Your data is worth much more now than you may think. The more people know about you, the more money you can earn and you don’t even have to be hacked for that. A lot of information can also be collected on your smartphone. Time to curtail that. We look at the iOS privacy settings.
Turn off GPS
Location services are a handy feature that allows apps like Google Maps to see where you are, for example. In summary, they allow apps to use your GPS. This is essential for some apps, but not necessary at all. Yet there are many apps that (for marketing purposes) request your location, while that is not necessary for functionality. Fortunately, you can adjust that.
Press Settings and then on Privacy, Location Services. You can switch everything off here in one fell swoop, but that is a shame. Instead, you can specify for each app whether and if so at what times it can access your GPS. That also saves a lot of battery.
Camera settings
When you first launch an app, you will sometimes be asked if it can use your camera or access your photos. This is understandable for an app like Instagram or WhatsApp, otherwise you cannot take or upload photos from the app. However, there are also many apps that request access, while there is absolutely no function in the app for which it is necessary. Those apps are suspicious and shouldn’t have access to your photos or camera.
To protect your privacy, you can easily revoke that access. Press Settings and then on Photos to revoke access for apps. You do the same with the option Camera in the Settings.
Privacy is of course about more than companies and developers who want something with your data. Privacy also means that what you say indoors should remain indoors. Sometimes conversations leak out, however, in ways we don’t always foresee. Live photos for example. The internet is full of stories of people who made a clumsy comment while shooting a photo, but had forgotten to turn on live photos.
Basically, the recipients of that photo could hear exactly what was being said. You can easily switch off live photos by pressing the circle with two more circles around it before taking a photo.
Access to microphone
Access to your camera and photos can be sensitive, but access to your microphone is much more. After all, a microphone doesn’t have to be focused on what you do to capture sensitive information. It would still be annoying if apps match their advertisements to information they have received via your microphone (and that is by no means inconceivable).
Fortunately, that is easy to prevent. Press Settings and then on Microphone to deny certain apps access to your microphone.
Ad tracking
We live in a world where we are constantly monitored so that companies know who to target their ads to. Although that is not always a bad thing, we can well imagine that you do not like that at all.
To do something about this, press Settings and then on Privacy, Advertising. There you can get the option Limit advertising tracking switch. You will still see ads and advertisements, but no longer based on what you do. You can also press Reset advertising ID to delete the information you already have.
Delete iMessages
The arrival of iMessage has completely changed the way we exchange messages. The fact that those messages can be stored in iCloud and opened from anywhere with the correct password is fantastic, but also dangerous. iCloud accounts are not insensitive to hacks, and you don’t want your messages to end up on the street.
It is therefore interesting to ensure that your messages disappear automatically over time. To do that, press Settings, Messages and then on Save messages. There you can determine exactly how long messages should be kept before they automatically disappear.
Set up VPN for iPhone
This is a subject that many people find complicated, but in reality it is not that bad. And really recommended to do. A VPN (virtual private network) ensures that your internet connection runs encrypted via other servers, so that you cannot be traced. This is especially useful if you are often on unsecured public networks, where hackers can retrieve your data in a childish way.
A good service for this is Express VPN. You pay less than seven euros per month for a VPN, and the site explains exactly how to get them Install VPN on iOS can. That may seem like a hefty amount, but it is nothing compared to the damage you incur when sensitive (financial) data can be captured when using public WiFi.
Determine data access
What about information that is not shared live, but is stored on your smartphone, such as your calendar, contacts and so on? Also, apps often request access for no reason and unfortunately it has already happened that apps have abused this – for example by approaching your contacts or reselling it.
To disable this, go to Settings and scroll down until you see the apps installed on your iPhone. Press to see which other apps have access and limit that access where necessary.
Password or pin?
It is of course super fine and safe that you can protect your phone with Touch ID or Face ID, but that security can still be bypassed with your PIN. And for those you know a little well, a pin code is not always difficult to guess. It is therefore wise to use a password instead of a pin code.
You do that by navigating to Settings and then to Face ID and access code or Touch ID and access codedepending on what device you own. Now press Change passcode and then at the bottom Access code options. You can then indicate that you want an alphanumeric password, and you can make your password as complex as you like.
Privacy options in Safari
We had already adjusted some options regarding tracking your behavior on your iPhone, but your browser, Safari, also has a number of settings in this area. To view it, press Settings and then on Safari. In the menu that appears, you will see all kinds of options that you can adjust to ensure your privacy more. This way you can disable websites from following you, but you can also choose to block all cookies that websites try to install on your iPhone.
The latter is very effective, but not always useful, because websites sometimes need cookies to function properly. Finally, in this overview you can also indicate that you want to use a search engine other than Google, if you are (rightly) concerned about the amount of data that Google collects and stores about you.
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