The New iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 Privacy Features You Need To Know About

Apple recently released iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 mobile operating systems. They contain many new and improved features, not the least of which are privacy-related.

In this article, I’ll be covering all of the new privacy-related features found in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14. (For convenience, from now on I’ll simply refer to both operating systems as “iOS 14,” unless a feature is not found on both the iPhone and iPad.)

Once you’ve installed iOS 14 on your device, you’ll find the operating system offers more granular control over what type of personal information you share with app developers. The new OS also offers more information about when apps are accessing various features of your device, including the clipboard, camera, and microphone.

Safari Browser Privacy Features

Password Monitoring and Compromised Password Alerts

In iOS 14, the Safari browser now monitors the passwords you’ve saved in iCloud Keychain and alerts you if you have a stored password that has been compromised in a data breach or leak or that is too weak. The feature even includes direct links to the website in question, allowing you to quickly change the password.

Safari does this by using cryptographic techniques to regularly check your passwords against a list of breached passwords in what Apple says is a private and secure way. Any potential issues are listed under the “Security Recommendations” section in the Passwords section of the Settings app.

Privacy Report

Safari’s Privacy Report feature is an expansion of Apple’s Intelligent Tracking Prevention feature that was put in place to prevent websites from tracking your internet browsing for ad targeting and analytics.

The new iOS 14 Privacy Report tells you which sites are using trackers, how many trackers are in place on each site, and the most “popular” trackers you may encounter on multiple sites.

To access Privacy Reports, tap on the “Aa” icon in the address bar and then tap on the “Privacy Report” option. You’ll want to make sure cross-site tracking prevention is enabled in Settings, but that is turned on by default, so that likely won’t be an issue.

New Sign in with Apple Features

In iOS 14, Apple introduces new “Sign in with Apple” tools that make it easier for developers to enable functionality that makes it easier to move existing web accounts over to Sign in with Apple, offering a more secure method of logging into their sites for users on the Mac, iPhone, or iPad.

Source: Apple Developer Website

App Privacy “Nutrition Label”

Source: Apple Developer Website

On each app’s product page, users are able to read about some of the data the app may collect, and whether that data is linked to them or used to track them. Developers are required to provide information about their app’s privacy practices, including the privacy practices of third-party partners whose code is integrated into the app.

Change iOS 14 Default Browser and Mail Apps

Perhaps the most anticipated iOS 14 feature for many users is the ability to set some browser and mail apps as the default app for web browsing or managing your email.

Browser apps that currently can be set as the default browser in iOS 14 include Safari, Firefox, Edge, Google Chrome, and DuckDuckGo. (DuckDuckGo is arguably the most private browser on that list and is the browser I now use as my default.)

To set your favorite third-party browser app as the default, do the following:

1. Go to the Settings app.
2. Scroll down the Settings menu until you see the list of apps at the bottom of the screen and look for your favorite browser (we’ll use DuckDuckGo). (Or, you can pull down on the Settings screen to reveal the search bar and enter the name of your browser.)
3. Tap on the browser app’s name in the app list or in the search results.
4. In the app’s settings menu, look for “Default Browser App.” (If it’s not there, that means you can’t set the app as the default browser.)
5. If “Default Browser App” is present, tap on it.
6. Tap to select the browser you wish to use as your default app.

Mail apps that can be set as the default under iOS 14 are the default Mail app, Gmail, Outlook, Spark Mail, and Hey. There may be others, but at the time of this article, those are the apps I was able to confirm worked. Check with the developer of your favorite mail app for more information.

To set your favorite third-party mail app as the default, do the following:

1. Go to the Settings app.
2. Scroll down the Settings menu until you see the list of apps at the bottom of the screen and look for your favorite email app (we’ll use Gmail). (Or, you can pull down on the Settings screen to reveal the search bar and enter the name of your mail app.)
3. Tap on the email app’s name in the app list or in the search results.
4. On the app’s settings menu, look for “Default Mail App.” (If it’s not there, that means you can’t set the app as the default mail client.)
5. If “Default Mail App” is present, tap on it.
6. Tap to select the mail app you wish to use as your default app.

App Tracking Controls

Starting in iOS 14, apps that want to track your behavior across multiple apps and websites will be required to ask a user’s permission before doing so.

Apps with tracking mechanisms will display a popup privacy notification, requesting the user’s go-ahead to enable tracking features, which are used for data collection, targeted ads, and similar purposes. Declining the request prevents an app from accessing a device’s advertising identifier.

Users who wish to completely turn off cross-app and cross-site tracking for apps can go to “Settings” -> “Privacy” and tap “Tracking.” There, they can turn off “Allow Apps to Request to Track.”

Even with these settings, apps are responsible for ensuring that they comply with a user’s choices. Developers are not required to ask for user permission when they are collecting information that is combined on a device and not sent off in a user-identifiable way, or when it is being used for fraud detection or prevention.

App Tracking Transparency

With the release of iOS 14.5, Apple added a new privacy feature, App Tracking Transparency. The new feature requires any developer who wants to track users and user data across other apps and websites to explicitly ask for permission using a standardized prompt developed by Apple.

If users say that they’re okay with being tracked by the app (by clicking the “Allow” button), the app will track them just as it had before iOS 14.5. However, if they click “Ask app not to track,” then the developer is blocked from tracking customers by using their data in the app, be it with Apple’s IDFA system, or with their own tracking systems.

Before the release of iOS 14.5, developers had a large number of tools they could use to track user data from within an app. Advertisers could then use the data to broadly identify information about a user and use that data for improved ad targeting and to sell that information to other parties.

Apple does allow a few exceptions to its new app tracking rules. Companies that own multiple apps are allowed to track users across those apps. This means a developer like Meta can use user data it has gleaned from its Facebook app to target ads in its other apps, such as Instagram.

Apple is also offering new in-house tools for developers to use. The SKAdNetwork tool can be used by developers to determine how many times its app was installed after the user saw their ad. A second tool, Private Click Measurement, tells developers how many clicks an in-app ad receives from a user. Apple says both tools are designed to provide information without connecting it to a specific user.

Some companies, Facebook in particular, have objected to the new tracking rules and methods. Facebook, who makes a good share of its income from tracking users to present targeted ads, says the new system makes it tougher and more expensive to target customers, which will hurt small businesses that rely on highly-targeted ad campaigns.

What Facebook neglects to say is that it also stands to lose a good chunk of its ad revenue due to the new system. As pointed out by The Information, Facebook stands to lose as much as 5% of its $84 billion annual ad revenue. While that may seem like a small amount to lose, a 5% drop in revenue is still noticeable. Facebook reportedly expects approximately 80% of iOS users to opt out of tracking.

Microphone and Camera Recording Indicators

Under iOS 14, when an app accesses your device’s microphone or camera, you’ll see a small dot appear over the WiFi and cellular signal strength bars. The dot will be green when an app is using the camera, and orange when it is accessing the mic.

Once you close the app using the camera or microphone and then open the Control Center (by swiping down from the upper-right corner of the screen), you’ll see either a camera or mic icon and the name of the app that had recently used the camera or mic.

Clipboard Access: Copy and Paste Notification

Whenever an app accesses the iOS 14 clipboard, you’ll be notified with a small banner telling you that the clipboard was accessed. This is a handy feature.

While there are legitimate reasons for an app to access the clipboard – such as when you’re copying and pasting something between apps, like a link from Safari into a text message in the Messages app – there were apps that had been abusing this privilege.

Early in the beta testing of iOS 14, it was discovered that some apps, including TikTok, Zillow, Twitter, and plenty of other apps were reading the clipboard willy-nilly, with no real reason to do so.

The new clipboard access notification banner has certainly resulted in numerous app developers making sure their apps are accessing the clipboard only when they have a legitimate reason to.

Network Access Notification

Under iOS 14, apps that want access to your local network are required to request permission.

While some apps do have a valid reason for needing to access devices on your local network – such as apps that control Bluetooth or WiFi-based devices on your network – there are others ::COUGH!:: FACEBOOK! ::COUGH!:: that don’t have a valid reason. Nosy Nellies.

If you grant an app access and later change your mind, simply go to “Settings” -> “Privacy” -> “Local Network” and toggle off the app’s access.

WiFi Tracking Prevention

When you connect to a WiFi network, network operators and nearby observers can track and share details about your WiFi activity. iOS 14 helps prevent this by offering the ability to use a private WiFi address while connected to any WiFi network.

You can turn on the private address feature by going to the Settings app, tapping the WiFi menu option and then tapping on one of the WiFi networks listed in that section. Here, you can toggle the private address feature on.

Please be aware that while this feature works fine on most WiFi networks, it can cause issues with some types of smart networks that send out a notification whenever a new device connects.

It can also screw with parental controls or on corporate networks where permissions may be assigned according to a device’s MAC address. If you do have issues, you may need to turn it off.

While iOS 14’s private WiFi address is an excellent first step to protect your online activities while on a public WiFi network, I strongly recommend that you make use of a VPN to encrypt your WiFi connection, keeping your online activities completely free from being monitored by anyone that is connected to the same WiFi hotspot.

Approximate Location

Since iOS 14 is a mobile operating system, many apps you’ll use on your iPhone or iPad will require the ability to detect your current location. Apps that require this type of geolocation access include weather apps, navigation & mapping apps, browsers, and some shopping apps, just to name a few.

In the past, these mobile apps would provide such precise location information that a missile strike could be successfully called in on your position. I don’t know about you, but I’m not a fan of missile strikes. Not in my location, anyway.

Luckily, there is now a way to provide only an approximate location to apps that request geolocation permissions. That means that while these types of mobile apps will still be able to tell what section of town you’re in, they won’t be able to pinpoint the street corner you’re on.

This makes it tougher for apps to keep track of exactly where you’ve been, thereby better protecting your location privacy.

While apps that request geolocation access will offer the Approximate Location option, you can also access these settings by going to “Settings” -> “Privacy” -> “Location Services” and then tapping on each app that has previously requested location access permission.

Widget Location Control

Widgets in iOS 14 must also ask for user approval to access location data. You’ll find options to allow tracking or disallow location access while a widget is in use in the “Privacy” -> “Location Services” section of the Settings app.

Limit Photo Library Access

Many apps will ask for access to your Photo Library, and now you can choose to give those apps complete access to your photo library or just a few photos at a time. This comes in handy if you’re reluctant to give social apps like Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram full access to your entire camera roll.

If you do opt for the limited photo access option, you can continually change the photos that you share, depending on the app. While it may add an extra step to your app workflows, I think it’s worth it for the added privacy. I’m sure that Chris “Captain America” Evans would agree with me. (Look it up, but not at work or school.)

Whenever an app asks for permission to use your photos, you can designate whether to allow access to all photos, limited photos, or no photos in the Settings app under “Privacy” -> “Photos.”

On Device Dictation

Speech-to-text dictation functionality formerly required an internet connection, as all processing was performed on Apple’s servers. However, with the release of iOS 14, Apple has modified the dictation functionality to do all processing on your device.

Be advised that if you use dictation in search, all processing is still performed on Apple servers.

Contacts Autofill

Apple does not share your Contacts information with third-party apps. Instead, iOS 14 adds an autofill feature.

When you begin typing in a contact’s name, iOS 14 will fill in the rest of the person’s contact information, whatever is stored in the Contacts app. Autofill is performed strictly on your device, and prevents your Contacts info from being shared with developers.

In Closing

Apple’s iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 bring a large number of user privacy and security improvements for iPhone and iPad users. I strongly suggest that users upgrade their devices to Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating systems as soon as possible. The benefits that the new privacy features provide are enormous.

iOS 14 Privacy Features FAQs

When Was iOS 14 Released?

iOS 14 and iPadOS 14 were released on September 16, 2020. As is usual for Apple operating system updates, the new operating systems were available free of charge to anyone with a compatible iPhone or iPad.

Will All iPhones Get iOS 14?

Any iPhone that is compatible with iOS 13 will be compatible with iOS 14.

Compatible iPhones include:

• iPhone 11 Pro
• ‌iPhone SE‌ (2020)
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone 11
• iPhone XS
• ‌iPhone XS‌ Max
• iPhone XR
• ‌iPhone‌ X
• ‌iPhone‌ 8
• ‌iPhone‌ 8 Plus
• ‌iPhone‌ 7
• ‌iPhone‌ 7 Plus
• ‌iPhone‌ 6s
• ‌iPhone‌ 6s Plus
• ‌iPhone SE‌ (2016)
• iPod touch (7th generation)

‌iPadOS 14‌ is compatible with all iPadOS 13 devices, which are:

• All iPad Pro models
• ‌iPad‌ (7th generation)
• ‌iPad‌ (6th generation)
• ‌iPad‌ (5th generation)
• ‌iPad‌ mini 4 and 5
• iPad Air (3rd generation)
• ‌iPad‌ Air 2

Does iOS 14 Slow Down My iPhone?

No, iOS 14 will not slow down your iPhone, despite what you might read on Twitter. In most cases, you’ll likely see an improvement in your device’s performance. (I’ve been using it since the early developer betas became available, and have seen improved performance on my devices.)

However, there have been reports of decreased battery life in some older models, such as the iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, and first-generation iPhone SE.