It’s a genuinely creepy feeling finding out that someone has been following you… nobody likes a stalker.

Well that is exactly what Apple has been doing on iPhones and iPads that are running an operating system (OS) 7 or greater; any device running iOS 7 on has a log of frequently visited locations stored in system preferences.

Now, for most of us that have “lather, rinse, repeat” daily routines, this feature is seemingly benign.  It does, however, beg the question – WHY?  Why is Apple recording the coordinates of my most visited locations?  And, more importantly, what are they doing with it?

One answer is that they are pairing this data with Location-Based iAds, which is also located in the same section of “Location Services.”

The good news is that you have the ability to disable these features on your devices – the catch is you have to know it is there in the first place.  The majority of Apple carrying consumers don’t know that this setting is enabled.  The end result is that they feel somewhat violated after finding out their last year has been cataloged in their phones.

See for yourself and let me know how you feel:

Step 1: Go to “Privacy” in Settings.

Step 2: Then select “Location Services.”

Step 3: Go to “System Services.”

Step 4: Select “Frequent Locations.”

Step 5: Click on “History.”

See map and amount of visits at each location: