Apple has made some very neat piracy upgrades in its latest iOS 8, which means that the upcoming iPhone 6 could be the company's most secure smartphone ever.
The new iOS 8 recently made its debut as Apple's latest version of its mobile operating system. Set to roll out in the fall to the general public, iOS 8 will bring a slew of new features and improvements to the table, arriving as a major OS overhaul.
When it comes to piracy upgrades, the new iOS 8 has two features to prove Apple's commitment to smartphone security, as Forbes points out. First of all, iOS 8 will no longer allow location trackers to duplicate data from a device. More specifically, when an iOS 8 device is looking for a Wi-Fi connection, it will randomize your MAC address and disguise the real device until it actually connects to a network. This process is also known as MAC spoofing and is considered very effective.
When looking for a Wi-Fi connection, phones usually ping out the MAC address, which means that people and companies looking to determine your exact location can use that signal to do so. Needless to mention, this is a security hole that needs to be patched, and iOS 8 plans on doing just this.
So far, there have been various reports revealing how certain companies exploited this loophole to pinpoint their customers' exact location within their stores in order to assess their shopping habits. While this allows for more targeted advertising, it's also a violation of privacy and some beefed up security could eliminate this issue.
The upcoming iOS 8 will patch up this vulnerability and no longer allow peepers to spot your location whenever your phone is looking for a Wi-Fi connection.
The second feature iOS 8 has to boast in terms of security consists of a new war wagered against spammers and excessive advertising in the App Store. As TechCrunch reported, Apple's app review team has already started sending out rejection notices to some developers because their software is excessively asking users to share the app on social media in order to receive in-app bonuses.
Moreover, Apple has also started banning apps that promote other apps, as well as those with excessive built-in advertising. In other words, if the app is not clean enough, it will not get into the App Store. Apple has yet to provide exact guidelines on what it will tolerate and what it will reject, but all signs point to a crackdown on span and excessive advertising, which is great news for iOS users.
