Photo: 9Robot (Shutterstock)
Apple’s iOS 16 brings a host of new features and changes to your iPhone, but it isn’t all for show. A core principle of the company’s mission is privacy, and as such, iOS 16 introduces four new features that should expand your iPhone’s ability to keep your personal information private.
Remove certain fields from shared contacts
If you’re particular about contact data on your iPhone, you’ve probably saved people’s phone numbers, email addresses, birthdates, nicknames, and other personal information. When you share contact details with others, all this information gets inadvertently passed on.
To avoid that, open the Contacts app and tap any of your contacts. Scroll down and select Share Contact, then Filter Fields at the top of the share sheet. Here, you’ll see checkmarks next to each contact details field. Uncheck the stuff you don’t want to share, then tap Done. When you share this contact, it’ll automatically remove the fields you unchecked. Unfortunately, you’ll have to remember to do this every time you share a contact from your iPhone.
While you’re at it, don’t forget to remove location data from your photos before you share them.
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Enhanced clipboard protection
Apps will no longer be able to automatically check what’s on your clipboard. When you copy something from one app and paste it into another, you’ll always see a pop-up asking if you want to allow the app to access your clipboard.
If you’re manually pasting something, you should grant this permission. However, in the past, nefarious apps have tried to automatically harvest everything in your clipboard. You can now deny these apps permission to your clipboard—and, for good measure, uninstall them.
A better way to hide your photos
The Photos app in iOS 16 does a much better job hiding your pictures. You’ll now have to enter your passcode or use Face ID or Touch ID to open the Hidden and the Recently Deleted albums in the app. This feature is enabled by default, so you don’t have to do anything to start using it.
You can go one step further and hide your Hidden photos album entirely, though. Go to Settings > Photos, and uncheck Show Hidden Album. Your hidden photos will still be around, but the album will not be visible in the Photos app.
Complete a periodic safety check
iOS 16 has introduced a feature called Safety Check, which lets you quickly revisit the permissions granted to various apps, revoke access to shared data, and change your Apple ID password. You can think of Safety Check as a way to quickly secure the data on your iPhone.
This feature is especially helpful for people whose safety has been compromised, such as those facing domestic violence or those who’re trying to distance themselves from abusive relationships. Here’s our step-by-step guide to using iOS 16's Safety Check feature.
