Apple has over the years built a reputation for being the brand that keep’s users’ privacy as the key element in their technology. The brand even has a section on their website that lists out its privacy measures. All these practices aside, Apple faced some bumps on the privacy road when reports of the company’s employees anonymously listening in on Siri recordings without the users knowing came to light.
Now Apple has the next big thing in the form of new privacy and security-oriented features in iOS 13, the newest update for their iPhone series. Here are the top five features-
Control how often apps track your location
With the new update, apps that use the device’s location to regularly function need not always have permission to use it. The user can now decide if the apps will use location-based data and also how often. One may either choose ‘Allow once’, to grant the permission once; ‘Always’ to always grant the permission without the need of prompts, or ‘Only while using the app’ to give permissions only while the apps are actively running.
These settings can be found under Settings>Privacy>Location Services. Here you will also see a map that will display the areas where the app has tracked your location, to alert you on possible data you might not think of, that the app will have access to.
Bluetooth Privacy
Apps sometimes use nearby Wi-Fi and/or Bluetooth networks to get a location of where you are, even without using location services directly. With the new update, however, Bluetooth prompts will be displayed on the screen the first time you open any app, where you can decide if the app should or should not have access to the service.
These settings can be found under Settings>Privacy>Bluetooth.
Wi-Fi Privacy
Apps do not get access to your Wi-Fi connections to deduce your location unless you grant location permissions or if they are VPN apps. An exception is apps that configure and uses a nearby hotspot to create its own Wi-Fi network. Every other app will simply not be able to collect Wi-Fi data.
Sign in with Apple
Sign in with Apple will provide, like the name says, an alternative signing in option on apps that require signing in with a Google or Facebook ID. Signing in with Apple will allow you to give your data to Apple and nobody else. The option will also have the feature of generating a random Email ID to use with the app and to receive confirmations. This saves users from giving their original Email ID and from having to create a separate Email ID to avoid spam.
HomeKit enhancements
Apple’s own smart-home platform, HomeKit will be now supported by more secure routers and encrypted security cameras. The update also adds the firewall to your devices connected to the Smart Home network. This will also allow you to choose which devices within the network can communicate with each other. HomeKit cameras will soon have encrypted video capabilities and iCloud storage support. HomeKit secure video will allow all uploaded video to be encrypted and nobody will get be able to watch it.
