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Joe's kitchen

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Apr 16, 2021
24
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How can I disable all the transmissions (inbound and outbound if this happens) via BeiDou and GLONASS (Chinese and Russian versions of GPS) on iPhone?

Would it be helpful if I disable all the location services on iPhone? Any other ways to disable them while using the iPhone's location services?

I don't wan to take the risks letting the governments know I'm watching a rom-com movie in theater or in my house's bathroom.

I've read that the Federal Communications Commission has been investigating about security of using BeiDou and GLONASS services in American devices (so far I don't know the results).
 
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I don't think you can disable certain GPS versions, it's either all or nothing. Even if you did disable say GLONASS all you achieve is worse gps signal. Your phone doesn't transmit back to the satellite anyway so it's not going to stop anyone spying on your location unless you disable location services completely and they'll be doing that using malicious software or hacking google/apple etc. Even then if someone was that interested in you I'm sure its possible to track what wifi network, cell tower your connected to. I wouldn't worry about it.

Just done a bit of reading myself, it seems the potential security risk isn't from someone knowing where you are but there's a risk that someone could manipulate the data being sent to you and makes you think you're somewhere that you're not. I guess in the case of the Russian GLONASS system it could be made to send the wrong GPS data to people in the Ukraine.
 
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How can I disable all the transmissions (inbound and outbound if this happens) via BeiDou and GLONASS (Chinese and Russian versions of GPS) on iPhone?

Would it be helpful if I disable all the location services on iPhone? Any other ways to disable them while using the iPhone's location services?

I don't wan to take the risks letting the governments know I'm watching a rom-com movie in theater or in my house's bathroom.

I've read that the Federal Communications Commission has been investigating about security of using BeiDou and GLONASS services in American devices (so far I don't know the results).
A handheld GPS receiver (like the one in your phone) does not transmit any information to the satellites. The same is true for BeiDou and GLONASS. The way they work is that each satellite transmits its precise location and time. Your device then takes the information of each satellite in range to triangulate its position relative to the satellites. The satellites have no idea who is receiving the information and there is no way for them to find out either. You cannot disable one without losing the other, at least not on your iPhone.
 
Thank you, so there is no way to disable it.... but nice to know iPhone don't send signal back to their satellites (at least, for today).
 
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