In these 10 ways you will be extra protected

With iOS 15, Apple ensures that your privacy is better protected. We explain how that works and what it can do for you in this article.

iOS 15 privacy: all improvements in a row

Apple is committed to leading the way when it comes to protecting the privacy of its users. To do this, the company must continue to innovate.

In iOS 15, therefore, a number of improvements are made. This article explains what happens and what it can do for you. Some of these functions are part of the iCloud Plus subscription, but we will clearly state that.

1. See what your apps want to know from you

Apple introduces the App Privacy Report, which lists apps that have viewed your location, photos, camera, microphone or contacts and how many times they have done so in the past seven days. In this overview you can also see with which third parties an app shares your data. Of course, you have control over whether you share this data since earlier versions of iOS.

2. Your Siri commands stay on your device

When you give a command to Siri, such as setting an alarm, an audio recording was sent to Apple’s servers for analysis.

Several years ago, it turned out that Apple employees listened to some of these audio recordings to improve Siri. That was quite a scandal, because Siri sometimes activates unintentionally. As a result, Apple employees could hear very personal information.

With iOS 15, your questions are processed and answered offline on your device. An internet connection is only used when you ask a question that Siri has to look up online.

3. No need for VPN anymore (iCloud Plus)

Part of iCloud Plus is Private Relay. That means when you’re browsing in Safari, everything goes through an encrypted connection and the connection is redirected so that only you and the website can see what’s happening.

That means that neither Apple nor your internet provider can watch. So the bottom line is that iCloud Plus members will soon be able to use a VPN from Apple.

4. A fake email address for all services (iCloud Plus)

Don’t feel like entering your personal e-mail as soon as you order something or register yourself for a service? With iCloud Plus, you get the ability to create unique, random email addresses that forward the messages to your actual inbox. This way you don’t miss anything, but you also don’t share your personal e-mail address with just anyone.

You can create and delete as many email addresses as you want. This makes it possible to use a different e-mail address for each service and to delete it again if you no longer wish to receive messages. This makes it very easy for you to unsubscribe.

5. Apple itself provides verification codes

Using two-factor authentication is sensible, but you have to trust another party for that. You may be using an app from Google, Microsoft, or a password manager to generate verification codes. This is no longer necessary from iOS 15. The codes are built in via the iCloud Keychain.

6. No more tracking via mailing lists

When companies send out emails, there is often an invisible pixel hidden in them. Through this pixel, companies can collect all kinds of information from their readers. For example, your IP address and whether you opened the e-mail. Via Mail Privacy Protection in iOS 15, it will no longer be possible for companies to track you in this way.

7. Cutting and pasting becomes safer

Once you copy information onto your iPhone and open an app, that app can see what’s on the clipboard. Even when it concerns sensitive data, such as passwords. In iOS 15, once you copy something into one app, another app won’t be able to see this information. It only becomes visible when you paste into that app.

8. Share your location once

If an app wants to know your location, then with iOS 15 it is possible to give one-time access to your location by pressing a button.

9. More advertiser privacy in Safari

Advertisers want to know if someone has seen and clicked on their ads. From iOS 15, the advertiser will see that someone has clicked, but Safari does not release any further information. All data remains on your iPhone.

10. Safely share your health data

iOS 15 makes it possible to share information from the Health app with others, such as a partner or doctor. That sounds like a bad idea, because this is very sensitive information. However, Apple is doing everything it can to make this as safe as possible. This gives you complete control over which data you share with whom. All information is of course also encrypted.

More new features in iOS 15

We’ve rounded up the best new iOS 15 features for you. If you have an older iPhone, you will unfortunately not be able to use all the new functions.