Apple for one is a company that prides itself in its regard to the privacy of users. Even with that reassurance, there are still some settings you need to tweak on your device to better secure yourself and your information. Many of the new Privacy features were brought to life in 2021 with the birth of IOS 15 and Apple’s intention was to give its users more control over advertisers who track their activities online across different apps.
In brief, Apple stated that it should be the user and not the developer that decides what data they want or get to share. It sought to hand power to users and not to the various entities that lurk around prying and tracking users’ activity. Highlighted below are some of these privacy features that you need to know as an iPhone user;
Contents
Track permissions for App Developers
Usually, app developers are interested in tracking your behavior and search patterns over the web as you use certain apps, with the sole intention of sending targeted ads to you based on gathered information. Good enough, Apple has a feature that takes care of that. It prompts you if an app wants to track you.
To turn it on, open Settings> Privacy>Tracking and toggle on ‘Allow Apps to Request to Track.’ This way any apps that wish to track your activity will first seek your permission.
Detect Camera or Microphone Access
Apps that help you use the camera, record videos, make calls and video calls will always seek your permission to use your iPhone’s microphone or camera. Every time these apps try to access your microphone or camera, the iPhone indicates to you via a visual clue at the top of your screen “..would like to access the microphone or Camera.” The need to accept those permissions is entirely up to you, you can tap “Don’t Allow” or “OK.” When the dot is green, it implies your camera is in use while if it is an amber dot this implies your microphone is on. With these indications, you can act as you deem fit and comfortable with the access.
Safari Privacy Report
As an Apple user, you’ll most definitely conduct almost all your searches on the Safari browser. While you do so, Safari will prevent cross-site trackers from following you as you browse. All you have to do is ensure the setting is activated. Open Settings and scroll to Safari. Under privacy and security in the preceding menu turn on ‘Prevent Cross-site Tracking.’ The trackers will always be available under the Privacy Report accessed under the AA icon in your browser.
Read Also: 6 Apple Watch Features to Look Out For
Limit Photo Access
When you make the decision to choose a photo in a particular app, apps will require you permission to access certain photos from your Photos app. This protects your photo privacy. When this prompt appears, you will have three choices; Selected Photos, All Photos and None. Whichever option, suits you, tap on it. To set this up for all apps, go to Settings > Privacy > Photos. Select an app, change the setting to Selected Photos, and then choose the photos that the app can access.
Read Also: 9 Hidden Apple Notes features you need to know
Detecting problematic passwords
Having to keep a unique password for each app you use may be a hustle many people don’t want to endure. As a result, they adopt a single password for the many apps or come up with simple memorable ones. If you are a victim of such, luckily, your device will help you identify which ones are vulnerable.
To check, open Settings>Passwords>Security recommendations and toggle on the switch for ‘Detect Compromised Passwords.’ With this setup, the screen will indicate to you any risky passwords that ought to be changed.
Protect your mail activity
This is tailored at protecting you from advertisers that send you emails with the intention of tapping your location and information about your activity in the mail app. The protection comes under the Protect Mail Activity feature. It allows emails to load in the background privately thus shielding you from being tracked.
To turn it on, open settings>Mail>Privacy Protection and switch on Protect Mail Activity.
Sharing your location with certain services is scary. When you are required to share the location, you can choose to approximate location rather than your exact location. To set up this setting manually for individual apps, go Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Make sure Location Services is turned on, then swipe down to the list of apps. Tap a specific app to share your location either While Using or Always. At the next screen, turn off the switch for Precise Location, and the app will now use only your approximate location.