On April 25, 2011, a Wall Street Journal article bore the headline “iPhone Stored Location in Test Even if Disabled,” reporting that the Apple iPhone “stores months’ worth of location data” even when the location services are turned off. The article explains that “[t]he discovery of an unencrypted location file on the iPhone created an uproar among people concerned that their phones could be searched and their location data used against them.” No doubt that the news also alerted law enforcement investigators to the usefulness of such data in conducting law enforcement investigations.

But can law enforcement officers access these data and other data from cellphones seized during an arrest without a warrant? The answer depends upon where in the country the arrest occurs.