For a big tech company, Apple has a pretty solid philosophy concerning your privacy. Its propriety messaging service, iMessage, is end-to-end encrypted; the company went to war against the FBI to not add a “back door” into every user’s iPhone; now, they’re upping your defenses once again, this time with their upcoming iOS 14.5 update.
With version 14.5, Apple has instructed all app developers that they must request your permission to track you across other apps and websites on your iPhone. Now, to most of us, that doesn’t sound like much of a high bar. If we had the choice, we’d probably say “no” to most — if not all — of the apps that would want to follow our iPhone activity so closely. Talk about creepy.
But you see, that’s exactly what Apple is allowing you to do with iOS 14.5. The first time you open an app that wants to track you, you’ll see a popup asking as much. You can simply deny permission, and, for the most part, that app won’t be allowed to track you as you use other apps or visit other websites.
But the company does you one better. You don’t need to wait for an app to ask before denying permissions — you can block apps from asking in the first place, effectively stopping most apps from tracking you in one fell swoop.
While iOS 14.5 is currently in beta testing, and isn’t expected to come out for some time, you can prepare your privacy right now.
To do so, make sure your iPhone is updated to the latest version of iOS. Then, open Settings > Privacy > Tracking, then disable the toggle next to “Allow Apps to Request to Track.” You can also find a list of all the apps that have asked to track you, and whether or not you granted those permissions.
