Sometimes you need to call co-workers, businesses, Craigslist sellers — all sorts of people you might not want having access to your personal phone number and the ability to reach you at all hours of the day. There’s nothing wrong with wanting a little privacy, and with a Hushed private phone line, you can get that privacy without getting a whole new iPhone.
Google is reportedly required to delete the data it gathered while millions of users of its Chrome web bowser were in Incognito mode as part of settling a lawsuit.
Moving forward, the company will continue to track Chrome users in Incognito mode — while making it clearer that is what is happening.
Apple’s Safari web browser packs loads of privacy features that will keep your online activity hidden from ad networks, user tracking and data farms. But are you sure you have everything turned on? Some of Apple’s most important privacy-protecting features don’t come enabled by default.
Any time a company sends a push notification to an iPhone, its application can gather information about the user, including their location, according to security researchers. Meta and TikTok reportedly use push notification tracking, and many other companies do it, too.
Fortunately, there’s a simple solution for users to protect their privacy and keep apps from spying on them.
As artificial intelligence and machine learning become mainstream in business, large tech firms like Amazon and Facebook look to introduce AI features that transform the way we engage online through predictive purchase models and other algorithmic means. But how does Apple use AI?
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In contrast to competitors’ high-profile activities, Apple lays low on the AI revolution. In fact, the company scarcely mentioned AI at all until recently. You’d be forgiven for thinking Cupertino might not even be involved in the buzziest tech around.
But it definitely is. Apple’s business teams are cooking up many AI and ML opportunities. Still, Apple takes on AI challenges from a different angle with a more intuitive approach. Let’s look behind the scenes at the world’s largest tech company to see how tomorrow’s ideas are shaping today’s products.
To absolutely no one’s surprise, Meta came up with a new way to track its users. Facebook Link History stores a list of websites and webpages that users have gone to from their Facebook feed. The information is used to target advertising.
Fortunately, you can turn off the tracking feature. Here’s how.
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After a quick spin through the news of the week, we get down to business with our second round of picks for the best and worst tech and entertainment of 2023.
Also on The CultCast:
Would you pay 99 bucks for a USB-C case for AirPods Pro? I think the price is outrageous, but not everyone is so sure.
Apple just raised the bar for authorities who might want to spy on your iPhone’s push notifications.
A new iPhone security feature will soon make it harder for thieves to wreck your life.
And the latest on how Apple might be forced to open up iPhone to appease regulators.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
Some governments are spying on push notifications sent to iPhone users, Apple confirmed Wednesday. By examining logs of push notifications sent by various apps, authorities can piece together surprisingly detailed information about smartphone users and their activities.
The previously undisclosed data gathering, which also affects Android devices, became public after Sen. Roy Wyden published an open letter to Attorney General Merrick B. Garland on Wednesday requesting disclosure of the surveillance method.
Parents are mistakenly being warned that they need to quickly deactivate iOS 17’s NameDrop feature on their children’s iPhones. The warnings claim that it’s causing the devices to broadcast their contact information to anyone nearby.
The internet isn’t as wild as it once was, but at the same time, the threats have become more focused and more dangerous. This one-year subscription to Norton 360 and LifeLock protects your privacy on two devices.
Apple warned all App Store developers that it’s starting a crackdown on using device fingerprinting for user tracking.
As a means of preventing this invasive tracking, Apple will soon require devs to justify the inclusion of all APIs in software submitted to the App Store.
Private Browsing mode in Apple Safari will soon get even more secure. It’ll be locked against someone else accessing it, and incorporate new tools to prevent websites from tracking users.
The additional privacy features are coming in iOS 17, macOS Sonoma and iPadOS 17, all of which were unveiled at WWDC23 this week.
Along with macOS Sonoma and its new features will come Safari 17, the new iteration of Apple’s web browser. It brings an enhanced browsing experience with an even greater emphasis than before on privacy, and most changes will probably apply to iOS and iPadOS, as well.
The changes aren’t terribly glamorous, but beefed-up Private Browsing protects against prying eyes online and off, in addition to some other security enhancements.
And in terms of organization, the new Profiles feature helps you keep separate parts of your life separate and website apps keep your favorite sites at your fingertips.
If you lived in the United States in the last 15 years and you used Facebook, you can fill out a brief form and claim your part of a $725 million privacy settlement. This marks the end of a class-action lawsuit wherein the company admitted that U.K. data mining company Cambridge Analytica accessed Facebook users’ data without their consent.
You have until Friday, August 25, to file a claim. It only takes a few minutes. How much you get depends on how many people take the payment — it could be as low as $1.50 if every person in the United States fills it out.
Making a claim also stops you from pursuing a separate claim against Meta, Facebook’s parent company. However, if you take no action, you won’t get anything as a result of the Facebook data scandal.
The Sign in with Apple feature, which lets you log into third-party accounts using your Apple ID while keeping your personal info private, is so easy to use that I utilize it everywhere. But that also means my disguised logins pile up, accumulating in the digital junk drawer that is iCloud Settings.
I’ll show you where you can find, manage or delete these accounts. Perhaps you’re jumping ship from iPhone to Android, and you want to make sure you still have another way of signing into your Chipotle account.
The Hide My Email service is similar. It creates a temporary email address that forwards to your real one — handy if you’re signing up for a shady website, or if you need a public contact email. I’ll show you where you can create new ones and delete the old ones.
February 7 is Safer Internet Day, and parents can take part by signing up for Apple’s “Your Kids and Their Devices” class. it shows parents how to maintain the online privacy of children who use iPhone or iPad.
The class is free and available online or in person around the world.
Claims that Apple is phoning home to analyze every image on your Mac have been proven false. Jeffrey Paul, security researcher and consultant, claimed early last week that his Mac was sending small bits of data to Apple every time he clicked on an image on his computer.
After Paul’s claims caused a bit of a stir, researchers got to the bottom of what was actually happening. Not only did they conclude the network activity was innocent — it was caused by a bug that’s already been patched in the latest macOS update.
Marking Data Privacy Day on Tuesday, Apple introduced new educational resources meant to help users take better control of their data, including a whimsical short film starring one of Ted Lasso‘s popular cast members.
The video, a new Today at Apple Session and Cupertino’s added statements on its ongoing security efforts come amid ever-rising cyberattacks and about a month after the company released Advanced Data Protection.
Apple recently added end-to-end encryption for more types of iCloud data. Now, you can turn on Advanced Data Protection to encrypt iCloud Photos, Notes and more. Activating this new security feature is easy … once you find the switch buried in Settings.
We can save you some time. Here’s how and why you should activate it.
An encrypted virtual private network is one of the best ways to keep your online activities completely private. Plus, a VPN also can open up access to restricted content all over the world.
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A class-action lawsuit filed in California alleges that, “Apple’s assurances and promises regarding privacy are utterly false.”
The lawsuit is based on the work of a security researcher who claims that many of Apple’s own applications send detailed analytics information to the developer even after users ask them to stop.
Apple’s Automatic Verification system for websites is getting a big boost from Cloudflare. The web security company just unveiled Turnstile, a free alternative to those irritating CAPTCHA image tests. This has Apple’s system built in.
Turnstile, now in open beta testing, is available to anyone, not just Cloudflare customers.
The web browser that Meta built into the iPhone Facebook and Instagram applications can collect far more information about users than they probably realize. It can “track every single interaction with external websites,” according to a developer.
But users don’t have to stay in this sketchy browser. Leaving it is easy – here’s how.
The new SpyBuster iOS app scans your iPhone for other apps that may be surreptitiously sending your data to Russia or Belarus.
The privacy-oriented app comes from Ukraine-based developer MacPaw, which released a version of SpyBuster for macOS in the spring of 2021, not long after Russia invaded Ukraine.
The iPhone Health app’s Cycle Tracking feature provides a simple solution for logging menstrual cycles. If you menstruate, it’s an effective way to monitor your overall health and estimate when you’re most likely to get pregnant.
Given the personal nature of Cycle Tracking data, you need to be sure that it’s stored securely, away from prying eyes. The good news is, Apple’s security for health and fitness data is very robust. There are just a few things you need to know to ensure your data is safe.