10 ways Apple helps you celebrate Data Privacy Day
Cook speaks privacy
January 28 is Data Privacy Day. To celebrate it, I thought it might be fun to share ten ways you can and should protect your own privacy using Apple devices. The idea behind all of these tools is that Apple is empowering its customers to control the data they have on all their devices.
It’s not unusual to learn about Apple privacy protection. The company leads the industry in delivering privacy protection for users, and while privacy protection is an endless battle, just like any other form of security, it’s pretty useful to know how to use the protections you’ve got. So, without further ado, here are ten privacy tips most of us should learn and use.
Lock or hide an app
Locked and hidden apps give users peace of mind that others won’t inadvertently see something unintended when showing their screen to someone else or handing them their device. Learn how to lock or hide an app.
Share only specific contacts with an app
With Contacts permission improvements in iOS 18, you can select which contacts to share with an app, rather than giving apps access to all your contacts. To do this open Settings>Privacy & Security, tap Contacts, tap the app, and then set things up as you wish.
Safari Private Browsing windows that lock
Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit when you use Private Browsing. Apple now also makes it so that Private Browsing windows lock by default, which means you can leave those windows open and return to them in the next private session.
Link Tracking Protection
Link Tracking Protection removes unnecessary trackers appended to URLs users share in Messages and Mail, and while browsing in Safari Private Browsing.
Safety Check
The Safety Check feature lets you very swiftly stop sharing your information, and lets you review and update sharing with individual people and apps. It’s a great tool that also lets you check who you are sharing information with, restrict Messages and FaceTime to the iPhone, change passcode, and more. To access the tool open Settings>Privacy & Security>Safety Check.
App Privacy Report
When turned on, App Privacy Report lets provides you with details about how often apps access their data, and how. Do they access your microphone, and do you want them to? Use this report to find out. You’ll find it in Settings>Privacy & Security>App Privacy Report.
Hide My Email
If you have an iCloud+ subscription, Hide My Email can make you an unlimited number of unique, random email addresses to use with apps, websites, and more, the idea being that you can keep your own personal email protected against annoying mailing list spam. You can create and manage Hide My Email addresses in Settings > [your name] > iCloud > Hide My Email
Approximate Location
Apple’s location controls let you choose whether apps can see their approximate, rather than their exact, location. This lets you use apps to find things without letting those apps find you.
Recording Indicators
That small orange dot at the top right of your iPhone screen is Apple’s Recording Indicator, which appears when an app is using your iPhone’s microphone or camera. If the dot is green, it means no app is making use of those things, which is what you want, to be honest.
iCloud Private Relay
iCloud Private Relay protects your privacy by ensuring that when you visit a website using Safari, no one can see both who you are or what sites you are visiting.
Happy Data Privacy Day!
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