Apple Privacy on MacRumors (2024)

iPhone Displays Green and Orange Dots: What Do They Mean?

Monday November 27, 2023 2:58 am PST by Tim Hardwick

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...

iOS 17: How to Control Which Apps Have Access to Your Calendars

Monday September 11, 2023 7:50 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

iOS 17: How to Control Which Apps Have Access to Your Photos

Monday September 11, 2023 7:50 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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: ...

How to Quickly Reset Your Data and Location Access Permissions on iPhone

Wednesday September 14, 2022 3:10 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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....

How to Delete Cookies in Safari

Tuesday March 23, 2021 5:30 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Prevent Network Operators From Tracking Your iPhone or iPad Across Wi-Fi Networks

Thursday October 15, 2020 11:21 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Delete Your Siri Audio History and Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing on Mac

Thursday May 14, 2020 10:57 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Delete Siri Audio History and Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing on HomePod

Thursday October 31, 2019 2:13 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Delete Your Siri Audio History and Opt Out of Siri Audio Sharing

Tuesday October 29, 2019 9:18 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Use Firefox Private Network to Encrypt Your Web Traffic

Thursday September 12, 2019 2:18 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Restrict an App's Location Access in iOS 13

Wednesday July 24, 2019 10:08 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

How to Request a Copy of Your Apple ID Account Data

Wednesday October 17, 2018 1:30 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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 ...

Protecting Your Privacy in Safari for OS X El Capitan

Friday August 5, 2016 10:27 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

Protecting Your Privacy in Safari for iOS

Thursday July 28, 2016 12:36 pm PDT by Tim Hardwick

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...

All New and Updated App Store Apps Required to Have a Privacy Policy Starting October

Apple has announced that, starting October 3, 2018, all new apps and app updates will require a privacy policy in order to be submitted for distribution on the App Store or through TestFlight for beta testing purposes. Apple already requires a privacy policy for apps that access personal information, including apps that offer subscriptions, accept Apple Pay, or use Apple frameworks such as...

Idle Android Devices Send Data to Google Nearly 10 Times More Often Than iOS Devices do to Apple, Research Finds

Wednesday August 22, 2018 5:25 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Idle Android devices typically send data ten times more often to Google than iOS devices do to Apple's servers, according to new research shared by trade association Digital Content Next. In a paper titled "Google Data Collection," Douglas C. Schmidt, a computer science professor at Vanderbilt University, arrives at some stark conclusions regarding how much Google is collecting about...

Facebook Fights US Government Demand to Break Messenger Encryption in Criminal Case

Saturday August 18, 2018 3:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Facebook is contesting a demand from the U.S. government that it break the encryption of its popular Messenger app so that law enforcement can listen in to a suspect's conversations as part of an ongoing investigation into the MS-13 gang. The U.S. Department of Justice's demand is in relation to a case proceeding in a federal court in California that is currently under seal, so public files...

Apple Responds to U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce: 'The Customer is Not Our Product'

Last month, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce sent letters to Apple and Google parent company Alphabet with 16 multi-part questions about how the companies handle customer data. Apple has since responded to the letter, reiterating the company's belief that "privacy is a fundamental human right" and that it purposely designs its products and services to minimize its collection...

New 'Miles' App Awards Your Daily Commute With Exclusive Deals, If You Grant it Constant Location Access

Startup "Miles" today launched a new iOS app [Direct Link] that grants its users exclusive rewards to use at places like Starbucks and Whole Foods every time they travel in a car, bus, on a bike, or on foot. The company aims for its app to be a ground transportation alternative to frequent flier miles, allowing users to earn discounts over time for travel that they likely perform more frequently...

Apple's Chinese iCloud Data Moved to Servers Managed by State-Owned Mobile Operator

Wednesday July 18, 2018 2:11 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple's Chinese iCloud operator has agreed a deal with state-owned China Telecom to transfer local customer data to the company's Tianyi cloud storage business, according to TechCrunch. China Telecom reportedly announced the agreement in a WeChat post, saying that local Apple partner Guizhou-Cloud Big Data (GCBD) had migrated all Chinese iCloud customer data to Tianyi servers. Apple separately ...

Lawmakers Question Apple and Google on Personal Data Collection Policies

Monday July 9, 2018 11:53 am PDT by Juli Clover

The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee this morning sent letters to Apple and Google parent company Alphabet to ask 16 multi-part questions about how the companies handle customer data, according to a press release. The letter to Apple [PDF] cites recent media reports as the reason for the inquiry, referencing November news suggesting Android collects extensive user location data even...

Tech Advocacy Group That Includes Apple Meeting This Wednesday to Discuss Online Privacy

Members of the Information Technology Industry Council plan to meet this Wednesday, June 27 in San Francisco to discuss "how to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy online." The news comes from Axios, and members of ITI in attendance will reportedly include Apple, Facebook, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and more -- although specific attendees have...

Supreme Court Rules Police Need Warrants to Obtain a User's Smartphone Location Data

The United States Supreme Court today ruled that the government "is required" to obtain a warrant if it wants to gain access to data found on a civilian's smartphone, but only when it's related to the user's location data (via The New York Times). Image via Wikimedia Commons The decision is expected to have major implications for digital privacy moving forward as it pertains to legal cases,...

White House Reportedly Interested in Developing 'Counter-Weight' to Europe's GDPR Privacy Laws

Last month, Europe implemented its General Data Protection Regulation in an effort to protect the data of all individuals within the European Union, with some aspects affecting users worldwide. According to a new report by Axios, the White House is "in the early stages" of figuring out what a federal approach to online data privacy would look like in the United States. So far, special...

Australia Prepares Laws Forcing Tech Companies to Help Police Access Encrypted Data of Criminals

Australia is gearing up to release new laws that will force Australian telecommunications companies and global tech companies to comply with law enforcement agencies, when such agencies ask for access to encrypted data on the smartphones of suspected criminals (via ABC News Australia). The laws are the latest in an ongoing global data battle that hit a fever pitch in the United States in early...

macOS Mojave Removes Integration With Third-Party Internet Accounts Like Twitter and Facebook

Wednesday June 6, 2018 4:02 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

When Apple released iOS 11, the company removed built-in integration with Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, and Vimeo, a feature that allowed iPhone and iPad users to store their third-party account information and access it within apps that needed to use those services. The equivalent integration remains in macOS High Sierra, but Reddit user Marc1199 has noted that Apple appears to have removed...

New Report Claims Facebook Gave Apple, Samsung, and Other Device Makers Deep Access to Data on Users and Friends

Facebook forged an agreement with at least 60 device makers including Apple and Samsung to provide access to large swathes of user data without explicit consent, in a move that may have violated a 2011 Federal Trade Commission consent decree. According to a lengthy report in The New York Times, the social network made the deals so that device makers could use APIs to include Facebook...

Apple Launches New Data and Privacy Website

Wednesday May 23, 2018 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

Apple has launched a new Data & Privacy website that includes an option for Apple users to download all the data associated with their Apple ID account that the company keeps on its servers. The data download that users are able to request includes purchase and app usage history, calendars, reminders, photos, and documents stored in iCloud, Apple Music and Game Center statistics, marketing...

Anti-Surveillance Coalition That Includes Apple Condemns Proposals for Device Backdoors

Wednesday May 2, 2018 1:53 pm PDT by Juli Clover

The Reform Government Surveillance coalition, which includes several major tech companies who have teamed up to lobby for surveillance law reform, this week released a statement condemning recent proposals for backdoor access into electronic devices and reaffirming a commitment to strong encryption. The coalition is made up of multiple tech companies who have taken a strong stance against...

Russia Bans Access to Telegram Encrypted Messenger Service [Updated]

Friday April 13, 2018 3:29 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

A Russian law court has ordered that access to the Telegram encrypted messaging service should be blocked, according to Russian news agencies on Friday (via Reuters). The development follows last week's news that Russia's media regulator had filed legal proceedings to block the app in the country because the company refused to enable state security services to access users' messages. The...

Facebook Messenger Adds New Admin Privileges Amid Backlash Over Company's Mishandling of User Data

Facebook today announced the rollout of a new feature in Messenger called "Admin Privileges." With this toggled on, the company said that it will give specific users in a group chat "more control" over who partakes in the chat, and should help boost the app's privacy. If you have admin privileges you'll be able to approve or decline new members before they join the chat, remove members already ...

Facebook Announces Series of Updates Aimed at Improving User Privacy

Facebook this week has detailed how it plans to give its users "more control" of their privacy on the mobile and desktop versions of the social network. One of the major new additions is described as a "privacy center" that will provide simple tools to manage privacy and combine all core privacy settings into one easy-to-find interface. In order to explain how to use these features to its...

DuckDuckGo Launches Redesigned Privacy Browser Extension and Mobile App With Anti-Tracking Features

Tuesday January 23, 2018 3:00 am PST by Tim Hardwick

Privacy oriented search engine DuckDuckGo today launched revamped versions of its browser extension and standalone mobile app, promising users seamless built-in tracker network blocking and smarter encryption. The headline feature in both the DuckDuckGo browser extension and mobile app is a Privacy Grade rating (A-F) information card whenever a user visits a site. The rating aims to let them...

Ad Firms Hit Hard by Apple's Intelligent Tracking Prevention Feature in Safari

Tuesday January 9, 2018 2:11 pm PST by Juli Clover

Internet ad firms are losing out on "hundreds of millions of dollars" following the implementation of anti-tracking features introduced to Safari with iOS 11 and macOS High Sierra, reports The Guardian. One of the largest advertising firms, Criteo, announced in December that Intelligent Tracking Prevention could have a 22 percent net negative impact on its 2018 revenue projections. Other...

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