this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2026
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Apple forced an update on iphones that auto-updated TikTok, which now has mandatory reporting of your geolocation (including SIM card and GPS info). This geolocation sharing can't be turned off in Settings like all other apps. It is greyed out for TikTok.
You think this is all coincidental?
On the one hand, I am anything but surprised by such a development. But at the same time, this also sounds like typical disinformation.
Is there someone in the US with an iPhone, who's willing to verify? Or, with a Android phone, who's willing to test if a similar thing is the case on that platform, too?
No way, for real?
Have a link for that? That is crazy if true.
https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-privacy-policy/
https://piunikaweb.com/2026/01/23/tiktok-privacy-policy-update-january-2026/
https://www.tomsguide.com/computing/social-media/is-tiktok-u-s-broken-or-working-as-intended-3-terrifying-terms-of-service-changes-may-explain-whats-really-going-on
Side note: tomsguide is now horrifically hard to read.
Man, I really hope TilTok crashes and burns now. It'd be so fuckin funny if they went through this entire acquisition to have users completely abandon it.
How the fuck is that even legal to force opt in on location.
Google has gotten in a lot of shit for not properly letting people control that before and delete histories.
"Legal" is now (more) dependant on political loyalty than it is actual jurisprudence.
Legal is whatever the fascist party leadership decrees.
fReE sPeEcH dOeSnT aPpLy tO CoMpAnIeS
“Apple”
“Forced”
No, TikTok pushed out an update and you had auto updates turned on.
Go to Settings > Apps > App Store to turn this setting off.
More info here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/102629
There’s probably something similar on Android devices as well.
This wasn't on my phone. I don't have TikTok installed on either my personal or work cell phone. It was on my wife's phone, which always has auto-updates turned off. She hates updates and never lets them happen. She woke up one morning and TikTok was updated with no way to turn that off. Two of her friends also complained that their apps auto-updated overnight.