Apple and Privacy

Apple has made your privacy both one their areas of concentration and a marketing campaign.  They have developed a well-deserved reputation for protecting your data and personal information.  I want to go over just a few of the ways that Apple protects you.  Apple and Small Dog Electronics believe that privacy is a fundamental human right.  It is a more complicated right as we have more and more digital devices in our life.  I just looked at my Velop dashboard and discovered that I have 27 devices connected right now!

Safari

A lot of websites will allow data collection companies to watch you, build a profile (that’s why when you search for underwear, you suddenly see a lot of underwear ads!).  Intelligent tracking prevention in Safari uses on-device learning to help block those trackers.  Advertisers can also create a “fingerprint” of your device, capturing data such as your browser configuration, fonts and plug-ins.  Safari blocks that and just exhibits a simplified system profile.

Maps

I had a friend once that, well, was having some adventures that she didn’t want her husband to know about and was concerned that her navigation system marked her every stop.  With Apple Maps, that won’t happen because Maps does not associate your travels with your Apple ID and does not keep a history of where you have been.

Photos

Not much is more personal than your photos and videos.  Apple has designed it so those memories don’t leave your hands until you share them, yourself.  All the processing of photos occurs on your device and not in the cloud.

Messages

From inside jokes to love letters, a lot of life now happens in text and video chatting.  All the “blue bubble” messages, pictures, Animoji and videos are encrypted when sent between devices.  Apple can’t read your messages and no one else can either unless you give them access.

Siri

Did you know that Siri does not recognize you by your Apple ID?  Your requests to Siri are associated with a random identifier.

News

Same is true with News – Apple does not associate your News reading with your Apple ID. so go ahead and research impeachment and removal!

Wallet and Apple Pay

What you buy, where you buy and how much you paid is your personal information.  Apple does