What is this anonymous Twitter database on my iPad?

Question

On my iPad, under Safari/settings/databases, there was an entry from mobile.twitter.com with the name anonymous.

I don’t Twitter, never have, and don’t understand how that entry could have gotten there given the descriptions and my understanding of how the databases are supposed to work. In short, how does a person that doesn’t use Twitter or even have a Twitter account come to have an anonymous Safari database entry for Twitter on their iPad?

Answer

Great question!

The last big update (iOS5) for our mobile devices included adding Twitter into the core files. Apple figured that so many people used Twitter they would just build it in. If you did use Twitter, you could go to the settings area and just enter you login/pass and you’d be up and running without having to download additional software (it’s included).

I would say that it’s named “anonymous” because that is the default name for anyone who hasn’t set it up yet. It’s just an empty database. I use Twitter myself, so I’m not willing to see if I can delete that file or not (*wink*) – but why don’t you try deleting it if it bothers you? You might have to delete Twitter first. That being said, it might not let you since it’s part of the core files. And, I imagine when you do your next update it will put it back there again. So, now that I’ve spelled that out for you, I’m not sure I’d bother. But, if you try it, let me know what happens.

In any case, it’s not anything to be worried about. Apple just added somethings to make it easier for those of us that tweet. (: