The C2 modem that Apple is rumored to be working on is more capable than the C1 or C1X, and it will offer similar performance to Qualcomm's newest modems. It is expected to support mmWave 5G, which is not a feature of the C1 or C1X.

Article Link: Apple's iPhone 18 Modem Switch Comes With a Quiet Privacy Benefit

 

[antnythr]

How long do you think it'll take before you start seeing messages saying "Precise location is required for ..." messages to start appearing?

 

[tongxinshe]

It’ll soon be prohibited by the legal entities like NSA.

 

[cyberlocke]

Or we could all just stop using our phones. It just feels impossible.

 

[tyranne201]

Criminals are gonna be happy

 

[McWetty]

I’m wondering if the big 3 US carriers will just not support limited precise location. Or will Apple insist? Hard to tell who holds the chips in this one.

 

[macfacts]

So carriers just have to remove support and the extra privacy feature goes away?

 

[Sill]

I’m wondering if the big 3 US carriers will just not support limited precise location. Or will Apple insist? Hard to tell who holds the chips in this one.

This is where a CEO with stones would be a good thing. Recall how Steve convinced AT&T that the iPhone was going to be a halo product and gave them a 2 year exclusive, then used that to negotiate terms.

 

[Kidseeghost]

Or we could all just stop using our phones. It just feels impossible.

They want us to put a camera on our faces. Not going ti happen anytime soon.

 

[Kidseeghost]

How long until the EU tries to ban this?

 

[Sill]

They want us to put a camera on our faces. Not going ti happen anytime soon.

Sure it will.

Think of trying to tell folks in the 1980s that a bunch of companies in league with the government want to track everything you do, even while you sleep, and then extrapolate that information with untold numbers of algorithms to make a 100 percent accurate image of your thought process so they can duplicate you in software. For your own good.

Those folks would have faced a generation of people who all knew family members who'd participated in the Second World War, who sat through Civics and Comparative Political Systems in high school, and who lived through massive celebrations of national pride like the Apollo program and the run up to the Bicentennial, and they would have been crushed by the outpouring of public rage.

Instead, the companies waited about 30 years, while the education system in this country was corrupted. They nailed the technology, and sold it to us in drips and rivulets of neat features. They sold it to us as "cool".

"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled off was convincing the world he didn't exist".

 

[JitteryJimmy]

No doubt that some countries will invoke secret laws and secret "executive orders" to force Apple and other corporations to secretly and silently enable detailed tracking.

If you're trusting the greater world, you're doing it wrong.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Does it also save resources and leads to longer battery life?

 

[haunebu]

Not happening. C2 is a complete failure according to multiple carriers who have been testing, and it isn't even placed on the full chiplet yet.

Edit: And no, it does not support mmWave.

 

[mannyvel]

Not happening. C2 is a complete failure according to multiple carriers who have been testing, and it isn't even placed on the full chiplet yet.

Edit: And no, it does not support mmWave.

Yes, it's a complete failure, like the Apple Watch, Apple Silicon, iPhone, iPad, iPod, MacBook Neo, etc etc etc.

 

[CarAnalogy]

I need to see a more technical explanation, I don't see how this helps much if you really want to hide. If you want your number to work, it has to contact a cell tower. Usually several, and if it's only one that's even more revealing. Unless they're doing something like private MAC where it's a rotating IMEI, which seems unlikely, I'm not sure I quite get the point of this.