Given that there are millions of iPhone users out there, how does one differentiate the “good” from the “bad”? In a bid to help prevent fraudulent purchases from the iTunes Store or fraudulent activity in general, it seems that Apple has decided to roll out a “trust score” rating for iOS users.Unsurprisingly exactly how these scores are calculated is anyone’s guess, but there are some who are concerned about the privacy implications behind such scores. However Apple has since reassured users that they are not tracking their users, and that there are no unique identifiers that could be used for targeted advertising.
According to Apple, “To help identify and prevent fraud, information about how you use your device, including the approximate number of phone calls or emails you send and receive, will be used to compute a device trust score when you attempt a purchase. The submissions are designed so Apple cannot learn the real values on your device. The scores are stored for a fixed time on our servers.”
The idea is that by monitoring your usage patterns and assigning a score, Apple can identify users by how they use their phones. This means that in the event that you start making purchases that are out of the ordinary, or if the usage pattern changes drastically, it might infer that your phone could be used by someone else that isn’t you. Unfortunately there is no way of checking what your score is at the moment.