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...

Apple today shared a new privacy-focused Safari ad, which is designed to highlight the ways that Safari protects user privacy compared to other browsers. In the spot, security cameras are positioned as pesky birds and bats, hovering around smartphone users as they browse the web. The cameras are everywhere, representing website trackers. Much of the ad is focused on non-iPhone users, but...

Following the launch of the Vision Pro, Apple has shared a new document outlining various privacy and security measures for the headset. An overview of some of the Vision Pro's privacy policies, according to Apple:Where you look before you interact with content is not shared with Apple or the apps you are using, and does not leave the device. Apps you use cannot access information about...

Apple is "deeply concerned" that proposed changes to British surveillance legislation could give the U.K. government unprecedented powers to secretly prevent software updates from being released in any other country (via BBC News). The UK government is planning to update the Investigatory Powers Act (IPA), which came into effect in 2016 and allows the British Home Office to outlaw certain...

Security researcher Tommy Mysk has demonstrated that iPhone push notifications are being used by popular apps to covertly send data about the user. In a new video outlining the practice, Mysk highlighted how certain iOS apps exploit a feature introduced in iOS 10 that is designed to allow apps to customize push notifications. This feature, initially intended to enable apps to enrich...

Apple has updated its Legal Process Guidelines to reflect the company's legal obligation to comply with law enforcement requests for Apple ID information associated with its push notification service. The change follows yesterday's revelation that governments are actively using smartphone notification data as a user surveillance tool. In the section titled "Information Available from Apple," ...

Back in 2018, Apple held talks with DuckDuckGo to replace Google as the default search engine in private browsing mode, but ultimately rejected the idea, according to transcripts unsealed by the judge overseeing the US government's antitrust trial against Google in Washington. Testifying in closed sessions, DuckDuckGo CEO Gabriel Weinberg said that his company had about 20 meetings and phone ...

In celebration of Data Privacy Day on January 28, Apple has shared a short film in which actor Nick Mohammed from the hit Apple TV+ comedy series "Ted Lasso" learns about iPhone privacy features. Mohammed is accompanied by Von, who is an actual Specialist at Apple's Tower Theatre store in Los Angeles, according to Apple. In particular, the video highlights privacy features such as Mail...

A new analysis has claimed that Apple's device analytics contain information that can directly link information about how a device is used, its performance, features, and more, directly to a specific user, despite Apple's claims otherwise. On Twitter, security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry have found that Apple's device analytics data includes an ID called "dsId," which stands...

Apple is facing a proposed federal class action alleging that it records users' mobile activity without their consent and despite privacy assurances, in violation of the California Invasion of Privacy Act, reports Bloomberg. In a lawsuit filed by New York citizen and iPhone 13 owner Elliot Libman, Apple is accused of "utterly false" assurances that users are in control of what information...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today wrote a letter to the U.S. Senate advocating for strong privacy legislation at the federal level. The letter appears to be in response to a proposed bipartisan bill titled the "American Data Privacy and Protection Act" that would outline the types of data companies can collect from individuals and how they can use it. The letter, obtained by MacRumors, is addressed...

Apple today shared a new ad highlighting iPhone privacy features like App Tracking Transparency and Mail Privacy Protection that are designed to give users more transparency and control when it comes to their personal data being collected. The ad revolves around a young woman named Ellie who discovers that her personal data is being sold at an auction house, with bids being placed on her...

Apple's privacy chief Jane Horvath is listed as a speaker at the 2022 Computers, Privacy, and Data Protection conference in Brussels, Belgium. Apple is also sponsoring the conference, which is scheduled for May 23 through May 25. It's unclear when Horvath will speak or what topics she plans to discuss at the conference, but Apple has been advocating against the EU's proposed Digital Markets...

Meta, still better known as Facebook, plans to hire fewer new employees for the remainder of 2022 than previously planned, the company's chief financial officer, David Wehner, said in an internal memo obtained by Business Insider that partly blamed Apple. In the letter to Meta employees, Wehner said that the company needs to "take another look at our priorities and make some tough decisions...

Apple CEO Tim Cook today delivered the keynote speech at the Global Privacy Summit in Washington D.C. The conference, hosted by the International Association of Privacy Professionals, is focused on international privacy and data protection. Cook reflected on Apple's ongoing commitment to privacy, which the company has repeatedly described as a fundamental human right. "The fight to...

The International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) today announced that Apple CEO Tim Cook will headline this year's Global Privacy Summit, which will take place in person on April 11 to April 13 in Washington, D.C. Cook will provide the conference's keynote speech on April 12 at approximately 9:15 a.m. Eastern Time. His speech will be live-streamed on YouTube. "Tim Cook is a...

watchOS 8.5 fixes a security vulnerability in the Mail app that could leak a user's IP address when downloading remote content, security researchers have found. Last year, it emerged that Apple's Mail Privacy Protection feature was undermined by a lack of Apple Watch support. Mail Privacy Protection was a new feature introduced with iOS 15, iPadOS 15, and macOS Monterey that hides your IP...

Apple patched two significant security vulnerabilities when it released iOS 15 that could have potentially exposed users' private Apple ID information and in-app search history to malicious third-party apps and allowed apps to override user Privacy preferences, Apple has revealed in a recent support document update. With most iOS, macOS, tvOS, and watchOS updates, Apple provides a list of...

Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi today expressed his opposition to a provision in Europe's proposed Digital Markets Act that would require the iPhone to allow sideloading of apps outside of the App Store. Speaking at the Web Summit conference in Portugal, Federighi said sideloading would result in the "floodgates" opening to malware. Federighi said that while the Digital ...

As a result of its privacy features, Apple has cost social media companies including Meta, formerly known as Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and YouTube, nearly $10 billion in revenue in the second half of 2021, according to an investigation by the Financial Times. The Financial Times found that most users have opted out of tracking using Apple's App Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, a...

More than a dozen prominent cybersecurity experts hit out at Apple on Thursday for relying on "dangerous technology" in its controversial plan to detect child sexual abuse images on iPhones (via The New York Times). The damning criticism came in a new 46-page study by researchers that looked at plans by Apple and the European Union to monitor people's phones for illicit material, and called...