At the Worldwide Developer Conference, Monday, June 3rd, Apple presented the company’s plans for the new face of iOS13, iPadOS, and WatchOS. With a host of new features to provide optimum performance and speed, Apple also addressed privacy concerns by introducing measures that will help keep you and your information safe and secure.
Protecting Personal Data and User Discretion Becomes A Priority
In a bid to compete with rivals Google and Facebook, Apple touted their “Sign in with Apple,” feature that permits Apple users to utilize their Apple credentials to sign in to third-party apps and websites. While signing into these websites and apps, the service will give users the option of using their real email or a randomly generated email address specific to that sign-on. This added security measure allows emails sent to the auto-generated email to be forwarded to the user’s real address if they so choose, paving the way for user discretion and providing greater control over what data they share with apps.
Apple promises that each app will have a unique random address assigned and users will have the ability to disable any app, at any time.
Craig Federighi, Apple’s software engineering vice president, also introduced “Allow Just Once,” a privacy feature that grants third-party apps to receive location information and privacy permissions only once. Beyond this, it will block future location sharing and the ability to track users’ WIFI and Bluetooth signals. The introduction of this feature eliminates the fear that sensitive and private location data is not repeatedly secured by the third-party companies for no reason and for the absent-minded users that continue to share this information unknowingly. Background Tracking alerts and app reporting of all apps that users have granted permissions to, round out this exciting update.
Notably, Apple also announced HomeKit Secure Video, a feature that allows users to firewall all of their devices at router level. HomeKit will be able to analyze home security before encrypting the information and sending it to the cloud. If one device is compromised, HomeKit has the ability to block access to all other connected devices.
User Health Privacy
Apple has made privacy the center of their updates, even promising the protection of user health information, specifically in regard to their female consumers. Apple is launching a new Cycle Tracking App in the iOS13 update, which Federighi has promised that all data collected, will be encrypted and safe from sharing, lending peace of mind to Day-to-Day activities. The iOS13 update is expected to be released to the public in September 2019. By striving to improve user interaction, performance, and ease of use, Apple has made a big push to also consider safety and security concerns for the new iOS.
Have questions about privacy and new safety features? Contact us.
