Apple has always placed a priority on customer privacy and today the company reinforced that protection with updates to iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey and watchOS 8.
Apple has introduced new features which use the latest innovations to expand its commitment to privacy and force change across the industry.
Apple already did this with App Tracking Transparency and Privacy nutrition labels on the App Store.
“Privacy has been central to our work at Apple from the very beginning,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering.
“Every year, we push ourselves to develop new technology to help users take more control of their data and make informed decisions about whom they share it with.
“This year’s updates include innovative features that give users deeper insights and more granular control than ever before.”
PROTECT DATA FROM THIRD PARTIES
Most people would be unaware that there are invisible pixels that collect information about the user in the Mail app.
A new feature can now prevent senders from knowing when an email has been opened and can also mask their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to find your location.
CHECK-UP ON APP PRIVACY
It’s now possible, with App Privacy Report, to see how often each app has used the permission granted to access location, photos, camera, microphone and contacts during the last seven days and make changes in the settings.
It’s also possible for users to find out who their data may be shared with by seeing all the third party domains an app is contacting.
SIRI PROCESSED ON DEVICE
In the past Siri required an internet connexion to operate but now on device speech recognition means it all takes place on the iPhone or iPad by default.
This takes care of one of the biggest concerns for voice assistants – unwanted audio recording.
With Siri processing also moving on device it means a requests including launching apps, setting timers and alarms and changing settings can all be processed without an internet connection.
ENHANCED PRIVACY ON CLOUD+
Apple has introduced iCloud+ which adds new features including iCloud Private Relay, Hide My Email and expanded HomeKit secure video support at no additional cost.
With Private Relay users are able to connect and browse the web securely and privately.
When browsing with Safari, Private Relay takes all traffic leaving a user’s device and encrypts it so no one between the user and the website can access and read it – this includes Apple and the user’s service provider.
Hide My Email does as its name suggests and allows users to share unique and random email addresses that forward to their personal inbox anytime they want to keep their personal email address private.
iCloud+ now has built in support for HomeKit secure video which allows users to connect more cameras than ever before in the Home app and also provide end-to-end encrypted storage for security camera video footage that doesn’t count against their storage capacity.
