While Apple’s mobile platform has a huge number of users across the world some aspects have come under fire in the past especially its applications and how they deal with user information, but today we have news that iOS 6 will require strict user permission before apps are allowed to access user information.

Earlier this year the company was criticised by consumers and Congress after it was found that apps such as Path, were uploading users address books to its servers without first asking for permission or alerting users. As MacRumors are reporting Path later deleted the information, but it still led to a couple of US Congressmen sending a letter to Apple asking for clarification on the company’s data collection polices.

LinkedIn also recently came under fire for sending info from iOS calendar entries back to its servers in plain text, and in the OS X Mountain Lion beta the company began requiring apps to get permission to access user’s address book information. Then in February Apple said that any iOS app “wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release”.

According to the iOS 6 Release Notes the Data Privacy section, with iOS 6 the company will require applications to get explicit user permission before gaining access to Calendars, Contacts, Photos, and Reminders. As the likes of the iPhone and iPad have grown dramatically in popularity the company has come under increasing scrutiny over its privacy practices, and app developers with products on the App Store.

In 2011 Senator Al Franken requested that both Apple and Google push app developers to have clearer and more understandable privacy policies. The company later agreed to comply with a new California law that requires links to privacy policies in consistent locations, and to provide a way for users to report applications that meet privacy requirements.

Apple now asks iOS users if Location Services should be switched on during the initial setup process, and iOS 6 is now available to developers in beta and is expected to be released in the fall.

Do you worry about app privacy issues?