HTC confirms Carrier IQ exit on Sprint

On the heels of a discovery that an update to the Evo 3D pulled Carrier IQ, HTC has confirmed in a statement that all of its Android phones on Sprint will have the controversial diagnostic tool removed. It promised The Verge "maintenance releases" starting this month that would drop Carrier IQ at the same time as they provided security fixes and overall updates. How long it would take to update every phone wasn't mentioned.

The carrier had already stopped taking data in December, but until now had left the software in.

After souring the public with its initial reaction to inquiries, Carrier IQ mostly settled fears that it might be scraping private information and instead showed that it was only sending anonymous call and data performance information. Its attempts to calm users may have come too late, though, as it created enough of a negative perception that many don't want it even after an explanation. HTC's devices in particular may have been subject to a bug that collected many kinds of device actions, not just calls and Internet access, from Carrier IQ.

Without the Carrier IQ data, Sprint may have a harder though not impossible time determining which areas are having reliability or performance problems. Apple stopped using Carrier IQ in iOS 4, albeit with software still present, and purged the software altogether in iOS 5.

By Electronista Staff