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iOS 9.3 makes it abundantly clear if your work iPhone is being tracked by your employer

ios9-managed

Apple is ramping up security and privacy efforts on all fronts right now, although most attention is currently directed towards the ongoing Apple FBI iPhone backdoor case. Reddit user MaGNeTiX has found that Apple is taking a big step in iOS 9.3 (currently on beta 5) towards transparency when an iOS device is being managed by an institution or enterprise through MDM. If your iPhone is being tracked by the company, it is now clearly marked in the About page of Settings and the Lock Screen. It’s hard to get more clear than a permanent ‘This iPhone is managed by your organisation’ message at the bottom of the screen.

Apple lets companies track and manage iPhones through an MDM deployment program. iOS 9.3 will remove any ambiguity as to whether the company is tracking the device …

Although its not a secret that most company-administered iPhones are locked down in some way, current iOS versions do not prominently indicate if this kind of control is taking place on a device. With iOS 9.3, Apple is giving the user ultimate transparency in how their device is being exposed to their employer. The About screen page notes that the iPhone is supervised and states in what ways the iPhone is not wholly secure.

This iPhone is supervised. [Company Name] can monitor your Internet traffic and locate this device.

This change will also help privacy-conscious iPhone users who switch between work and personal phones. It will be easier for people to juggle between devices without getting confused which is which and there will be a conscious understanding that this device is being supervised and the other isn’t.

It’s just one more step in Apple’s push to make privacy and personal security a known issue. Whilst this change doesn’t help improve user privacy, devices are still trackable in the same way by companies if under MDM, it does improve transparency about what is going on. It may also encourage people to buy personal iPhones, if they are alerted to the control their employer can exert over their work phones. iOS 9.3 is expected to be released to the public later in March, following Apple’s iPhone 5E/iPad Pro event on the 21st.

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Comments

  1. PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

    Would be nice if the government was *this* clear on their actions.

  2. quitesharp - 8 years ago

    This is a clever move by Apple. If they were to lose the case against FBI there is nothing stopping them from including a “This iPhone is currently being tracked by the government” in a similar fashion. It could even list exactly what is being done to the phone at that very second (geolocation, Internet traffic, photos etc).

  3. Neil (@beevtweets) - 8 years ago

    Where can I get that wallpaper?

  4. So not happy with this. It warns people of features that might not even be enabled, and can signal a device out for theft (corporate linked devices are more desirable and worth more for their information). Hope they actually look at what the profile is hooking into in the future and stop making the phone look like a good target. Great job Apple! x.x

    • halrepublic - 8 years ago

      ***If*** your iPhone is being tracked by the company, it is now clearly marked in the About page of Settings and the Lock Screen.
      Simply don’t track employee’s phone. I am happy with this.

      • It has nothing to do with tracking. In fact many MDMs can’t track the phone, and the text is the same.

        MDMs are used for managing company owned phones.

  5. iJonni - 8 years ago

    This is not new. This has been there since iOS 9. The addition of it stating that ” Internet traffic being monitored” is new.
    Any user can also go to Settings, General, Profiles & Device Management to see specifically what restrictions are on their device, what MDM is actually looking at on their device etc.
    Christopher, this is not on the lock screen. It’s not visible. Any corporation with MDM will have a passcode lock policy that auto locks devices at a short time period and requires passcode, so no, a tempted thief would not be indicated that this device is special…

    • iJonni - 8 years ago

      Never mind to my whole comment…sorry.

      Yes I don’t like this

    • We use Apple’s MDM server and DEP program, and with the current software, there is NO way to track users or monitor their internet traffic using the MDM service. The MDM service and DEP program allows the company to manage the phone in ways that do not violate the user’s privacy. This must be something coming in newer versions and thank Apple for including the alert to users if the company will be doing these sort of things. I think its wrong if company does this sort of thing.

      • SimpleMDM (@simplemdm) - 8 years ago

        Yes to this. We’re the makers of simplemdm.com and we find it peculiar that this language is used. I understand Apple’s desire to err on the side of user protection, but MDM does not inherently allow a company to track location and internet traffic. The result of a message like this is added admin efforts in notifying users that their traffic isn’t actually being tracked, putting the user in an uncomfortable position of trusting their IT department or the message that Apple has included in iOS. It’d be nice to see an extra disclosure indicator in iOS that explains this more in-depth to the user.

        We wrote up an article that talks specifically about how Internet traffic or location could be tracked (check the ‘MDM Supervision Reminder to Users’ section). It also includes an explanation of all other 9.3 MDM enhancements, if you’re interested. Here’s the link: http://simplemdm.com/2016/03/04/ios-9-3-to-bring-new-mdm-features/

  6. jeamland - 8 years ago

    Look, I’m sorry, but WHAT THE HELL were you expecting?

    BUY YOUR OWN PHONE YOU CHEAP ASS MORON. DON’T DO THINGS YOU DON’T WANT OTHERS TO KNOW ON EQUIPMENT OWNED BY SOMEONE ELSE.

    Seriously, if I own the company and the thousand dollar phone DAMN RIGHT I’m gonna track it!

    • Leonson Stapleton - 8 years ago

      thank you! like c’mon people what did you expect to happen? if its someone else’s property they have all rights to do whatever they want. you have ZERO expectation of privacy on something owned by the company you work for.

      • JBDragon - 8 years ago

        Exactly which is why many have a work phone AND their own personal phone!!! Just like your work may track what you do on your Work Desktop Computer, they’re going to want to track what you’re doing on your work smart phone to make sure you’re doing work stuff with it and are not playing around. One of those people spending their time at work visiting porn web sites and other things like that.

  7. Jim Phong - 8 years ago

    Apple removed PDF documents download for developers. Why ? Now developers are obliged to read documents online. And reading the HTML version of the documents sucks big time. The offline PDF version was the quickest way to search thru technical documents.

    • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

      Usually the webpage has a Reader Mode: hit that, then do a P and choose Save as PDF.

      • Jim Phong - 8 years ago

        And even using Adobe Acrobat create PDF from Web site won’t make any proper PDF document.
        Anyway there is no flat whole documents view on any developers webpage either. They removed the PDF option.
        So to create a PDF anyone would have to print each single HTML page as PDF manually and later combine the result. It would take days even for a few documents. Absolutely insane.

      • PhilBoogie - 8 years ago

        No, don’t use Adobe, that won’t work properly. Simply hit P and save as .pdf will do the trick: it won’t print out the sidebar.

        The whole reason for Apple to remove the .pdf option is for them to always have the latest info online. A .pdf is static. Besides, why would you want to have offline documentation, were you planning on coding from a plane?

        I bet one can easily create an Automator task for the creation of a single large .pdf.

  8. Your employer has every right to monitor their phone.

    Apple needs to force compliance of provisioned phones with this management software.

  9. crisss1205 - 8 years ago

    I am guessing that this only works if you have a “Supervised” device, not a “Managed” device. My phone is not considered supervised device so it does not have this text, however, the phone location is still managed and passwords can be enforced.

  10. UH (@Umairhanif511) - 8 years ago

    How to fix common iOS 9.2.1 Problems and their solutions in 2016
    http://tagehow.com/how-to-fix-common-ios-9-2-1-problems-and-their-solutions-in-2016/

  11. Steve Williams - 8 years ago

    Huge round of applause for Apple!

  12. coolfactor - 8 years ago

    I hope they spell it “Organization” for those of us outside the US. 😜

    • Abbe Normal - 8 years ago

      For Britain “Organization” spells as “Government”. :-P Spelling it as “GCHQ” was too cryptic.

  13. Abbe Normal - 8 years ago

    So it means Apple is good that they clearly say “We handed control over the phone you are using to somebody else.”? I don’t think it deserves any credit. The fact is Apple removed you from the steering wheel of the phone and they tell you that in your face.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.