Apple’s iPhone location tracking bug fix may land in next two weeks

Apple has said it will fix the iPhone’s location tracking “bug” with an update in the next few weeks, but that fix may be coming sooner than you think, according to mobile site Boy Genius Report.

BGR, which apparently has its hands on the update (iOS 4.3.3) early, writes that it will land in the next two weeks, “possibly sooner.” It’s not exactly Earth-shattering news, but it’s clear that Apple doesn’t want this issue to linger longer than it needs to.

Apple previously said that it’s not actually tracking iPhone locations, instead it’s been compiling a crowdsourced database of cell tower and WiFi hotspot locations — “some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone,” Apple stresses — to speed up GPS services on the iPhones.

Specifically, BGR says the update will stop the iPhone from backing up its location database to iTunes, and it will also reduce the size of the database on the iPhone. Additionally, the update will delete the location database completely from the iPhone when Location Services are turned off — which may net you a bit more privacy but will severely slow down your iPhone’s GPS tracking. The update will also include battery life improvements and other bug fixes.