Apple reveals further privacy updates

Mariam Cheik-Hussein
By Mariam Cheik-Hussein | 9 June 2021
 
Apple

Apple has revealed new privacy updates to help users better understand how their data is being used and keep brands from tracking them through emails. 

The tech company revealed the privacy protections for iOS 15, iPadOS 15, macOS Monterey, and watchOS at its annual WWDC developer conference. 

As part of the updates, the Mail app will have a new feature called Mail Privacy Protection which will stop senders from using invisible pixels to collect information about the user. The new feature helps users prevent senders from knowing when they open an email, and masks their IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activity or used to determine their location.

This year Apple will also strengthen Safari’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention to also hide the user’s IP address from trackers. This means trackers can’t utilise the user’s IP address as a unique identifier to connect their activity across websites and build a profile about them.

“Privacy has been central to our work at Apple from the very beginning,” says Apple senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi.

“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.”

Apple is also giving users an App Privacy Report which lets them see how often each app has used the permission they’ve previously granted to access their location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts during the past seven days. Users can also see all the third-party domains an app is contacting.

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