iOS 17 comes with some interesting new features in terms of privacy within different apps, such as Safari, Photos, or simply Calendar. I chose 8 for you.
Private browsing in Safari
Incognito windows in Safari are now locked and require secondary authentication to access them. If you lend your phone to someone and they try to open an incognito tab, access will be denied without scanning Face ID/Touch ID or passcode.
Remove URL tracking
Opening a URL in an incognito window automatically removes any tracking information added to the URL, and unknown trackers are blocked, preventing companies from tracking your browsing across multiple sites.
It is also possible to add this option to all windows, private or not, if you go to Settings > Safari > Advanced.
Share the password
With iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and macOS Sonoma, it’s possible to securely share passwords with friends and family using the new Shared Passwords feature.
You will create groups with passwords and you can add people to these groups. It’s not intended, but I see the ability to group passwords by categories, such as “multimedia”, “administrative”, etc. to organize your group. When someone needs passwords for Disney, Netflix, and other Paramounts, you can add them to the respective group and presto!
iPhone passcode
If you’ve changed your iPhone passcode and accidentally forgot the new passcode you chose, you now have a 72-hour grace period to correct it without locking your device.
Application access to photos
With iOS 17, a photo picker allows us to share specific photos with apps while keeping the rest of our photo library private. Apps must request access to the entire photo library from the user, who will be notified of shared photo information.
Applications access to the calendar
Following the same principle as Photos, apps can now add an event to the Calendar app without being able to display the user’s calendar thanks to the “Only add events” option.
History in the Home app
The Home app now includes a 30-day activity log, allowing users to see who has accessed door locks, garage doors, contact sensors, and alarm sensors, as well as when.
Conclusion
With iOS 17, Apple is reiterating its desire to protect its users from the big bad internet and some of these new features may be debatable, but it still falls short of the tracker announcement that arrived with iOS 15 and iOS 16. We remember Facebook had a little sweat…
