Skip to main content

Path updates iOS app with ‘opt-in’ contacts upload, apologizes to users

Sorry-apology-shutterstock
Image used with permission by copyright holder

When it comes to handling a PR crisis, the best bet is to be 100 percent honest and transparent with your customers, and to act as quickly as possible to fix the problem. And that is exactly what social network app company Path has done.

As many of you likely already know, a developer discovered on Tuesday that the latest version of Path (“Path 2”) for iOS was uploading users’ entire address books to the Path servers without first getting explicit user consent. A bombardment from the media (Digital Trends included) followed. And Path’s co-founder and CEO David Morin quickly responded, saying a new version with an “opt-in” feature would be out soon.

Recommended Videos

Well, that time has come. In a letter sent out to the media and posted on the company blog, Path announced that version 2.0.6 has been approved by Apple, and is now ready for download. (If you already have Path, simply update the app.) In addition, the company has apologized to users, saying what it did “was wrong.”

“Through the feedback we’ve received from all of you, we now understand that the way we had designed our ‘Add Friends’ feature was wrong,” writes Morin. “We are deeply sorry if you were uncomfortable with how our application used your phone contacts.

“In the interest of complete transparency we want to clarify that the use of this information is limited to improving the quality of friend suggestions when you use the ‘Add Friends’ feature and to notify you when one of your contacts joins Path––nothing else. We always transmit this and any other information you share on Path to our servers over an encrypted connection. It is also stored securely on our servers using industry standard firewall technology.”

Morin adds that, “as a clear signal of our commitment to your privacy,” Path has completely deleted all of the user data it previously collected. In version 2.0.6 of Path, users can decide whether to “opt-in” to let Path access contacts. And if any user would like to opt out later, he or she can send an email to service@path.com, and the company “will promptly see to it that your contact information are removed.”

The current Android version of Path was updated recently with the opt-in feature.

As we noted earlier today, it is not entirely clear how Path and other apps (like Hipster) were allowed to access user contact data without explicit consent. Apple’s iOS API clearly gives app developers the ability to add this feature, but also says in its guidelines that apps must get user permission before accessing any “data about the user.” We asked Apple for comment on the matter, but they have still not responded. Perhaps they were just busy rushing the new version of Path through the approval process.

[Image via Mr_MW/Shutterstock]

Topics
Andrew Couts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Features Editor for Digital Trends, Andrew Couts covers a wide swath of consumer technology topics, with particular focus on…
If your iPhone can handle iOS 18.2, it can probably handle iOS 19
An iPhone 15 Pro Max running iOS 18, showing its home screen.

The last few iPhone updates have brought a lot of changes with them. Just take a look at iOS 18.2: It introduced a ton of AI-powered features that had never before been available. If you have an older phone, it's easy to worry that its hardware won't be up to snuff for the next round of updates. For now, you can breathe easy: If your iPhone can handle iOS 18, then it should also work with iOS 19, according to a new leak.

The news comes from the French site iPhoneSoft. Although Apple guarantees five years of support for its devices, some devices get supported for longer periods of time, but this tip suggests that any phone currently capable of downloading and installing iOS 18 will also work with iOS 19, although some features could be limited.

Read more
The next iOS 18 update is on its way. Here’s what we know
The iPhone 16 sitting on top of orange mums.

When iOS 18.2 released just over a week ago, it unlocked a lot of long-awaited features like Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, and improvements to writing tools. Now, it seems like another update could be just around the corner: version 18.2.1.

MacRumors found evidence of the update in their analytic logs, a source that has supposedly revealed quite a few iOS versions before release. Given that this is a minor update, it isn't likely to come with new features or anything groundbreaking. Instead, it will most likely be targeted at bug fixes, although no specific problems have been named. You should expect this update to drop either in late December or early January, but a year-end release is more likely.

Read more
How to use Visual Intelligence on your iPhone with iOS 18.2
Using Visual Intelligence on an iPhone 16 Pro showing ChatGPT answer.

Though the iPhone 16 series launched in September, it shipped with iOS 18 sans Apple Intelligence. Instead, Apple began rolling out Apple Intelligence features starting with iOS 18.1, and then more AI tools arrived in iOS 18.2, including Visual Intelligence for the iPhone 16.

Read more