Take Control of iOS & iPadOS Privacy and Security, 4th Edition

Master networking, privacy, and security for iOS and iPadOS!
Version 4.2, updated January 29, 2024

Ensuring that your iPhone or iPad’s data remains secure and in your control and that your private data remains private isn’t a battle—if you know what boxes to check and how to configure iOS and iPadOS to your advantage. Take Control of iOS & iPadOS Privacy and Security takes you into the intricacies of Apple’s choices when it comes to networking, data sharing, and encryption—and protecting your personal safety. Substantially updated to cover dozens of changes and new features in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17!

Your iPhone and iPad have become the center of your digital identity, and it’s easy to lose track of all the ways in which Apple and other parties access your data legitimately—or without your full knowledge and consent. While Apple nearly always errs on the side of disclosure and permission, many other firms don’t. This book comprehensively explains how to configure iOS 17, iPadOS 17, and iCloud-based services to best protect your privacy with messaging, email, browsing, and much more. The book also shows you how to ensure your devices and data are secure from intrusion from attackers of all types.

You’ll get practical strategies and configuration advice to protect yourself against psychological and physical threats, including restrictions on your freedom and safety. For instance, you can now screen images that may contain nude images, while Apple has further enhanced Lockdown Mode to block potential attacks by governments, including your own.

Take Control of iOS & iPadOS Privacy and Security covers how to configure the hundreds of privacy and data sharing settings Apple offers in iOS and iPadOS, and which it mediates for third-party apps. Safari now has umpteen different strategies built in by Apple to protect your web surfing habits, personal data, and identity, and new features in Safari, Mail, and Messages that block tracking of your movement across sites, actions on ads, and even when you open and view an email message.

In addition to privacy and security, this book also teaches you everything you need to know about networking, whether you’re using 3G, 4G LTE, or 5G cellular, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or combinations of all of them; as well as about AirDrop, AirPlay, Airplane Mode, Personal Hotspot, and tethering.

You’ll learn how to:

• Twiddle 5G settings to ensure the best network speeds on your iPhone or iPad.
• Master the options for a Personal Hotspot for yourself and in a Family Sharing group.
• Set up a device securely from the moment you power up a new or newly restored iPhone or iPad.
• Manage Apple’s built-in second factor verification code generator for extra-secure website and app logins.
• Create groups of passwords and passkeys you can share securely with other iPhone, iPad, and Mac users.
• Decide whether Advanced Data Protection in iCloud, an enhanced encryption option that makes nearly all your iCloud data impossible for even Apple to view, makes sense for you.
• Use passkeys, a high-security but easy-to-use website login system with industry-wide support.
• Block unknown (and unwanted) callers, iMessage senders, and phone calls, now including FaceTime.
• Protect your email by using Hide My Email, a iCloud+ tool to generate an address Apple manages and relays messages through for you—now including email used with Apple Pay transactions.
• Use Safari’s blocking techniques and how to review websites’ attempts to track you, including the latest improvements in iOS 17 and iPadOS 17.
• Use Communication Safety, a way to alert your children about sensitive images—but now also a tool to keep unsolicited and unwanted images of private parts from appearing on your devices.
• Understand why Apple might ask for your iPhone, iPad, or Mac password when you log in on a new device using two-factor authentication.
• Keep yourself safe when en route to a destination by creating a Check In partner who will be alerted if you don’t reach your intended end point or don’t respond within a period of time.
• Dig into Private Browsing’s several new features in iOS 17/iPadOS 17, designed to let you leave no trace of your identity or actions behind, while protecting your iPhone or iPad from prying eyes, too.
• Manage data usage across two phone SIMs (or eSIMS) at home and while traveling.
• Use a hardware encryption key to strongly protect your Apple ID account.
• Share a Wi-Fi password with nearby contacts and via a QR Code.
• Differentiate between encrypted data sessions and end-to-end encryption.
• Stream music and video to other devices with AirPlay 2.
• Use iCloud+’s Private Relay, a privacy-protecting browsing service that keeps your habits and locations from prying marketing eyes.
• Deter brute-force cracking by relying on an Accessories timeout for devices physically being plugged in that use USB and other standards.
• Configure Bluetooth devices.
• Enjoy enhanced AirDrop options that let you tap two iPhones to transfer files and continue file transfers over the internet when you move out of range.
• Protect Apple ID account and iCloud data from unwanted access at a regular level and via the new Safety Check, designed to let you review or sever digital connections with people you know who may wish you harm.