Check your iPhone now – new settings can save you from snooping nightmares

A NEW iPhone update can help protect your most personal photos and text.

It’s all thanks to a clever iPhone hack just added by Apple.

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The feature was added in the US with iOS 16.2 and for the rest of the world in iOS 16.3, which started rolling out this week.

It’s called Advanced Data Protection and it helps protect your iCloud backups.

If you’re a long-time iPhone user, you probably automatically back up some content to iCloud.

Often that means your texts sent via iMessage, the images in your Photos app, and your emails.

All of this is extremely private media and information that you don’t want to fall into the wrong hands.

How does iCloud currently work?

Apple’s normal iCloud system is called Standard Data Protection.

It works with something called encryption that makes your data unreadable – unless you have the right “key”.

This is to prevent someone from spying on your data.

Apple stores this information in its data centers, but it also holds the encryption keys that can unlock a lot of your information.

This can be backups, photos, documents, notes and more.

The idea is that sometimes it’s useful that this is the case.

“The encryption keys of your trusted devices are backed up in Apple data centers,” Apple explains.

“This allows Apple to decrypt your data on your behalf whenever you need it, e.g. B. when you sign in on a new device, restore from a backup or restore your data after you forgot your password.

“As long as you can successfully sign in with your Apple ID, you can access your backups, photos, documents, notes, and more.”

There are also 14 categories of data – including health and iCloud Keychain passwords – that are fully encrypted and cannot be accessed by Apple.

Unfortunately, having someone else – even a trusted company – with your encryption keys is also increasing the privacy risk.

Apple routinely denies law enforcement requests to unlock iPhones.

But it can – and in many cases does – make iCloud backups available to the police.

Extended data protection

This is where Advanced Data Protection comes in.

The idea behind Advanced Data Protection is that the number of categories of data that Apple does not have access to is increasing.

So once it’s on, Apple can’t access 23 different categories of data.

It means it’s much harder for sophisticated hackers to spy on what’s in your iCloud.

But it also prevents governments from requesting information about what they do in most cases.

Here is the full list of fully end-to-end encrypted data types under Advanced Data Protection:

• Cloud backup (including device and message backup)
• iCloud drive
• photos
• Remarks
• memories
• safari
• Siri Shortcuts
• voice memos
• wallet passes
• Passwords and keychain
• health data
• home data
• Messages in iCloud
• Payment Information
• Apple Card Transactions
• cards
• QuickType Keyboard Learned Vocabulary
• safari
• screen time
• Siri information
• WiFi passwords
• W1 and H1 Bluetooth keys
• Memoji

The only three categories that don’t get full protection are iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars.

For everything else, Apple doesn’t keep encryption keys.

So if a police asks for your photos, Apple could not comply.

And if a hacker managed to break into Apple’s systems, they wouldn’t be able to spy on your messages.

How to Use Advanced Privacy Protection on iPhone

Apple introduced Advanced Data Protection in the US with iOS 16.2 and worldwide with iOS 16.3.

So first, make sure you’re updated by going to Settings > General > Software update.

The obvious problem with enhanced privacy is that Apple will have trouble helping you recover your account.

Therefore, you need to take extra security precautions before switching on, otherwise you risk getting locked out of your account.

That means setting up account recovery.

You need to go to Settings > iCloud > Advanced Privacy.

Then tap Account recovery to ensure your account is recoverable.

This could mean adding a recovery contact who can help you unlock your account.

Or it could mean generating a 28-digit recovery key that you have to write down – which will help you eventually unlock your account.

Once you’ve enabled account recovery, you can turn on advanced data protection.

This should greatly improve your privacy, especially if you have a lot of information stored in iCloud.

Just don’t argue with your recovery contact or lose sight of the 28-digit key.

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