Each day we leave home carrying a vault containing everything about us. The vault is the smartphone. From our medical data to ID cards, passwords… everything precious to us. A company that has been talking about privacy for years has been Apple. Ever since the iPhone’s debut in 2007, the idea of data privacy has changed considerably and every year, Apple continues to roll out new features to make users feel safe. It’s not just the iPhone, be it the iPad, MacBook, Watch or even the company’s many services, there is privacy in every corner. It’s Data Privacy Day on January 28. Even though it’s privacy around the year for Apple, the company is making good use of the day to talk about what matters most.
Everyone loves Nick Mohammed from Ted Lasso. The British actor, who can use sarcasm as a weapon on screen, is at the heart of a new short film titled A Day in the Life of an Average Person’s Data, which has an original score by composer Tom Howe, who also scored Ted Lasso.
The video highlights features such as Mail Privacy Protection, Intelligent Tracking Prevention and App Tracking Transparency. Keeping him company in the film is an Apple Specialist called Von. A fun fact: Von is actually an employee of the Tower Theatre store in LA.
The film makes users better understand Apple’s privacy features and how they can protect their data. For example, the Safari browser throws trackers off the trail, the Health app keeps user records under wraps, and Siri learns what the user needs rather than who they are. These are a few among the dozens of privacy features that Apple has built into every product and every service it creates.
Through Nick and Von’s interaction, users learn how their data is used and tools to decide when to share their data and who to share it with. The film — directed by Jonathan Krisel — follows Nick through his average day, explaining how bad actors misuse data — and how Apple works to keep his personal information safe.
NEW UPDATE
Talking about privacy, we can’t help but point out the iOS 16.3 update, which brings with it the ability to use a security key to lock down your Apple ID and appears to bring the company’s Advanced Data Protection for iCloud feature to countries outside of the US. The update also tweaks the Emergency SOS call system, includes a new ‘Unity’ wallpaper, and adds new features for the existing HomePod Mini as well as support for the second-gen HomePod.
Some months ago, Apple had spoken about a hardware key feature, which lets you use something like a Yubikey as a second factor to log in to your Apple account. Security Keys can be set up on devices running iOS/ iPadOS 16.3 by diving into Apple ID > Security Keys and following the instructions. Also included in that announcement was Advanced Data Protection, expanding the types of data that are “end-to-end-encrypted in your cloud storage”.
By default, Apple stores encryption keys for some iCloud data types on its servers to allow recovery if the user loses access to the Apple ID account. When Advanced Data Protection is enabled, the encryption keys are deleted from Apple’s servers and stored on a user’s devices only, preventing Apple, law enforcement, or anyone else from accessing the data, even if iCloud servers were to be breached. The feature first came to the US with iOS 16.2 and with the new update, it seems to be available globally.
“At Apple, we’re focused on designing devices, features, and services that keep users in control of their personal data. Over the years we’ve integrated powerful privacy controls into our operating systems,” said Erik Neuenschwander, Apple’s director of user privacy.