Starting with iOS 13 and in subsequent versions of iOS, Apple has imposed stricter privacy controls on apps that wish to access certain information that could be used to infer a user’s location. Prior to these changes, apps could access SSID (the name of the Wi-Fi network) without requesting location permissions. However, because these identifiers can be used to determine a device’s location, Apple changed their policy to require apps to have explicit location permission to access them.
To protect user privacy, apps must now request and be granted permission to use location services before they can access these network identifiers. This provides a clearer indication to the user that their location data could be used or collected by the app.
When an app requests location permissions, it’s meant to be a transparent process where the app must declare why it needs this information. The user can then make an informed decision about whether to grant such permissions based on the context provided by the app. This change reflects a broader industry trend toward greater personal data protection and user awareness of privacy issues.