iOS Overview

Site Development
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Hi! I have a couple of notes for the iOS overview section.

“ More recently, Apple has been found to transmit analytics even when analytics sharing is disabled on iOS, and this data appears to be easily linked to unique iCloud account identifiers despite supposedly being anonymous.”

This is not correct. It is not supposed to be anonymous. Source: Legal - App Store & Privacy- Apple

“ * To find ways to improve the stores, we use information about your browsing, purchases, searches, and downloads. These records may be stored with IP address, a random unique identifier (where that arises), and Apple ID when you are signed in to the App Store or other Apple online stores.”

“ To improve the experience in the App Store and other Apple online stores, we collect information about your usage of the stores, including when you open or close the App Store, what content you search for, the content you view and download, and your interactions with App Store push notifications and badges, as well as messages from the App Store within apps. We also collect information about your device such as the type of device, the version of your operating system, and the amount of free space on your device.”

The original researchers also agree: https://xcancel.com/mysk_co/status/1595475453854502912

Further reading: Is Apple collecting data from iPhones even when tracking is disabled? - Black Dot Research

“ While they temporarily stopped that program after that practice was widely reported on, the problem wasn’t completely resolved until 2021.”

This is not completely incorrect, but I find it a bit problematic. How was “the problem”, i.e. third party contractors listening to your recording, resolved in 2021. You were given the choice to opt out of the practice three months after it got media attention. Source: Apple lets users opt out of having Siri conversations graded | Apple | The Guardian

I understand that Siri became local in 2021, but this necessarily didn’t solve the problem by itself; You still have to opt out of improving Siri. The problem was that people listened to your conversations with Siri, not that it’s on Apple’s servers. Of course, the fact that it’s local does provide additional protection, I suppose, but I don’t think it’s related to the scandal.

It might also be worth to warn of something like this happening: https://xcancel.com/mysk_co/status/1705665324035498016

Thanks!

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I should also mention that this section is a bit outdated now, e.g. the analytics & improvements section has a lot more entries now. There are also a few things that are no longer there, e.g. Allow Siri When Locked. This might be less important though.

It might also be worth it to mention that Find My uses Bluetooth when there’s no internet, so disabling it would prevent you from finding your iPhone if there’s no network. Another thing is that Bluetooth turns back on after updates, so if you really want it off, turn it off after updates too. Source: Apple re-enables Bluetooth on every OS update on purpose

It might be worth it to add a VPN section because Some connections to apple’s servers bypass VPNs. Source: https://www.apple.com/legal/privacy/data/en/vpns/
“Even when a VPN is active, some traffic that is necessary for essential system services will take place outside the VPN so that your device can function properly.”
More reading: VPN bypass vulnerability in Apple iOS | Proton
iPhone VPN app security debate continues – is it fixed or not?
Using Mullvad app on iOS. In particular, the vulnerabilities section:
“ The following potential privacy issues exist in Apple’s iOS and iPadOS.

  1. Traffic to Apple services can bypass the VPN tunnel. This includes iCloud, Maps, Siri and notifications.
    Solution: None. Apple does not make it possible to send this traffic through a VPN.
  2. Connections that were established before you connected to Mullvad can bypass the VPN tunnel.
    Solution: Connect to Mullvad, enable Airplane mode, turn off Wi-Fi if it’s on, then disable Airplane Mode.”
    This problem also exists in android though, so it might be worth it to mention there as well?
    Source: https://xcancel.com/mysk_co/status/1580143348135829504
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I’ll make a PR when iOS 18 is out. Def needs a refresh.

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Thanks for your posts, @anonbird!

I opened a pull request that includes these simple changes:

As for your other notes, they’ll probably be addressed in a separate PR since this PR is quite large as is—it includes quite a few changes that were introduced with iOS 18, including the new Hidden apps feature.

Interesting. When searching for this in the Settings app, the name of the setting shows up. When I tap on the result, though, the setting doesn’t appear on the page.

This may be because I never finished setting up Siri on my iPhone. Can any community members who have an iPhone with Siri set up confirm that this setting is missing?

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It’s still there for me. I think you might be right it’s likely only there if you set up Siri.

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