# Notes after daily driving an iPhone for six months **URL:** https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/notes-after-daily-driving-an-iphone-for-six-months/28279 **Category:** General **Tags:** software **Created:** 2025-06-12T15:58:54Z **Posts:** 17 ## Post 1 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-12T15:58:54Z after having spent a decade maintaining my own Android distro: [https://divested.dev/misc/ios-review.txt](https://divested.dev/misc/ios-review.txt) I think I covered everything I wanted to, but I might’ve missed a few things. --- ## Post 2 by @anonfox — 2025-06-12T16:34:48Z Great overview, but some questions/notes > For non lockdown users: No way to disable Game Center. ![image](//forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/2X/c/c96f6ba94c44d6e5ac6901730df9b3db41fcc6d6.jpeg) Doesn’t this disable it? > Has no VCF export mechanism. Long press your contacts list, and the option to export appears. ![image](//forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/2X/b/b3b2f614ac38216ee2cf2a7c9003f8ef39619c71.jpeg) > No easy way to clear history/data. ![image](//forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/2X/d/d8f7168114bd19c5326229cf684590130b028b4b.jpeg) I think this is new, so you might not have noticed it Great review overall! --- ## Post 3 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-12T18:16:47Z > [@anonfox](#): > > Doesn’t this disable it? Every time you open a game you’ll get a toast prompting you to sign into Game Center. > [@anonfox](#): > > Long press your contacts list, and the option to export appears. Awful hidden, but thank you! > [@anonfox](#): > > I think this is new, so you might not have noticed it This is my issue, you have to go out of Safari into Settings \> Apps \> Safari \> Scroll all the way down \> Clear Hitory and Website Data \> Clear History --- ## Post 4 by @Shampoo — 2025-06-12T18:21:10Z > [@anon63378630](#): > > This is my issue, you have to go out of Safari into Settings \> Apps \> Safari \> Scroll all the way down \> Clear Hitory and Website Data \> Clear History Does the clear button in safari not clear website data as well? I thought it did. Edit: just tested and it looks like it clears all data as well. --- ## Post 5 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-12T18:42:59Z > [@Shampoo](#): > > Does the clear button in safari Where is there a clear button _inside_ of Safari? The only button I see is deep in the Settings app. --- ## Post 6 by @Bhaelros — 2025-06-12T18:49:57Z Not gonna make a long list now :slight_smile: but ads on AppStore? Have you ever seen Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store? For Safari it is not so deep hidden, but it could be better. Settings \> Apps \> Safari \> Clear history --- ## Post 7 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-12T18:51:54Z > [@Bhaelros](#): > > Have you ever seen Samsung Galaxy Store or Google Play Store? Have not at least not in a long while. I just mean you can search eg. Orbot in the App Store and the first result is a scam app thanks to it being an ad. > [@Bhaelros](#): > > not so deep hidden, but it could be better. Settings \> Apps \> Safari \> Clear history That is 4 steps too many. The harder it is to access, the less people will use it. --- ## Post 8 by @Shampoo — 2025-06-12T18:56:56Z ![IMG_8830](//forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/2X/1/1f718e330c980d347484cac35f83fe4b8e4ea229.jpeg) --- ## Post 9 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-12T18:58:28Z oh wow! for me I didn’t see it since my history was already blank, so it was grey on grey and hard to see --- ## Post 10 by @Shampoo — 2025-06-12T19:02:40Z Also the notifications repeating after 2 minutes is a feature not a bug. You can change it in settings → notifications → messages → customize notifications → repeats alerts. --- ## Post 11 by @baby_bat — 2025-06-12T19:54:49Z Honestly very refreshing to see a non-biased, nuanced, balanced take on using iOS after maining android for so long. I’m in multiple tech subs on reddit, including both android and apple, and by the way they act you’d think you have to swear a blood oath to only one side. Like if you main android you’d spontaneously combust just walking by an apple store. Never allowed to acknowledge anything the enemy platform does right. I’ve oscillated between the two since I got my first phone in 2013, being with each for a few years before switching sides, so I love comparing how they’ve evolved over the last 10+ years. I’ve been in an ios phase since 2023 but I have a pixel 7a running graphene and also a nothing phone 1 with nethunter as my side pieces. I was planning on switching to graphene full time this fall with the pixel 10 pro xl but after the aosp news I’m just gonna stay in a holding pattern until the devs can come up for air and tell us more about the future of the project. --- ## Post 12 by @anon32162901 — 2025-06-13T13:10:10Z Maybe the Shortcuts app can help. Here’s the first result I got from DDG’ing; > **[iOS shortcut to clear Safari](https://www.ojisanseiuchi.com/2020/10/10/ios-shortcut-to-clear-safari/)** > > Sanitizing mobile Safari using iOS shortcuts. --- ## Post 13 by @overdrawn98901 — 2025-06-13T23:26:07Z I’d be interested to hear if your usage aligns with recommendations outlined from PG - [iOS Overview - Privacy Guides](https://www.privacyguides.org/en/os/ios-overview/) --- ## Post 14 by @somatostatin — 2025-06-14T08:43:40Z Very interesting, thanks for sharing. Have you tried iOS 26? That’s supposed to add the ability to swipe back from anywhere in the screen (towards the left side), at least on apple apps (not from both edges though) I think the VPN always-on thing can be configured as an MDM configuration, but that’s obviously suboptimal. > No Internet permission for apps. That’s quite annoying. Interestingly this is available on chinese iPhones (it has both a cellular and wifi data toggle, non-chinese models just have cellular data toggle). > Text selection and cursor movement is completely broken. Did you try pressing and holding when selecting text? I heard that although you can’t tap in the middle of a word, if you hold for a bit whilst in there, it will let you direct select into the middle of the word. * * * Some extra things Did you have any thoughts the app sideloading experience? Did you try blocking ads with a VPN profile (e.g. with DNS set to a server that blocks smartphone ads) --- ## Post 15 by @anon63378630 — 2025-06-14T10:02:42Z > [@somatostatin](#): > > iOS 26 Lockdown prevents using beta updates. Also Liquid Glass looks horrifying for accessibility in them too. > [@somatostatin](#): > > Did you try I tried everything, I really don’t understand why it is so inconsistent. > [@somatostatin](#): > > MDM configuration I tried to avoid these options for now, but I might explore them in the future. > [@somatostatin](#): > > app sideloading Haven’t tried it. Don’t even have a modern mac to run Xcode, hence why I recently made a PWA. > [@somatostatin](#): > > blocking ads with a VPN profile I’m using very few third party apps, and none that make such connections, so I only need coverage in Safari. --- ## Post 16 by @Antsu — 2025-06-15T09:34:40Z [/quote] This is my issue, you have to go out of Safari into Settings \> Apps \> Safari \> Scroll all the way down \> Clear Hitory and Website Data \> Clear History [/quote] Have you tried shortcuts? Make shortcut using: Safari - Open urls - prefs:root=SAFARI&path=CLEAR\_HISTORY\_AND\_DATA You still need to hit “Clear History” but the hassle is not so bad. Edit. After that you can add it as a widget and use it from your home page. Edit 2. ![image](//forum-uploads.privacyguidesusercontent.com/original/2X/a/a23d8a2647db8d0c913893da150cd3d909bf5c0c.jpeg) This is my collection of Shortcuts as a widget that I use from my second page. Apparently not all of them are necessary but anyway you get the idea. --- ## Post 17 by @MichaelJohn — 2025-06-18T19:34:54Z @SkewedZeppelin What led you to want to daily drive an iPhone when GrapheneOS exists (even if somewhat threatened as of late)? Curiosity, or are you fearful for the future of the project?