Apple announced a slew of new privacy features at this year’s Worldwide Developers Conference. Most of the new tools are coming to its systems later this year.
Apple’s new anti-tracking features caused quite a ruckus, but the company is not done yet. For one, Apple has another nasty surprise for advertisers, this time slamming email marketing.
The company’s emailing system will be able to block tracking pixels that are used to collect recipient info. The feature will still preserve all images, so it won’t ruin the user experience.
Another cool feature is coming to the email suite. People will now be able to generate new email addresses quickly by adding a qualifier suffix to their existing ones.
The address can be used as sort of a throwaway—to sign up for various services and kill the account when you no longer need it. It’s a fantastic tool for avoiding websites that would otherwise spam your email and people search tools using email addresses to identify individuals.
iCloud Imitates Tor
iCloud+ will now have a VPN-like private browsing feature as well. Namely, traffic will be scrubbed of identifiable info in Apple’s servers and routed through a third-party node.
It’s a system similar to Tor routing, designed to keep browsing data private from Apple and keep the user identity hidden from whoever is inspecting the traffic.
Unfortunately, the option will not be available in countries with strong surveillance laws, like China and Belarus.
More privacy options are coming to iOS as well. Aside from being able to block services from tracking them, users will now also have access to weekly reports on apps collecting data. Other privacy options that are available for iOS, like cam protection, are coming to macOS too.
Apple Moves Away from Passwords
Lastly, people can say goodbye to password managers and phishing attacks (well, sort of).
Apple announced that it will be moving towards passwordless logins.
Users will be able to use Touch ID or Face ID to register for services.
The logins are stored in the iCloud Keychain and shared across devices for easy access. However, the feature is still in the early stages, so people will have to rely on traditional passwords a bit longer.
Apple is certainly pushing hard for consumer privacy. While there are more features to implement, the new iteration of iOS will undoubtedly be a plus for users.
Branko is a round-the-clock tech geek and loving it. His ideal vacation destination is the Akihabara District (or really any place he can take his computer). If there’s a server out there, count on him to find out what it’s made of… and tell you all about it.
