For all the conveniences and cool features they offer, applications for mobile devices also can introduce problems that greatly expand on the universe of security and privacy issues we’ve come to know and love as PC users. We’ve seen that recently with an application written for Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) iOS—its operating system for mobile devices—that copied address book information without user permission.

It also turns out that a similar feature is built into some apps that provide smartphone users with location information. The apps sort through the phone’s library of photos and video files, each of which contains location- and time-specific data, and processes that data to help provide new location-based information. The problem is, there is a loophole in the app software that allows photos and videos to be uploaded to the app developer’s server without the consent of the app user.

Apple didn’t respond to request for comment from the New York Times’ Bits blog or from tech news site The Verge, which noted that it spoke to “sources familiar with the situation” who said that a fix was in the works and likely would be included on the upcoming release of iOS. The sources also told The Verge that the loophole was a design error, not an intended feature.

Many location-specific apps sold through Apple’s App Store work on the iPhone, the iPad, and the iPod Touch, and Apple, serving as the store gatekeeper, has been trying to weed out apps with flaws or nefarious designs. The growing concern of course is that, for all of Apple’s gatekeeping, problem apps will continue to creep through.