Personal Data Accessed by Apps on iPhone

Apple prides itself on the privacy of iPhones

During the last years we have been able to witness numerous Apple advertising campaigns in which the privacy of the iPhone and the rest of its brand devices stand out above any other function. Beyond implementing measures that favor it, something that we will see in the following sections, those of Cupertino use this issue as a flag and do not hesitate to show it off whenever they have the opportunity: their own events, conferences, interviews and even trials.

Beyond continuously offering security patches that ensure devices are safe from third-party attacks, as well as keeping our data on secure servers, the company does not profit from user data. This is something verifiable both based on their statements and information on their websites, as well as on their publications regarding the earnings obtained each year, something that is also verified by law in the United States.

This is curious, given that other well-known companies such as Facebook, Google or Netflix if they profit from our data. In some cases, such as Facebook, the percentage obtained on income in this type of case is the majority. And it is not illegal for them to do so, only that in many cases it is unethical (beyond some specific cases in which the company led by Mark Zuckerberg has been involved in illegal data sale schemes).

Apple wants, and in fact does, to base its business on the sale of devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Mac, as well as the provision of services with platforms such as Apple Music or Apple TV +. So far the company has not fared badly with this strategy and in view of its continued advocacy around the sale of data, it does not seem that this will change in the future.

What can companies do with our data?

If you are not very aware of this complex sector, it is very possible that you are asking yourself that question. Personal data is today a tremendously valuable element for all types of companies, especially if they want to establish their business in relation to the Internet. It is not that they want to have your data to have you located personally for some obscure reason, but that what is sought in most cases is to send you their products and services. That they want to sell you the motorcycle, said colloquially.

Advertising is a sector in a continuous process of evolution and in the midst of the era of social networks, the methods have become more sophisticated. Advertising companies not only pay to advertise on a certain digital platform, but in many cases they pay to make it reach what they consider to be the target audience for said product or service. But how do companies know who that audience is? Well, thanks to personal and browsing data. Let’s see it with a simple example with which you will understand.

Simulation of buying and selling data

Imagine a company that sells sports shoes aimed at men in their 20s and 30s. When choosing the media in which it will advertise, the company will first take into account which is the platform in which there are more men between 20 and 30 years old. Once you locate it, you will also want to invest that money in reaching those users and not those who do not comply with the pattern, since they know that they will not buy their shoes. Well, the company will request more information from the platform on which they will be advertised and this will be able to give it a list of all its users (or at least a large part) who are in that age niche and who also like to play sports. .

And how has the platform obtained such specific data from its users? Easy: it is the users who have told them, and not directly, but by collecting their personal and browsing data. When registering on the platform, the user indicated their date of birth or age, in addition to accepting in the conditions of use the transfer of their browsing data to the platform. Therefore, they have the permission to see what that person is doing with their phone. If it happens that your records contain searches related to sports practice and you are even interested in buying such shoes, you have the perfect target for the campaign that the advertising company is going to carry out.

These users will see how later when using the platform they will see advertisements for sports shoes. Many times it will happen to you within seconds of doing a related search. You are probably scared or start to believe in black magic, but no, it is nothing divine if an obvious situation if the data has been released. To which we must also add the study carried out by the platforms themselves on the use of it, since if they detect that there has been interaction with content that is also related, it is a significant point for the offer of advertising.

We insist, this is not really illegal

In this newsroom we would play a dinner at the best restaurant on the planet if you have read each of the guidelines established in the terms and conditions of all the apps you register for. In fact, we would bet that you may never have stopped to read a single point from any of them. When signing contracts and paper documents, we tend to read every letter and every corner of that writing, distrusting in most cases that they are deceiving us. However, in the digital environment is where we tend to be more trusting and give our consent without any fear.

And although there are always certain legal limits that platforms must not pass, the truth is that the use of personal data as seen above is the order of the day and is not illegal if we have given our consent within those conditions that we do not read . Sometimes it can be unethical, but at the end of the day it is the business model of many companies and there are users who do not consider it bad either and it can be in a certain way beneficial, since there are those who prefer to see advertising adapted to their profiles to see anything else or have to pay to remove such advertising.

IOS privacy settings

For everything previously mentioned, Apple has different privacy functions on the iPhone that can be easily configured and that we will explain in the following points. It should be noted that all of them are also available on the iPad in the Settings> Privacy route, the same as that of iOS.

Location

In this section you can configure which system services and applications you want to access your location, as well as the possibility of having it completely disabled. Having this function activated makes the iPhone consume more battery , this being one of the main disadvantages. Although we can classify this section as an inconvenience, apparently in reference to personalized advertising, the truth is that it also has its benefits.

In fact, we find certain applications that would not be understood without this active function, such as Weather, which will constantly give you data in reference to your location instead of having to enter the city manually. In other functions such as the Photos app it is also interesting to be able to see on a map where you took each photo. In any case, for all apps, you can choose between these options:

• Always allow: if you want the application to be able to use your location whenever it wants without having to manually activate it.
• Allow once: useful if you only want the app to access your location on that occasion when you are using it, after that permission is deactivated.
• Allow when the app is used: as the name indicates, the location will only be visible to that application when it is in use, without the possibility of accessing it in the background when you are away.

Tracking

This is one of the most important points and it is closely related to what has been commented in previous points of this article. It is a functionality that, if active, will allow apps to ask you if you want to be tracked. If it is deactivated, you will be directly giving the option to the app to do a crawl. Our recommendation is to have it activated and then once you enter the apps, they will be able to request it.

If you allow them to track you, you will be giving permission for them to access your personal and browsing data for purposes that will appear in their conditions of use and that may be related to offering personalized advertising, but also to offering you a better user experience based on the data that you will be providing. You should read the terms of use carefully, since sometimes that data that they collect from you may be transferred to third parties.

If, on the other hand, you choose not to be tracked, the applications will not have permission to recap any of your data, so browsing will be more private. In any case, you can revoke the permissions from the tracking settings panel, being able to see there a list of all the applications that requested permission and either to give it or remove it, you can retract it.

App access to data on your iPhone

It is understood that any native application on your iPhone does not need permissions to access data such as your contacts or your microphone if necessary. However, third-party applications will require certain permissions that can sometimes be more or less justified. Although not all these apps in the App Store will request each of the permissions, they may request it for any of these:

• Contacts:
• Calendars
• Reminders
• Photos
• Bluetooth
• Local network
• Microphone
• Speech recognition
• Camera
• Health
• Usage data and sensors
• HomeKit
• Multimedia and Apple Music
• Files and folders
• Physical activity

As we mentioned previously with the subject of tracking, it is advisable that you consult in the terms of each app what is the purpose of those permissions. If it is an application that is used to record audio, it is evident that the microphone will be for it, but if it is an app that requires a function that a priori has no relation, it may be strange that it requires it. Normally you will be asked for these permissions when entering, but you can change them at any time from the settings.

Share data with Apple for improvements

In the privacy settings of your iPhone and iPad you will also find the permissions granted to Apple itself so that they can perform analysis on the use of the devices and thus offer improvements in them. As we explained in the first point of this article, Apple will not transfer your data to third parties , but it will not access your data if you do not give them the permissions.

Siri recordings stand out especially in this section due to a controversy that arose in 2019 when it was learned that the assistant made recordings without asking the user for permission. Apple ended up adding a permission request in iOS 13 that gave the user the ability to have Siri record their conversations. In any case, Apple affirms that these recordings are anonymous and are encrypted , being used only to improve the assistant and with the assurance that whoever listens to said recordings will not be able to make them public or transfer them to third parties in any case.

Own iPhone advertising

The last panel we found of privacy settings refers to the Californian company’s own advertising platform. Already in these settings we can see the confirmation that Apple advertising does not track users in order to protect their privacy. If you accept Apple advertising, what you do is offer personalized recommendations .

These recommendations appear on sites such as the App Store, Apple Music, and other company platforms. One of the examples that is exposed is reading a book through the company’s platform; If you have given your permission for the advertising to be personalized, you will then be able to find other recommended content in the App Store based on the theme of said book.

More about Apple privacy

There are two other important Apple privacy factors that should be known and that although we are focusing on the iPhone, they are common to other devices. In fact, like the above, Apple always implements identical measures to all its devices.

App Store privacy labels

Precisely based on all of the above, one of the measures that Apple implemented in 2020 is for developers to indicate what permissions their apps will require , as well as the data they will collect based on the use made of their tools. That is why in the App Store you can find what are known as privacy labels.

These can be seen by accessing the file of any app, just where it says “App privacy”. If nothing appears in this part, it is because the app has not been updated after the arrival of iOS 14.4 in December 2020, at which time its integration was made mandatory. These labels are distinguished into three types:

• Data used to track you: in it we find data that can be used by applications to track your use of other apps and tools, even if they are from another company.
• Data linked to you: data that is consistent with your identity (email, telephone, location) and that can be used by the app to create a database with your information.
• Data not linked to you: data that, despite not being directly associated with you due to your identity, can also be used to create a database.

It should be noted that those apps that wish to have the microphone, location, tracking and other permissions mentioned in previous points will be consulted in the same way regardless of whether or not these privacy labels refer to them.

Sign in with Apple

Also known as “Sign in with Apple”, this is a privacy system implemented by Apple since iOS 12 and that brings with it an interesting way to register without exposing private data. Surely on some occasion you have observed how registration is required in a website or application to be able to use the tool and these include the possibility of logging in with a Google or Facebok account, as this case is similar only with Apple .

It is an interesting time saving by not having to enter personal data manually, but it can also be done in a totally secure way . What happens when you log in with Apple in an app or website is that a random email account is created that will be directly associated with your original email, but this is encrypted in such a way that there is no possibility that someone can link said account to yours. With this you not only avoid putting personal data that you do not want, but you also avoid receiving spam or selling your data to third parties.