iOS Location Tracking Controversy and Response

Since the reporting last week that iPhones keep a record of location data, information and misinformation has been inundating the tech news world. This week Apple responded to the reports.
Turns out that iPhones have been keeping cache of cell phone tower positions, not tracking your exact location. And this information is stored on your iPhone and backed up to your computer along with everything else on your iPhone. But it is not sent to Apple or anyone else. The data apparently helps speed up location determination used by apps.
So if you iPhone come near a cell phone tower, it downloads the exact GPS location of that tower and stores it in a database. There are too many towers for every iPhone to store every tower location, so only ones you have come close to are downloaded and stored. Then the relative signal strengths can of the towers near you can be used to get a rough idea of where you are when apps need to know your location. This estimated location can be figured out quickly, whereas the data from GPS satellites takes longer to acquire.
Conflicting news reports say that Android phones also do this, and other phones may as well. Many local governments are investigating the news and whether it constitutes an invasion of privacy in any way.
In an official response this week, Apple said it will stop including this data as part of your iPhone’s backup. They also said that the iPhone itself will only store seven days worth of data, rather than a year or more. Plus, when you turn off location services the cache will be cleared. All of these changes will appear in an update coming in the next few weeks.