All the Privacy Features Apple Announced at WWDC 2020

Apple has always had a big focus on privacy (except when it chooses not to) and this year was no different. Here's a quick roundup of all the privacy-focussed features the company announced at its developers conference yesterday -

• An improved Safari with data breach password monitoring feature and a new Privacy Report that delivers added visibility into how Safari protects browsing activity across the web with intelligent tracking prevention, in addition to letting users choose when and which websites a Safari extension can work with.
• Apps in the iOS and macOS App Store come with a new "nutrition label" for apps that summarises an app's privacy policy under two categories "Data Linked to You" and "Data Used to Track You" and is prominently displayed on App Store pages to "help users understand the privacy practices of apps before downloading them, including the types of data the apps might collect — such as usage, contact information, or location — and whether that data is shared with third parties for tracking."
• This way a given developer can't, say, secretly hoover up a user's location or other personal details without Apple — or the user — knowing about it. (The question to ask, then, will be what if developers aren't entirely honest?)
• At the same time, it's also worth pointing out that the labels have to strike a balance between giving the general user enough information to understand an app's data practices, but not so much that the labels become as dense and complex as the privacy policies they're supposed to summarise.
• Tracking permissions that prevent apps (including Apple's) from cross-tracking users across the web without consent, with options to revoke the permissions ("Allow Tracking" or "Ask App Not to Track") at any time — implying the collected data cannot be used for targeted ads, sharing location data with advertisers, share users' advertising identifiers with third-parties. Tracking, however, is still permitted for fraud detection and if the data is shared locally on-device with another app and never leaves the device in a user identifying manner.

• Third-party apps that support Sign in with Apple can now allows users to upgrade their existing accounts to use Apple's privacy login feature. Safari will also add support for password-less logins via Face ID and Touch ID.
• On iOS (and iPadOS), apps will now be required to obtain user permission before tracking, users can choose to share their approximate location with app developers rather than their precise location when granting an app location access, and on-screen indicators will be displayed when apps use the microphone and camera — via a green dot for camera and an orange dot for the mic that will sit at the top of the status bar next to the cellular signal.
• Likewise, when apps ask for access to Photos app, users can give them access only to select photos rather than the entire Photo Library. In addition, apps no longer have full access to the clipboard and will require user permission to access its contents for the first time.

In my opinion, most of these upcoming features are long overdue and should have been standards already. It also goes towards making things transparent with users, while forcing app developers to either stop stealthily collecting data or come clean about it. And this can only be a good thing.