This 1 Hidden iPhone Feature Could Instantly Make Your Online Data Safer — And It's Easy To Activate
It's called Advanced Data Protection, and it's a software option that was rolled out for iOS 16.2 in 2022 for U.S. users that you may not know about, because it's not a default setting, so you have to turn it on yourself.
But you should. This feature 'maximizes the amount of privacy you can have' on Apple devices, explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
Advanced Data Protection is a strong privacy and security feature because it enables end-to-end encryption for your iCloud backups. When you save your files and photos to the cloud, platforms like Apple, by default, will do 'in transit encryption,' meaning transferred data is private but that Apple itself can still see what you are doing. End-to-end encryption goes one step further because it will scramble data so that it's inaccessible unless there is an encryption key that only you know.
It 'makes it so that even the platform owners cannot see that activity, those contents being created,' explained David Huerta, senior digital security trainer at Freedom of the Press Foundation.
This way, no one –– not even Apple or a U.S. government that has the power to seize devices at the border –– can gain access to your revealing photos and voice memos saved on your iCloud, because only you have the encryption key.
'End-to-end encryption does make it so that law enforcement would have a tough time accessing things from cloud providers who get court orders, subpoenas ... sent to them to get access to different types of information,' Huerta said.
Even if you are not an activist, celebrity or a journalist with sensitive information on your phone, you might still want your private photos, like your nudes, or your vulnerable breakup notes you back up to iCloud, to be under this extra layer of privacy.
'If you don't want your content to be used for advertising ... one of the best ways to get that to happen is to use a service that is end-to-end encrypted,' said Sarah Scheffler, an assistant professor in Carnegie Mellon's CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. She noted that end-to-end encryption also helps protect against potential employee misuse of your data or data breaches.
Apple already automatically does end-to-end encryption protection for your payment information, passwords and health data — but it does not, by default, do it for other revealing parts of your iPhone, such as your photo libraries or your Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts and Voice Memos. Turning on Advanced Data Protection changes that.
Here's how it works.
How To Turn On Apple's Advanced Data Protection Feature
First, you need to make sure you enable two-factor authentication and update your device to at least iOS 16.2, iPadOS 16.2, macOS 13.1, tvOS 16.2 or watchOS 9.2.
Then go to Settings, click your Apple name, so you go to your Apple Account. Then select iCloud and Advanced Data Protection.
As part of Advanced Data Protection, you must either create a recovery key or a recovery contact in case you get locked out of your account.
For the recovery key option: You need to create a 28-character key that will help you unlock your account. You must write this down and keep it somewhere you will remember, because Apple can't help you recover this key if you forget it.
For the recovery contact option: You need to designate someone you trust who has an Apple device to be your recovery contact. They'll get a message with a code to help you regain access to your end-to-end encrypted data if you get locked out.
What Advanced Data Protection Doesn't Do
This feature is a great, simple way to add a much-needed layer of security and privacy to your iPhone and the outside world — but it does come with caveats.
Notably, iCloud Mail, Contacts and Calendar events will not be end-to-end encrypted under this extra layer of security. And it still takes a bit of time to set up. As the Electronic Frontier Foundation acknowledges in its pitch for people to use this feature, the digital rights group states, 'It'd be even better if this became Apple's default, instead of an opt-in.'
And it's not available for users in every country, either. This year, Apple said it is withdrawing this feature for U.K. users, reportedly as a way to avoid complying with a request from the U.K. government to create a technical 'back door' for accessing user data.
Unfortunately, there is also no exact equivalent to this one-stop, additional end-to-end encryption feature for Android users.
'Your Android phone, if it's a modern Android phone, will have full disk encryption, which is good, so that the actual device itself and the files in it are protected,' explained Huerta. 'But then as soon as you put that or save that in Google Photos or Google Drive or whatever, then that's when you know Google now has a fully readable copy of your data.'
Don't let your guard down, either. Even if you are an Apple user with Advanced Data Protection turned on, don't assume that this step means you are completely private and secure on your phone. You should always be doing basic security steps like enabling two-factor authentication and password managers on your phone apps.
But overall, Advanced Data Protection should be a feature you have on if you are worried about having your most sensitive photo libraries and files exposed for an authority or a hacker to find. In this era of online surveillance by hackers and empowered border agents, it doesn't hurt to be more careful.
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