Apple radically expands privacy features on Mail, Safari, apps, and Siri
At WWDC, Apple's Katie Skinner and Erik Neuenschwander looked at new privacy features across the Apple ecosystem.
Craig Federighi on privacy at WWDC 2021
Following a humorous sight gag in which Apple's Craig Federighi appeared to jump into a hole, he and other Apple executives laid out the latest privacy initiatives.
"At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right," Federighi said. "We don't think you should have to make a tradeoff between great features and privacy. We believe you deserve both."
"Today, privacy is more important than ever," he added." Because when you use the Internet and third-party apps, you can be tracked by a complex system of data brokers and ad-tech firms, often without your permission. You don't think this is right."
Apple Privacy Engineering Manager Katie Skinner started by talking about Mail and noted that emails often use "invisible pixels" to collect information.
"We think you should be able to choose whether to allow this or not," she said. "So now, in the Mail app, we're introducing Mail Privacy Protection." If selected, the new feature will hide the user's IP address and prevent senders from telling if a particular email has been opened.
Apple Software Manager Erik Neuenschwander addressed cross-site tracking in Safari.
"Safari leads the industry in protecting you against cross-site tracking, with intelligent tracking prevention. And this year, we're making it even stronger, by hiding your IP address from trackers, so they can't use it to link your activity across different sites, or learn your location."
Apple has also announced an App Privacy Report, similar to the existing Safari Privacy Report.
Skinner and Neuenschwander also announced what it called a "major update" to the privacy features on Siri.
"Today, we're introducing on-device speech recognition," Neuenschwander said. "This means that by default, your audio is all processed right on your iPhone or iPad. This addresses the biggest privacy concern we hear about voice assistants, which is unwanted audio recording."
This allows for Siri usage without an Internet connection and also "speeds things up," he said.
Follow all the details of WWDC 2021 with the comprehensive AppleInsider coverage of the whole week-long event from June 7 through June 11, including details of all the new launches and updates.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Craig Federighi on privacy at WWDC 2021
Following a humorous sight gag in which Apple's Craig Federighi appeared to jump into a hole, he and other Apple executives laid out the latest privacy initiatives.
"At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right," Federighi said. "We don't think you should have to make a tradeoff between great features and privacy. We believe you deserve both."
"Today, privacy is more important than ever," he added." Because when you use the Internet and third-party apps, you can be tracked by a complex system of data brokers and ad-tech firms, often without your permission. You don't think this is right."
Apple Privacy Engineering Manager Katie Skinner started by talking about Mail and noted that emails often use "invisible pixels" to collect information.
"We think you should be able to choose whether to allow this or not," she said. "So now, in the Mail app, we're introducing Mail Privacy Protection." If selected, the new feature will hide the user's IP address and prevent senders from telling if a particular email has been opened.
Apple Software Manager Erik Neuenschwander addressed cross-site tracking in Safari.
"Safari leads the industry in protecting you against cross-site tracking, with intelligent tracking prevention. And this year, we're making it even stronger, by hiding your IP address from trackers, so they can't use it to link your activity across different sites, or learn your location."
Apple has also announced an App Privacy Report, similar to the existing Safari Privacy Report.
Skinner and Neuenschwander also announced what it called a "major update" to the privacy features on Siri.
"Today, we're introducing on-device speech recognition," Neuenschwander said. "This means that by default, your audio is all processed right on your iPhone or iPad. This addresses the biggest privacy concern we hear about voice assistants, which is unwanted audio recording."
This allows for Siri usage without an Internet connection and also "speeds things up," he said.
Follow all the details of WWDC 2021 with the comprehensive AppleInsider coverage of the whole week-long event from June 7 through June 11, including details of all the new launches and updates.
Stay on top of all Apple news right from your HomePod. Say, "Hey, Siri, play AppleInsider," and you'll get latest AppleInsider Podcast. Or ask your HomePod mini for "AppleInsider Daily" instead and you'll hear a fast update direct from our news team. And, if you're interested in Apple-centric home automation, say "Hey, Siri, play HomeKit Insider," and you'll be listening to our newest specialized podcast in moments.
Comments
Apple has decided to provide the latter and charging users through iCloud+.
Apple probably won't let people hide which country they are from because Apple is in the media business itself and they have to know which country a person is in for their own media-controlling purposes. For example, I'd like to pay for Paramount+ and get the US content, but I'm stuck with the Canadian content of Paramount+ which feels like 50% of what the US gets. Because of these limitations Apple probably doesn't call it a "VPN".
Very impressed with the privacy initiatives, Apple. Keep them coming!
If you scroll down to “Privacy” it gives a brief overview of the new Mail Privacy Protection, along with Siri and App Privacy Report. Scroll down just a bit further and you’ll get to the iCloud+ preview, which mentions it is an all new subscription and gives overview on iCloud Private Relay and Hide My Email.
It seems there is some confusion here between the privacy measures coming in iOS 15 Mail and the privacy measures coming to iCloud+. Obviously, I can’t know for sure but it seems some are conflating iCloud Private Relay and Mail Privacy Protection.
Side note: I find it interesting that Apple is introducing Hide My Email, which, on the surface, seems reminiscent of when Apple used to offer email aliases to .mac subscribers. I still have a few working email aliases from those days, but I can’t find a way to manage them.