The iPhone is a great investment for anyone interested in privacy and security features. That’s because iOS 14 has a strong privacy protection system and is steadfast against rule-breakers on the App Store. With several new security features and major improvements to existing features, iOS 14 will be the next trend.
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Notify when an app uses microphone or camera
Whenever you open the app using your microphone or camera, you will see a small dot orange light or green in the status bar at the top of the screen. It appears right on the phone signal icon.
If the app you’re using is using the microphone or camera, that dot will turn green. Orange dot means background app is using microphone or camera. You can swipe down from the right corner to open the “Control Center” and see which apps triggered notifications. This is probably a new security feature in iOS 14 that few people know about.
On older devices with a Home button, you can simply swipe up from the bottom to access “Control Center”. You can use this to find out if an app needs access to the microphone or camera. You can then perform a privacy check and revoke any permissions you’re not satisfied with.
Only share your approximate location
In iOS 14, you can choose to share your approximate or exact location when you give apps access to Location Services. When an app first asks for your location, you’ll see a map of your current location labeled “Precise: On”.
Tap this label to zoom out and reveal only your approximate location. This allows you to receive content without sharing your exact location with the app. However, be aware that this will limit the functionality of the app in some cases.
It is best to leave the “Precise: On” mode on for GPS map applications and food delivery and ride-hailing services. However, social networks and other apps that don’t need precise location work well with less information.
You can check if you’ve given the app permission to see your exact location by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Tap the app, then turn “Precise Location” on or off.
Limit app access to Photos
You can also limit apps’ access to Photos in iOS 14. This prevents apps from accessing all of the photos in your Photos. You can make this decision whenever a new app requests access to Photos by pressing “Select Photos”.
You can only allow the app to access specific photos, rather than the entire photo. You can also add this option the next time the app tries to access your Photos again.
For example, I gave Facebook access to a very limited number of photos. After closing the app and trying again, iOS asks if I want to choose more photos.
This option is no different from the “Allow Once” option, which you can tap whenever an app wants to access your location.
Get notified when an app pastes text into the Clipboard
By default, iOS 14 will notify you whenever an app accesses the Clipboard. Lots of apps monitor the clipboard, even if they don’t need to. Apple has stopped restricting clipboard access on a per-app basis, instead iOS will notify you every time an app accesses the clipboard.
These applications usually access the clipboard at startup. I’ve noticed Opera Touch does this every time the app starts, and there doesn’t seem to be any reason for Opera to do so. The privacy concerns of this behavior are huge for people who have iCloud clipboard sync enabled for their Mac or iPad.
I recommend avoiding apps that do this. You also don’t want to use the clipboard to store sensitive information, do you, such as passwords or credit card details.
Weak password notice
Your iPhone can now notify you if Your password has been compromised or easy to guess using the built-in password storage engine. Go to Settings > Passwords to see a list of saved passwords. Click on “Security Recommendations” to see all the issues.
Tap an entry to learn more, or tap “Change Password on Website” to change your password. If you tap the blank, you’ll see why that password was considered a hack and where you used it.
When you change your password via the link iOS provides, your iPhone will offer to replace the saved password with the new one. I recommend going through the list of passwords and making sure that there aren’t any duplicates.
Safari privacy reporting, app tracking, Wi-Fi tracking
If you tap “AA” in Safari’s navigation bar, then click “Privacy Report,” you’ll see a list of trackers in the current web page. You’ll also see a detailed report on how many times trackers have tried to follow you in the last 30 days.
By default, iOS 14 rejects all tracking requests from apps you have installed. However, this doesn’t guarantee the app won’t try to track you, and Apple won’t roll out that feature until next year.
At that point, all apps will have to ask for your permission to track you. Otherwise, they will violate Apple’s rules and suffer the consequences.
If you want apps to ask for permission to track you, go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking.
iOS 14 also tries to limit WiFi tracking by giving your iPhone a new MAC address every time it connects to a network. The MAC address is the unique identifier of your iPhone, and it can be used by internet service providers and marketers to identify and locate you.
If you go to Settings > Wifi, then tap the Information button (i) next to the network, the “Private Address” option will be enabled by default.
This feature is related to issues with enterprise networks using MAC addresses to whitelist devices. You can also disable this feature if you have any problems.
Coming soon: App Store Privacy Disclosure
As if all of this weren’t enough, Apple is in the process of requiring all apps in the App Store to self-report their privacy policy in an easy-to-understand format. This information will soon appear in the App Store and will also include data collection and tracking policies.
As of this writing, this has yet to take effect, but Apple says it will do so “in an iOS 14 update later this year”.
