A tracking feature in the latest beta version of Apple's iOS 7 has caused a stir on the web, as it continually tracks iPhone and iPad users' locations and stores them in a log. The discovery was made by a developer on a German security forum and has triggered a mass panic, with many existing iPhone users worried about invasions of privacy.

The feature is part of a larger service that will learn a user's behavior and be able to identify his or her favorite locations in order to improve services, such as local maps, transit news and other contextual features.

What's more, it can be disabled in the settings menu.

The discovery was made in a beta version of the operating system so there's a chance that the tracking feature might not eventually make it into the finished version of the iOS 7 software.