Sprint says 26 million handsets have Carrier IQ; AT&T claims 900K

Documents filed in response to Sen Al Franken (D-MN) show that Sprint is by far the biggest user of Carrier IQ's software, with more than 26 million handsets featuring the controversial mobile tracking tool.

Sprint noted that it has been using Carrier IQ software since 2006 but insisted that the only information it collects and uses is related to network and device performance. AT&T, another major wireless carrier, said it has integrated the software into about 900,000 handsets, although it is collecting data only from about 575,000 of them. Sen Franken had asked the carriers for such details as how many devices had the software installed, how long they had been using the software, what they were using it for and what data was being collected with it.