In recent years, Apple has made a point of bringing home how much the company cares about the privacy of users. Apple has posted display panels about privacy, Apple CEO Tim Cook called on Congress to change privacy laws and the company has created a section of its website devoted to detailing its privacy practices. Beyond marketing campaigns and interview quotes, Apple is putting into practice what it preaches by adding new privacy features to iOS 13 and iPadOS. Apple announced that it was giving the iPad ($ 249 at Walmart) its own operating system at WWDCcalled iPadOS. The two operating systems are for the most part identical, with a vast overlap of functionality, including new privacy features.

The new features give you much more control over how often applications can access your location, on ways to prevent applications from scanning nearby Bluetooth and Wi-Fi networks to guess your location , a new connection method for third-party applications and an extension. HomeKit security functions.

Currently, iOS 13 and iPadOS are still in beta and features may change and will eventually be modified before the final version this fall. We will update this post with the most up-to-date information we have. If you want to help test iOS 13, you can install it on your iPhone or iPad now.

Decide how often applications follow your location

With iOS 13, apps are no longer allowed to request constant access to your site the first time you open them. Instead, you can choose from three different options: Allow continuous access to the location when you use the app, allow one time, or not allow it at all. If you select Allow once, your location data will be transmitted to the app, but the next time the app will want to access your location, you will be prompted again.

The first time an application tries to access your location while it is running in the background, you receive a prompt asking if you want to trust constant access. Otherwise, if you know that you want an application to always have access to your location information, go to settings > Privacy > Rental services and tap the name of the application to add it to the whitelist.

If you change your mind about an authorization setting, go to the same settings section, either to give it access to a location, or to disable it. It is also a good idea to check this list of applications from time to time.

Apple also makes it more transparent how often an app accesses your location via a periodic alert that includes a map of all places where an app has verified your background location, and asks if you want to keep the app settings. The addition of the map is telling and should make people take the guests more seriously, instead of ignoring them.

Stop snooping the location-snooping

Some apps never ask for access to your location, but that does not stop them from using known Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices nearby to get a good idea of ​​where you're going you find. With iOS 13, you will now receive a prompt asking for access to your iPhone. ($ 1,000 at Best Buy) or the Bluetooth feature of the iPad the first time you open an app.

The first time I launched Facebook after installing iOS 13, I was immediately asked to grant the application access to Bluetooth. I refused the request and I have not seen any perverse effects yet.

Of course there will be apps like Tile, the service that allows you to keep track of your lost keys or wallet, which uses Bluetooth to connect to their follow-ups - you will need to approve this request if you want them to work.

However, after using iOS 13 or iPadOS for a while, I think you'll be surprised how many applications require Bluetooth access that may not really need it. You can view a list of applications that have requested Bluetooth access in settings > Privacy > Bluetooth.

Apple has not publicly explained how apps can not scan nearby Wi-Fi networks. We asked for more information and will provide you with an update when we get to know you again.

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iOS 13 beta: Install at your own risk

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But wait, there is more

Apple has not stopped with the enhanced privacy features of localization in iOS 13 and iPadOS. There's a new Connect with Apple feature that you will begin to see in applications when iOS 13 will be officially available in mid-September (if Apple follows its previous launch cycle). Connecting with Apple is similar to the Facebook and Google login buttons, but with Apple's approach of not tracking or storing user data for the sale of ads. Apple will even randomly generate an email address that you will use when registering and signing in to apps. This saves you from receiving spam in your own inbox and prevents you from creating a fake account to protect your privacy and keep spam.

Apart from iOS, Apple also announced that its HomeKit smart home platform was getting support for secure routers and encrypted home security cameras. The new routers will add a firewall layer to your Smart Home devices and allow you to fully control the devices that can communicate with each other.

HomeKit cameras will soon have encrypted video capabilities and iCloud storage. Currently, many home smart video cameras download unencrypted videos to their respective servers for storage and analysis. With HomeKit Secure Video, all downloaded videos will be encrypted and nobody will be able to see them.

Of course, iOS 13 does not focus solely on privacy. There are many new features, such as a way to block unknown callers, a new sign language and a respectable number of hidden iOS 13 and iPadOS features. Bookmark our Complete guide for iOS 13 and iPadOS and come back often - we'll update it often leading up to the release of iOS 13 this fall.

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