Apple ramp’s up privacy features for iOS15
The new “app privacy report” feature was unveiled at the firm’s annual developers’ conference, WWDC. This demonstrates Apple’s pledge to prioritise privacy. However, a war on ad tracking was inevitable when the tech giant decided to offer its customers a choice over whether to accept tracking for advertising purposes. This was move was criticised by several firms including Facebook who ironically turnover a large revenue through ad tracking.
Apple reveals an app privacy report which lets you see how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts during the last seven days. Additionally, it shows you which apps have contacted other third-party domains and how recently they have contacted them.
As mentioned on the Apple website’s iOS15 preview, it ‘compliments’ the app’s privacy label, so you can be sure you’re happy with your level of privacy.
Apple’s other privacy updates include secure paste, sharing your current location and limited photos library access improvement. The secure paste option means that developers can now allow you to paste content from another app without already having access to what you’ve copies until you want them to have access.
Sharing the current location is another part of the privacy update that allows you to share your current location with a customizable button in their apps. This is a handy way for you to share your location only once with no further access after the first session.
Next up, it’s limited photos and library access improvement! Even when you’ve granted someone limited access to your photos you are still able to take control via smart functionality. For example, a recent photos folder like the recently deleted album and album selection.
Last but not least Apple’s mail privacy protection helps protect your data by preventing email senders from learning information about your mail activity. Choose to turn it on and your IP address will be automatically hidden preventing senders from connecting it to your other online activities or determine your location. Not to mention, it turns your email read receipts off.
