How to Improve Privacy and Security in iOS 14

 If security and privacy enhancement on iOS 14 is what you are looking for, you have come to the right place. In this article, we have discussed a few tips that may help you improve privacy and security on your iOS14 updated device. The tips mentioned below will help you get a better command over your device’s microphone, location data, camera, and clipboard. Often apps have been found misusing user’s sensitive information. But, now it’s time for you to take action against the misuse of your data. Follow the below-mentioned tips to improve the security and Privacy on your iOS14 device.

Restrict the Apps from Tracking You While You are Navigating through Apps & Websites

Apple offers access to a privacy-centric feature that will help you disable tracking. If the apps want to keep track of user’s activity across websites and other apps, they need to ask for permission regarding the same. When the user allows permission, the apps will collect the user’s profile information like location details, age, and gender and then deliver ads according to the collected information. The privacy-concerned users will appreciate the ability to disable tracking in iOS14.

You can turn off the tracking on your iOS14 updated device with the help of the steps mentioned below:

1. First, go Settings app,
2. Then, click on Privacy,
3. Further, go to Tracking,
4. Now, you need to turn on the toggle for “Allow Apps to Request to Track.”

Keep an Eye on the Orange and Green Dots

The apps that need access to a microphone or camera generally ask for the user’s permission; however, a certain number of apps have been seen using an individual’s microphone and camera even when they haven’t been permitted to do so. To deal with this situation, Apple has introduced a new feature for the iOS14 devices that will let users know which app is accessing the microphone and camera.

If the status bar shows a green dot, it means the app is using your device’s camera. If you see the orange dot in the device’s status bar, it means your device’s microphone is in use. This will help you track the activities of any specific app.

Prevent Apps from Accessing Your Local Network

There are a specific set of apps that have a valid reason for accessing the home network; however, there are plenty of apps that might unnecessarily want to access your home network. So, iOS14 lets users manage which apps can access their local network. To check which apps are accessing the local network, the user needs to head over to the Settings and tap on Privacy. Now he needs to click on Local Network, and the entire list of apps that are accessing the local network will appear. The individual can manage the on/off toggle behind every app to control its access to the home network.

Restrict Apps from Accessing Your Precise Location

With the iOS14 update, Apple has introduced a method to restrict the apps from accessing your precise Location. You need to go to the Settings on your iOS device and tap on the app that you want to restrict using your approximate Location. Then, tap on Location and further turn off the toggle appearing next to Precise Location.

Manage Third-Party Access to Your Photos App

With iOS14, you can restrict third-party apps from accessing your entire gallery. You may allow them to access only a specific set of photos. You can even block access to the already shared images.

Suppose you want to restrict any specific third-party app from accessing your entire gallery and want to limit its access to a specific set of photos. In that case, you need to go to Settings, click on the particular app, then go to the Photos option, and you may now set the settings to “Selected Photos.”

In case you want to use a specific spot for controlling the third-party apps from accessing your photos, you need to follow these steps:

1. Go to the Settings,
2. Tap on “Screen Time,”
3. Now click on “Content & Privacy Restrictions,”
4. Make sure the toggle for Content & Privacy Restrictions is turned on.
5. Further, click on Photos, and the entire list of apps that have access to your image library will appear on your screen.
6. Now you can fine-tune the settings for each app.

Keep an Eye on Clipboard Access

There are a certain number of apps that have been found reading clipboards without the user’s permission. However, Apple, in its recent iOS14 update, sorted this issue. Now, whenever an app accesses your device’s clipboard, the tiny banner will appear in the mid on the top to let you know whenever the clipboard gets copied. So, you need to make sure that you are keeping an eye on that banner.

These were some of the tips that you may follow to improve security and privacy on your iOS 14 device. With the recent update, Apple has brought more robustness from a privacy and security perspective.

Source: https://kbactivate.com/how-to-improve-privacy-and-security-in-ios-14/