# KrauseFx/detect.location

An easy way to access the user's iOS location data without actually having access

Repository: https://github.com/KrauseFx/detect.location
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/detectlocation
Homepage: https://krausefx.com
Language: Objective-C
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2020-06-23T09:52:08+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3266, "days_push": 2262, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1256, forks 74 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:09.238655+00:00)

## What it is
A proof-of-concept iOS library and demo app that extracts a user's location history from photo metadata in the image library, without requiring location permissions. It was created to demonstrate a privacy loophole that Apple fixed in iOS 14.

## Use cases
- demonstrate iOS photo metadata privacy loopholes
- extract location history from a user's photo library
- show which cities and countries a user has visited from photos
- identify devices a user has owned via photo metadata
- audit how apps can abuse photo library access

## When to choose
- you are a security or privacy researcher demonstrating iOS metadata privacy issues
- you want to educate users about what photo library access exposes

## When to avoid
- you want to build a production iOS app - the author explicitly says not to use it in production
- you need maintained code - the loophole was fixed in iOS 14 and the project is abandoned

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: abandoned
- function: privacy, image-processing, security
- domain: privacy, security, mobile-development, image-processing
- platform: -
- tags: photo-metadata, exif, location-data, proof-of-concept, privacy-research, ios, swift, objective-c

## Member repositories
- KrauseFx/detect.location (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:09.238655+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T05:07:14.506014+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/KrauseFx/detect.location (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:09.238655+00:00, sha 6653b19a566a)
  - homepage: https://krausefx.com (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:30.427176+00:00, sha 0b73c5fc0dd7)
  - site_page: https://krausefx.com/about (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:30.438277+00:00, sha da89358c9f9d)
  - site_page: https://krausefx.com/blog/openclaw-my-automation-setup (fetched 2026-08-29T12:17:30.440477+00:00, sha 1a19fc53e450)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.