Ever since Apple re-branded as the “Privacy” company several years back, it has been consistently rolling out features that showcase its dedication to protecting users. However, despite customers feeling safer using an iPhone, there is ample evidence to suggest that Apple’s branding efforts often do not align with the reality of its products. In fact, many of its privacy features appear to be ineffective.
A prime example of this is new research which reveals that one of Apple’s touted privacy tools, an anonymization feature for mobile connections to WiFi, is essentially “useless.” In 2020, Apple introduced a feature that was intended to hide an iPhone user’s media access control (MAC) address when connected to a WiFi network. The MAC address is used by network observers to track and identify a mobile user’s movements. However, it has been discovered that a bug in the feature has rendered it ineffective for years.
According to a recent report from Ars Technica, researchers conducted tests on the feature to verify if it indeed concealed their MAC addresses, only to find that it did not. Ars Technica states:
Despite assurances that this address would be hidden and replaced with a unique private one for each network, Apple devices continued to display the real MAC address, which then got broadcasted to all other connected devices.
One of the researchers involved in discovering this vulnerability, Tommy Mysk, informed Ars Technica that the feature was essentially useless due to this bug. Even with a VPN or in Lockdown Mode, he could not prevent the devices from transmitting these discovery requests.
It remains unclear why Apple would advertise a feature that does not work as intended. Gizmodo has reached out to Apple for comment and will update the story accordingly. The problem has apparently been addressed in the recent iOS 17.1 update, ensuring the functionality of the feature.
While any corporate effort to prioritize user privacy should be commended, it is essential for these initiatives to be genuinely effective. Over the years, Apple has introduced privacy features that may sound good on paper but fall short in reality. Ultimately, if these features do not work, their purpose becomes questionable.
