iPhone iOS Privacy Features You Should Know About for Added Security

Sophie Webster, Tech Times 03 October 2021, 11:10 pm

The latest iPhones and iPadOS 15 were released earlier this month, and Apple added a renewed focus on privacy with massive strides forward for all users.

iPhone Private Relay

Apple has been working on ensuring their user's privacy and security.The tech giant even released an ad regarding privacy in 2019.

One of the latest features that is under the privacy settings of the iOS 15 is Private Relay. The Private Relay forwards your web traffic through numerous servers in a way to keep your IP address and your location private. The service makes two hops, according to How to Geek.

The first is to the servers, which then encrypts whatever you are trying to access and removes identifying information.

The second is run by a third party to assign a temporary IP address.

The result of this is a VPN service that will anonymize the web traffic. This is done in a way that no one can see what it is that you are looking at, and it is almost the same as a Tor private browser.

However, unlike Tor, Apple's solution makes only two hops. It ensures that browsing remains fast.

Also Read: iPhone Anonymity At Its Best: Top Privacy and Security Apps For iOS

Private Relay can be used by all iCloud customers and those who have moved to the iCloud+ tier with the release of iPadOS and iOS.

If you pay for the cheapest iCloud tier, which is 50GB, you can turn the feature on by going to your settings, tapping on your name, and selecting Private Relay.

Private Relay is in beta, and it may not work as intended. The service may occasionally time itself out, with Safari reporting it was unable to contact the service. Certain websites that you use for your geographical location may not work correctly.

You can also trade off some of the additional protection for the general IP address location by selecting the "Use Country and Time Zone" option under the Private Relay settings, according to Forbes.

Mail Privacy Protection

Tracking pixels are the tiny objects embedded into the body of your email by marketers who want to learn more about you, according to ZDNet.

They are virtually undetectable to the human eye, but they can dig a lot of information. This includes when you opened your email, your IP address, what device you're using, and more.

Apple has faced this problem before in iOS 15, with the introduction of Mail Privacy Protection. The feature effectively loads numerous remote content in the background, anonymizing it with numerous proxy servers before it arrives on your device.

While the marketers will attempt to get your information, it won't be accurate in terms of your location, your IP address, and your device.

Mail will ask you if you wish to enable Mail Privacy Protection when you first open it. You can also enable it under your settings, then tap on Mail, select Privacy Protection, and enabling Protect Mail Activity.

App Privacy Report

You also have your apps audited. To enable the feature, go under Settings, select Privacy, then tap on Record App Activity, and you will receive a week-long report about your apps and how they are spying on you.

With the launch of iOS 15, the feature is not ready yet because there is no ability to view reports on your device. However, with the upcoming update, you will be able to launch this feature and check your apps' activities.

The iPhone iOS 14.5 app tracking feature was introduced in May, and it will also be added to the iOS 15 update.