Apple Privacy

Digital privacy is a perennial hot topic these days, and Apple is regarded as being at the forefront of security when it comes to smartphone and tablet operating systems. For example, for an app to access your iPhone or iPad's camera, camera and microphone access must be enabled for the app in question in the Settings app. Social media apps will often ask you for access to your device's...

In iOS 17, Apple offers finer-grained control over what apps can see in terms of your calendars. Keep reading to learn how to manage app calendar access on a per-app basis. In iOS 16, Apple allowed users to enable or disable individual app access to their calendars using a simple on/off toggle, but that was about all you could do. In iOS 17, by contrast, there are now three options instead...

In iOS 17, Apple offers much more control over what apps can see in terms of your photos. Keep reading to learn how to manage app access on a per-app basis. In iOS, Apple's in-app photos picker lets you share specific photos with apps while the rest of your Photo Library stays private. Apps must ask to access your entire photo library, and you can choose to give apps the following access: ...

In iOS 16, Apple added a new Safety Check feature that's designed to make it easy for users to quickly reset all of the data and location access that they have granted to other people. Keep reading to learn how it works and how to use it. Safety Check is a new option in iOS 16 that lets you stay aware of and reset all of the access to your data and location that you have granted to others....

When you browse the web on your devices, websites will often leave cookies on your system so that they can remember you and what your preferences are. Some cookies are genuinely useful, as they allow sites to save your personal information (such as your login credentials) so that you don't have to keep entering it every time you visit. However, for the same reason, cookies can pose a...

In iOS 14 and later, your iPhone or iPad can use a different MAC address with each Wi-Fi network to prevent network operators from tracking your phone across different WiFi networks. To communicate with a Wi-Fi network, a device has to identify itself to the network with a unique network address called a media access control (MAC) address. If your iOS device always uses the same Wi-Fi MAC...

This article explains how to delete your Siri audio interaction history and opt out of sharing audio recordings with Apple on Macs. In 2019, it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized ‌Siri‌ recordings to evaluate the virtual assistant's responses with the purpose of improving accuracy and reliability. The Guardian revealed that Apple...

This article explains how to delete your Siri audio interaction history and opt out of sharing audio recordings with Apple on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. How to Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing on HomePod How to Delete Your Siri Audio History on HomePod In 2019, it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized Siri recordings to evaluate the virtual...

This article explains how to delete your Siri audio interaction history and opt out of sharing audio recordings with Apple on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. How to Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing How to Delete Your Siri Audio History Earlier this year, it was discovered that Apple hired contractors to listen to a small percentage of anonymized Siri recordings to evaluate the virtual...

Mozilla this week began piloting its own browser-based VPN service, and if you're located in the U.S. you can start testing it for free right away. Called the Firefox Private Network, the service promises Firefox users a more secure, encrypted path to the web that prevents eavesdroppers from spying on your browsing activity and hides your location from websites and ad trackers. In that...

Apple has doubled down on its privacy features in iOS 13, giving iPhone and iPad users a more granular view of how apps access their location information. On Apple devices, the location services that apps can tap into use GPS, Bluetooth, and crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cellular mast locations to determine your approximate location. The good news is that iOS 13 makes you more aware of how...

Apple now allows its customers to download a copy of their personally identifiable data from Apple apps and services. This can include purchase or app usage history, Apple Music and Game Center statistics, marketing history, AppleCare support history, and any data stored on Apple servers, including the likes of calendars, photos, and documents. This article outlines the steps you need to take ...

Every time you visit a website you are sharing information about yourself with the outside world. This article runs through a number of methods you can use to gain more control over what gets shared, and who it gets shared with, whenever you use Apple's Safari browser to access the web on a Mac. It also covers methods you can use to prevent traces of your browsing history from showing up on...

Every time you visit a website on your iPhone or iPad, you are sharing information about yourself with the outside world. This guide runs through a number of methods you can use to gain more control over what gets shared, and who it gets shared with, whenever you use Apple's Safari browser to access the web on an iOS device. It also covers some methods you can use to prevent traces of your...

Cloudflare has today announced that it has developed a new internet protocol, in collaboration with engineers from Apple and Fastly, focused on privacy (via TechCrunch). The protocol, dubbed "Oblivious DNS-over-HTTPS," or "ODoH," makes it more difficult for internet service providers to know which websites users have visited. When visiting a website, browsers use a DNS resolver to...

Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi has warned developers to "play by the rules" as they relate to Apple's upcoming anti-tracking policy for iOS 14, or their apps could be removed from the App Store. Starting early next year, iOS 14 will require apps to get opt-in permission from users to collect their random advertising identifier, which advertisers use to deliver...

Following Apple's confirmation that it still plans to introduce a new App Tracking Transparency feature that will let users know when companies want to track them across apps and websites, which has attracted criticism from companies such as Facebook, Craig Federighi has explained more about the rationale behind the change to The Independent. The App Tracking Transparency feature allows...

Apple today shared a humorous new privacy-focused iPhone ad in which people awkwardly overshare their personal information with strangers, such as their credit card number, login details, and web browsing history. On a bus, for example, a man loudly proclaims that he has browsed eight websites for divorce attorneys that day. And during dinner at a restaurant, a woman tells the other two...

iOS 14, iPadOS 14, and macOS Big Sur include some notable privacy updates that offer useful privacy protections for those that invest in and use Apple's range of iPhones, iPads, and Macs. In an interview with Fast Company, Apple software chief Craig Federighi highlighted all of the new privacy features that users can look forward to when the new software updates come out this fall, plus he...

Encrypted messaging app Signal is rolling out a new face-blurring feature that automatically locates and blurs faces in images shared over the platform. In a blog post announcing the update, Signal co-founder Moxie Marlinspike explained that the tool was a response to a surge in traffic, spurred by ongoing protests around the world against racism and poice brutality. Many of the people and ...

Apple and Google are said to be in a "standoff" with the UK's health service over its plans to build an app that alerts users when they have been in contact with someone with coronavirus. Apple and Google announced on Friday that they are working together on Bluetooth technology to help governments and health agencies reduce the spread of the COVID-19 virus around the world. Apple says...

Zoom is facing fresh scrutiny today following a report that the videoconferencing app's encryption claims are misleading. Zoom states on its website and in its security white paper that the app supports end-to-end encryption, a term that refers to a way of protecting user content so that the company has no access to it whatsoever. However, an investigation by The Intercept reveals that...

The U.S. government is using smartphone location data from the mobile ad industry to track people's movements amid the coronavirus outbreak, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Local governments and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have received the anonymized data about people in areas of "geographic interest," with the aim being to create a portal of geolocation...

Israel has passed emergency measures that will allow security agencies to track the smartphone data of people with suspected COVID-19 and find others they may have come into contact with (via BBC News). The Israeli government said the new powers will be used to identify people infected with coronavirus and make sure they're following quarantine rules. On Monday, an Israeli parliamentary...

The director general of Britain's Security Service is arguing for "exceptional access" to encrypted messages, in the ongoing battle between authorities and technology companies, reports The Guardian. MI5 head Andrew Parker MI5's director general has called on technology companies to find a way to allow spy agencies "exceptional access" to encrypted messages, amid fears they cannot otherwise...

Apple's chief privacy officer attended a discussion panel at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Tuesday to debate the state of consumer privacy, marking the first time in 28 years that Apple has been at CES in an official capacity. Apple's privacy officer at CES 2020 panel (Image: Parker Ortolani) Jane Horvath, Apple's senior director for global privacy, joined an all-female panel...

The New York Times today claimed that it has obtained a file with the precise location of over 12 million smartphones over a period of several months in 2016 and 2017. While this data is technically anonymized, the report details how easy it is to associate specific data points with specific individuals. With the help of publicly available information, like home addresses, The New York Times ...

Privacy oriented search engine DuckDuckGo today released an updated version of its browser extension for desktop Safari users running macOS Catalina. The launch comes after DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials had to be removed from the Safari extensions gallery following major changes introduced in Safari 12 that made the extension incompatible. From the DuckDuckGo website: As you may be aware,...

Apple today announced an update to its privacy website that touches on various new privacy benefits found in iOS 13, iPadOS 13, watchOS 6, and more. Apple's updated website includes white papers on how the company approaches privacy in Safari, Sign in with Apple, Location Services, and Photos, providing visitors with a deeper insight into the company's privacy mission. The website reinforces ...

An appeals court in London has reinstated a lawsuit filed against Google that accuses the company of unlawfully gathering personal information by circumventing the iPhone's default privacy settings, according to Bloomberg. The collective action, equivalent to a class action lawsuit in the United States, alleged that Google illegally tracked and gathered the personal data of over four million ‌...

Apple's WebKit team has published a "WebKit Tracking Prevention Policy" that details a range of anti-tracking measures it has developed and the types of tracking practices it believes are harmful to users. Inspired by Mozilla's anti-tracking policy, the document posted to the WebKit blog provides an insight into the anti-tracking features built into Apple's Safari browser that the team hopes ...

Apple started underlining its privacy stance earlier this year with a billboard marketing campaign that began in Las Vegas and later came to Canada, and this week the company has extended it to Europe. Brought to our attention by Macerkopf.de, the new billboards in both Hamburg and Berlin play on their location, while emphasizing how much importance Apple attaches to user privacy and data...

Apple has debuted two new billboards in Canada that underline the company's privacy stance, following a similar privacy-focused marketing campaign in Las Vegas during the Consumer Electronics Show back in January. New Apple billboard outside Sidewalk Toronto HQ: “We’re in the business of staying out of yours.” pic.twitter.com/I24iAxkXzZ— Matt Elliott (@GraphicMatt) 3 July 2019 The new...

At WWDC 2019 earlier this month, Apple announced Sign In with Apple, a new privacy-focused login feature that will allow macOS Catalina and iOS 13 users to sign into third-party apps and websites using their Apple ID. The feature has been largely welcomed as a more secure alternative to similar sign-in services offered by Facebook, Google, and Twitter, since it authenticates the user with F...