Apple devices are well-known for their commitment to user security and privacy. To further enhance user autonomy and prevent intrusive advertising on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, Apple offers essential adjustments. Today, we’ll explore these features and learn how they can safeguard your privacy and provide a better user experience.
Advertising control
Before diving into this post, it’s crucial to acknowledge that the advertising provided by Apple isn’t invasive. Instead, it utilizes your information to offer personalized ads that might be of interest to you. Nevertheless, some users prefer to minimize constant notifications and information about apps, even if personalized. Let’s explore how to reduce this option on iPad and iPhone.
For iOS and iPadOS:
- Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Apple Advertising.
- Turn off Personalized Ads. (In older versions, this setting is called Privacy.)
For macOS:
- Select the Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Click on Privacy and Security (or Security & Privacy for macOS Monterey or earlier).
- Choose Apple Advertising.
- Deselect Personalized Ads.
Within the privacy and security settings, you can access additional information about Apple ads and privacy, and review targeted ad information. This allows you to have more control over your ad experience across your Apple devices.
Location Based Ads
Similarly, just as we can disable personalized ads, we can also opt-out of ads based on our location. This option mainly applies to the App Store and Apple News. However, it’s worth noting that Apple News is not yet available in Europe. For the App Store, we’ll explain the process.
For iOS and iPadOS:
- Go to Settings > Privacy and Security > Location Services.
- You can turn off Location Services entirely or choose App Store or News from the list and set Allow Location Access to Never. (In older versions, this setting is called Privacy.)
Now, let’s see how to do this on your Mac to avoid location-based advertising:
- Select the Apple menu > System Preferences.
- Click on Privacy and Security (or Security & Privacy for macOS Monterey or earlier).
- Choose Location Services.
- Deselect Location or News.
In conclusion, it is essential to understand that the advertising provided by Apple is user-centric, designed to help users discover relevant apps, products, and services while respecting their privacy. Apple’s advertising platform was thoughtfully designed to protect your information and give you control over its usage, ensuring personal data is not shared with third parties, unlike some other platforms.