Privacy and Apple go hand in hand – and have for years current video with Nick Mohammad was inspired by Ted Lasso to promote Privacy Week.
However, since today (January 28) is Privacy Day, it’s important to look at other features you can use with your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to help protect your data.
All of these are features that I turned on as soon as they were introduced – with Advanced Data Protection being the newest for me as it was recently launched iOS16.3.
With that in mind, there are a few other features besides Advanced Data Protection that you should consider enabling and why you should do so as soon as possible.
Extended data protection
Introduced in iOS 16.3, it not only allows you to protect your iCloud backups with an encrypted password, but also your Safari bookmarks, your iCloud Drive content, Notes and much more.
That way, only you and you alone can access that data—not even Apple. It adds another layer of protection for your data, especially when someone tries to break into your account, preventing other people from accessing valuable data.
This feature also applies to iPadOS and macOS, so your data is protected in the same categories there.
You can turn this on (opens in new tab) by going to Settings > iCloud > Advanced Privacy.
Email Protection
We’ve all encountered spam emails and other ways that try to get your information to track you outside of your email. By walking Settings > Email > PrivacyApple’s Mail app hides your IP address when you open a new message in your inbox.
This means the sender can’t tell if you opened their email and have a rough idea of where you opened it.
location
One could argue that too many apps ask for your location – Facebook is a good example here, especially if you use it to look at memes and check how safe family and friends are.
However, you may find that too many apps are tracking your location all the time instead of when you are using the app.
You can check this by going to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and check each app that appears in the list to see if its location is set to Always allow or Allow while in use. Weather and map apps aside, there’s really no need to have “Always Allow” for most apps.
So take a few minutes during your lunch break and see what apps are trying to track your location even when you’re not using them.
security check
Introduced in iOS 16, this feature could be of great help in protecting your data from those you want out of your life.
Security check found in Settings > Privacy & Security > Security Check you get a detailed view of who is sharing what data with you, and you can easily restrict this with a few taps.
There’s also a “Quick Exit” in the top right, which takes you right back to the home screen if someone suddenly wants to check your phone without your permission.
master key
Another feature introduced with iOS 16, iPadOS 16.1 and macOS 13 Ventura, you can register a new account with a website without having to enter a new username and password.
You just need TouchID or FaceID to authenticate this and you’re good to go.
However, if it’s an account you need in the future, you can save it to your iCloud Keychain, Apple’s method of storing your usernames and passwords, by using the ‘Save master key for account‘ option if you create one.
app tracking
A feature that Facebook wasn’t publicly pleased about – but that left Meta looking bad in terms of privacy in hindsight.
Some apps have the ability to track your browsing in other apps like Safari and Mail, and since this is done using multiple methods, it’s difficult for Apple to close these isolated cases, and that’s where app tracking comes in.
You can allow all apps not to track you by walking Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking. You have the option to turn tracking on or off for specific apps, or you can turn off the option altogether.
