Apple Inc. (AAPL) released last week a software update of its iOS operating system to fix up a glitch that allowed the iPhone to save location data of the users automatically.

The update, known as iOS version 4.3.3, will allow iPad, iPod touch, and iPhone owners to fix a location tracking bug. The update, which is available in iTunes, reduces the size of the location database cache from up to a year to about a week and deletes the cache entirely when users disable their device's Location Services feature.

The issue of location tracking arose after a couple of developers reported that Apple devices running on iOS 4 logged information about their location without the knowledge of the users. British researchers pointed out that the devices had recorded location data since the 2010 release of the iOS 4 software update, effectively creating a comprehensive log of all user movement and activities during that time.
Apple has admitted that location data has been gathered but said, it never had plans to track the location of its users. "It's for maintaining a database of WiFi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone's location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes."