The iPhone is known for its strong privacy settings. But how exactly do these work? In this tip, we will show you how you can set which data you provide per app.
This is how the iOS 11 privacy settings work
Although almost all social networks and iOS apps are often free, you pay these companies with something else: your information. By letting apps know where you are, what you do and with which people you have contact, advertisers can, for example, serve you the perfectly tailored advertising.
To prevent this from getting out of hand and all apps on your iPhone continuously knowing everything about you, Apple has taken strict privacy measures. This allows you to set per app what information you provide and what you protect. That way you can give and withdraw the location services, system services and permissions per app. We’ll walk you through the options below.
Change location services
Opening the Settings app and then tapping on ‘Privacy’ will open the iOS 11 privacy settings. Here you can see exactly which apps can and cannot access your location under the heading ‘Location services’. By tapping an app, you can choose whether the app should never know your location, only access it when you use it, or always know where you are. In addition, it is mandatory for iOS developers to provide a brief explanation about the use of your location data.
Customize system location services
In addition to the above list of Apple apps and apps that you have obtained from the App Store, the iPhone itself also regularly collects and uses your location. You can set the situations in which this happens by going to Settings> Privacy> Location services and ‘System’. Here you can indicate per option whether your iPhone is allowed or not. For example, you can choose to send iPhone analyzes to detect bugs, but this is of course not mandatory. In this screen you can also turn on and off an icon that appears when an app uses your location.
Change privacy settings per app
In addition to your location, your iPhone naturally contains a lot more personal data. Apple has classified these per part. Via ‘Settings> Privacy’ you open a screen where various Apple services are listed. From photos to the camera, microphone, bluetooth and the Health app. By tapping these icons, you can see all apps that use that data. Here you can also easily turn them off, should you discover that an app is collecting data to which it is not entitled.
Finally: Always pay close attention when you open an app for the first time after installing it on your iPhone or iPad. At the moment, various messages will appear requesting access to your data. By taking a critical look at it and not accepting everything indiscriminately, you don’t have to dig into the settings later to reverse these choices.