Following the reveal of iOS 8, it looks as if Apple has quietly scored itself a brownie-point for providing another smidgen of privacy with the new operating system.

iOS 8 will feature randomising MAC addresses for mobile devices, which will basically cause a lot of confusion for location-trackers, which is a big privacy win for users.

When iOS 8 devices look for a connection, they randomise that address, effectively disguising any trace of the real device until it decides to connect to a network.

But what are these data-trackers? And why should you care?

[A data-tracker] automatically logs any phone within Wi-Fi range, giving stores a complete record of who walked into the shop and when. But any phone using iOS 8 will be invisible to the process, potentially calling the whole system into question.

So your iPhone will be incognito. You’ll be like James Bond… without the fast cars and faster women, that is.

[source: The Verge]