You Must Enable These New Privacy Features in IOS 16
Apple’s iOS 16 brings a lot of new features and changes to your iPhone, but it’s not all for show. Privacy is at the heart of the company’s mission, and as such, iOS 16 introduces four new features that should enhance your iPhone’s ability to keep your personal information private.
Remove specific fields from shared contacts
If you keep a close eye on contact details on your iPhone, you’ve probably stored people’s phone numbers, email addresses, dates of birth, nicknames, and other personal information. When you share contact information with others, all of this information is inadvertently shared.
To avoid this, open the Contacts app and tap on any of your contacts. Scroll down and select Share Contact , then Filter Fields at the top of the sharing sheet. Here you will see check marks next to each contact information field. Uncheck the content you don’t want to share, then click Done . When you share this contact, it will automatically remove the fields that you have not checked. Unfortunately, you’ll have to keep this in mind every time you share a contact from your iPhone.
While you’re at it, remember to remove location data from your photos before sharing them .
Improved clipboard protection
Applications will no longer be able to automatically check the contents of your clipboard. When you copy something from one app and paste it into another, you will always see a popup asking if you want to allow the app to access your clipboard.
If you paste something manually, you must grant this permission. However, in the past, nefarious apps have tried to automatically collect everything on your clipboard. Now you can prevent these apps from accessing your clipboard and uninstall them just in case.
The best way to hide your photos
The Photos app in iOS 16 is much better at hiding your photos . You will now need to enter your passcode or use Face ID or Touch ID to open the Hidden and Recently Deleted albums in the app. This feature is enabled by default, so you don’t have to do anything to start using it.
However, you can go one step further and completely hide your Hidden Photos album. Go to Settings > Photos and uncheck Show Hidden Album . Your hidden photos will still be available, but the album won’t show up in the Photos app.
Complete Periodic Security Check
iOS 16 introduces the Security Check feature, which lets you quickly view permissions granted to various apps, revoke access to shared data, and change your Apple ID password. You can think of a security check as a way to quickly secure data on your iPhone.
This feature is especially useful for people whose safety has been compromised, such as those who have experienced domestic violence or those who are trying to distance themselves from abusive relationships. Here’s our step-by-step guide to using the iOS 16 security check feature .