Do Not Track Your Way to Privacy on iOS
When you surf the Internet, websites can track your every move and collect all kinds of information about you by following your cookies and analyzing your digital trail. But there are ways to protect yourself from this tracking, including setting up Do Not Track on Safari in iOS. The process is slightly different between an iPhone or iPad with iOS 8 and one with iOS 9, but both versions will help you avoid tracking if you enable the feature. We’ll show you how to set up Do Not Track so you can browse privately in iOS.
Setting up your device
In order to enable Do Not Track, open Settings and select Safari. Scroll down and select Prevent Cross-Site Tracking. You will then be prompted with a pop up message that asks if you would like to turn the feature on. Tap Turn On and you are all set!
Enabling do not track
The Do not track setting in iOS 8 is a big step forward for user privacy. Here’s how to turn it on:
1) Tap Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services, then turn off the toggle switch next to Find My iPhone. 2) Tap Settings > General > About, then scroll down and tap Advertising. 3) Turn off the toggle switch next to Limit Ad Tracking. This will prevent apps from gathering information about your location and your device. The downside is that you’ll get more ads while browsing the web.
Keeping do not track enabled
When you enable the Do Not Track feature, Safari sends a signal that tells websites not to track your browsing habits. Turning it on is easy and takes just a few seconds. Here’s how:
1) Open the Settings app and select Safari. 2) Tap ‘Block Cookies’ and turn on the switch next to ‘Never Block Cookies.’
3) Scroll down and tap ‘Never Allow Sites to Track Me,’ then turn it On.
Exporting data
To export data from your iPhone, tap on the blue arrow in the upper-right corner. From the list of options that appear, tap Export Data. If you have iCloud Backup enabled, then you will be able to choose which data you want to export. Otherwise, if you don’t have iCloud Backup enabled or if you’d like to select individual data types for exporting, scroll down and tap Select Data. From this menu, there are three tabs – Photos & Camera Roll, Health Data and Other. You can enable or disable each tab according to your preferences and then tap Done at the top of the screen.
Do you use other tools/features for tracking?
I use the following tools and features for tracking my privacy:
-IPhone’s Do not track mode. This can be found by going into settings and turning on the option. I have it turned off in most of my apps so I don’t accidentally turn it on while using one that might need it. -Various browser extensions like Ghostery and Disconnect, which block third parties from collecting browsing data or targeting ads based off your browsing history. Both are free and are available for Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc. -I use an ad blocker extension called Adblock Plus when I am online to prevent ad companies from collecting information about me and displaying targeted ads based off of what I’ve been looking at on other sites.
What do you think about this feature?
I think this is a great feature for those people who really want to keep their privacy. The Do not track feature will allow you time to decide what they do and don’t want tracked. It also gives users the opportunity to choose whether or not they would like the advertising companies to use their personal information, such as location and browsing history, for targeted ads. I think this is a step in the right direction for Apple because it is taking control of privacy back from advertisers.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
The Do Not Track feature is a relatively new addition for Apple users, and it’s been hailed as a potential privacy savior. It essentially tells advertisers not to follow your browsing around the web. This can be especially helpful if you’re not sure you want ads following you around the internet in order to advertise products that may or may not be relevant. Plus, if you aren’t interested in adverts, it’s good way of securing your data from being collected and shared with other companies.
To activate Do Not Track on your iOS device, go into Settings>Privacy>Advertising. Tap the Limit Ad Tracking toggle switch so it turns green and then confirm that you want to enable tracking protection by tapping OK in the pop-up window.
