Night Mode on iPhone: Everything You Need to Know

 

Privacy features of iOS 14: Approximate location, alerts about clipboard access, restricted access to images, and more

Apple adds new privacy features to help secure iPhone and iPad users with every version of iOS, and iOS 14 is no exception. For the privacy safeguards alone, which include Privacy Reports in Safari, logging indicators, an option to share approximate location with apps instead of exact locations, and more, this year's update is worth installing.

We have highlighted all the privacy-focused modifications in this guide that Apple is implementing in the iOS 14 update.

Recording Indicators

A tiny dot appears in the status bar just above the WiFi and cellular signal bars when an app is using either the camera or the microphone. When an app uses the camera, the dot is green, and when using the microphone, it is orange.

If you use a camera or microphone to close the app and then open the Control Center, a camera or microphone icon, along with the name of the app that has recently used the feature, will appear. Recording indicators prevent the camera or microphone from being accessed without your knowledge by an app in the background, so you can be sure that apps don't capture conversations or videos sneakily.

Safari

Login and Compromised Password Warnings Tracking

The Safari app monitors passwords stored in the iCloud Keychain in iOS 14, and lets you know whether you have a password that has been compromised in a leak or is too weak to change it. The function includes direct links to websites where passwords can be updated.

Safari uses cryptographic techniques for this function to periodically verify password derivations against a list of breached passwords in what Apple promises is a safe and private manner. Under the "Security Guidelines" heading in the Passwords section of the Settings app, possible issues can be seen.

Privacy Report

In Safari, a Privacy Report feature extends the Intelligent Monitoring Prevention feature of Apple that is intended to prevent websites from tracking your use of the internet while you search for ad targeting and analytics.

The Privacy Report of iOS 14 lists which sites use trackers, how many trackers are mounted on each site, and the most popular trackers across multiple sites that you encounter.

You can access Privacy Reports by tapping the "Aa" icon in the URL bar and choosing the "Privacy Report" option. In Settings for Privacy Report, cross-site tracking prevention needs to be allowed to function, but it is on by default, so most users do not have to make changes.

Be sure to check out our Safari guide for more on everything new in Safari, including the privacy features included in Safari for iOS 14.

App Store Privacy Reports

The iOS App Store will add a new privacy section on every app page later this year that will include a rundown of an app's privacy policies before you download it. Introducing the feature at WWDC, Apple compared it to a food nutrition label

Developers will report their privacy policies on their own, letting you know what information is collected and how that information can be used to track you through businesses. Apple plans to enable developers to put this feature into effect in a plain, easy-to-read format similar to a food nutrition label.

Privacy details for the App Store will not be available when iOS 14 releases, but Apple says it will be implemented in an update to the operating system for iOS 14.

App Tracking Controls

Before doing so on iOS 14, applications that want to use monitoring mechanisms that monitor your actions through different apps and websites need to get permission from you.

Apps that use these features will have a popup that will ask you to allow tracking features that are used for targeted ads, collection of data, and similar purposes. On such requests, most individuals may not want to tap accept, and declining monitoring prevents an app from accessing the advertisement identifier of a computer.

According to Apple, apps granted permission to track you can collect data that includes device ID, name, email address, and more, which is then combined with data collected by third parties. The combined data is often used for ad targeting or shared with data brokers, linking that data to publicly available and other information about you and your device.

By opening the Settings app, going to the Privacy section and pressing "Tracking," you can fully turn off cross-app and cross-site tracking for applications. From there, turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track."

Developers are responsible for ensuring that they comply with the preference of the customer, and there are certain cases where Apple does not require a developer to seek user consent, such as when data is combined on the computer and not sent off in a way that is personally identifiable or when used for the detection or prevention of fraud.

• IOS 14: How to avoid apps from monitoring you through apps and pages

Approximate Site

There are several applications that need your location to operate properly, and Apple has introduced a new feature in iOS 14 that allows you to share your location information in a more safe and less targeted manner.

You may opt to share an Approximate Location with apps that need location access, which is close to your location but not exactly spot on, making it more difficult for apps to keep track of where you are going and to help protect the privacy of your location.

The Approximate Location option will pop up for apps requiring location access, but you can also access these settings for each location using the app by opening Settings, going to the Privacy section, clicking Location Services, and then clicking on each app that has location permission requested.

"For any app that you want to use an estimated location instead, turn off" Precise Location. This is useful for applications for the weather, browsers, apps for maps and more.

Widgets

Widgets in iOS 14, just like apps, must receive user permission to access location data. There are also options under Location Services in the Privacy section of the Settings app to allow or disallow location access when a widget is in use.

You may opt to allow your venue, or only an app, to access both the app and its accompanying widget. A widget can access location data for 15 minutes when granted permission and in use.

The location of the widget is subject to the estimated or correct location settings allowed for each app.

Clipboard Access

Apple notifies you with a tiny banner that lets you know the clipboard has been copied if an app accesses the clipboard on iOS 14. For an app to use the clipboard, there are several valid reasons, such as when you copy and paste something from another app or via the Continuity-based copy paste function on another computer, but apps have often abused their access to the clipboard.

Apps such as TikTok, Twitter, Zillow, and lots of other apps read the clipboard in circumstances where clipboard access was not warranted without user awareness or permission. Many of these apps said that these were safety features or bugs, and Apple's alert banner has resulted in many apps ensuring that their access to the clipboard is above board.

Apps are not able to read the clipboard without you knowing about it, so you can be sure the contents of your clipboard are safe from unwarranted access.

Network Access

In iOS 14, applications that want to access devices on your local network need to ask for permission, and there are some apps that ask that your local network, including Facebook, does not have business access.

Some applications, such as those that monitor Bluetooth or WiFi devices, have a legitimate purpose to access devices on your local network and you can tap Enable or Disable Access. Local Network settings can also be regulated in the Privacy section of the Settings app, under Local Network.

• IOS 14: How to avoid monitoring of your iPhone or iPad through Wi-Fi networks by network operators

WiFi Tracking

There is a "Use Private Address" option when you are linked to a WiFi network to prevent network operators from monitoring your phone through various WiFi networks.

By opening the Settings app, tapping the WiFi portion, and tapping on one of the networks mentioned, you can find this choice. When connecting to a Wi-Fi network that doesn't use the Private Address option, Apple provides a alert.

Limited Photos Library Access

For apps that ask permission to access your photos, you can now choose to give access to your entire photo library or just a few photos at a time, which is useful if you don't want social networks like Facebook or Instagram seeing your entire camera roll.

If you use the limited photos option, you can continually change the photos that are shared, selecting just a couple at a time that you want to upload or edit, depending on the app. It adds another step to workflows involving photos, but it keeps your full library safe and inaccessible.

Whenever an app requires permission to use images, you will be asked for restricted access to photos, and you can monitor which apps have access to any of your photos, limited photos, or no photos in the Privacy section of the Settings app under Photos.

IOS 14: How to limit how much access third-party apps have to your iPhone and iPad photo library

New Sign in with Apple Features

For developers, new Sign in with Apple tools would make it easier for them to allow Sign in with Apple features for moving existing web accounts, which will make new options accessible to iPhone , iPad, and Mac users who want to migrate their logins to the more safe Apple Sign in feature.

On-Device Dictation

Dictation is intended to evolve over time in order to be precise and to conform to the user needs of each person. All processing is done offline with on-device dictation, but dictation used in search still utilizes server-based dictation.

Contacts Autofill

Apple also introduced an auto-fill feature instead of exchanging contacts with third-party users. When you enter the name of someone, their phone numbers, names , email addresses, and other information that is stored in the contacts app will be filled in. Autofill is carried out on the computer and prohibits the exchange of contact information with third-party developers.