My Favorite Privacy Settings On Apple. My List For Protecting Your Data

• Your NAME appears as a hotspot or as someone to Airdrop - so change it. Go to Settings > General > About > Name. Then type in your new name. (Video and More)
  

DOES EVERYONE HAVE TO KNOW?  iPhone Secrets

• Limit who sees your phone on Airdrop: From your Home Screen, swipe up to reveal your Control Panel, press between the four icons WiFi, Bluetooth, Airplane and Cell Data. You'll see Airdrop pop up. Press the Airdrop icon and you can choose from "Receiving Off" (invisible to Airdrop function), "Contacts Only" or "Everyone."  You can also go to Settings > General > Airdrop. 

• Turn off WiFi hotspots until you need them AND you're in a safe location. To turn off hotspot, go to Settings > Cellular > Personal Hotspot > Off.

Yes Everyone Can Listen. . .

• Know which apps are accessing your Microphone: Go to Setting > Privacy >Microphone - here you’ll see a list of the apps you have that want to access your mic. Toggle to disable.

My Favorite Hack to Stop GPS altogether is a Faraday

• Limit Sharing Location - Does everyone or really anyone need to know where you are? Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services - You can turn it OFF or scroll through every app and decide which ones need your location. Be extra careful - Click on Location Services and toggle OFF every app option and then turn Location Services back OFF.

 Ever Wondered How Someone Gets To Be An Unknown Caller on iPhone?

• Make Yourself an Unknown Caller- When You Want To.  There's always those "times" when you don't want to or need to reveal your phone number on a call.  You can exercise that option by doing this.  Settings>Phone Scroll down to Show My Caller ID.  If it's NOT toggled your phone number will say "Unknown Caller"  most of the time.  Sometimes your carrier will prevent that unknown status. Whaaat?  Yep.

 Here's Why I think Siri is Scary

• No SIRI.  EVER.  Anywhere on iPhone.  If you read Apple's Privacy Policy, there are many way's SIRi want's to take your privacy away.  From recordings to sharing whatever it was you were just Searching- with "third parties" and such.  Here's how to shut her down:  Settings> SIRI And Search> Listen for, OFF. Press Side Button for Siri-toggle off. Show Suggestions- Toggle Off.  Reset Hidden Suggestions- Yes, why not?
• Show Recents Toggle off. Show in Look Up-Toggle Off. Show in Spotlight- Toggle Off  Allow Notifications(this means From Siri) Toggle Off, Show in App Library, this one's okay.  Show When Sharing- Toggle Off, Show When Listening Toggle On (Because if this shows, that means SIRI is on somewhere and you'll need to find it and Toggle Off.  Show On Home Screen-Toggle Off Finally, Suggest App-Toggle Off. Next,  you'll get to go App by App and double check IF you want.  The only reason I do from time to time is if there was a download that re-set these options, or if I downloaded an NEW App and forgot to go in and turn Miss Siri off.

 I always like to remember, that each App knows  Who I Am and What I'm Doing on the App if I Sign Up with My Name and Personal Information

• Don't let Apps Update Automatically.  Right now Apple's done a fine job of letting you know each and every potential privacy option an App would like to take, like say, LEARN FROM THIS APP, which we'll go over next and I'll explain why I say unh uh- no.  But for now, what I'm advising is saying No to Auto Updates so that you can decide IF you want the Apps new software, because sometimes it's not so great and sometimes it comes with an issue that might just want more permissions.  I'm not saying not to update.  I'm saying from time to time, when you have the time, read what's required or allowed in the update and decide for yourself. Settings>App Store>App Updates Toggle Off and In-App Content Toggle Off

• Turn Off Learn From This App.  WHEN I DOWNLOAD AN APP,  I GO INTO SETTINGS, FIND THE APP AND TOGGLE LEARN FROM THIS APP OFF.  WHY?  Because, I do not, absolutely do not want the app I'm using to contribute my information in order to personalize Siri !! go to Settings > Siri & Search and tap the app name, then tap to turn off Learn from this App.   Make sure you do the same with App Clips. To stop app clips from contributing information to personalize Siri, go to Settings > Siri & Search > App Clips and tap to turn off Learn from App Clips.

• Just in case you have been using SIRI, love SIRI and want to keep using SIRI, please just do this one little thing for me?  Delete Your Dictation History.  Apple records and analyzes your conversations with Siri. Though Apple promises that your requests are associated with a random identifier and not your user ID, why take a chance with having your words, your voice, your dictation to be stored by Apple. Please erase your history as so:  Settings > Siri & Search > Siri & Dictation History. Tap the Delete Siri & Dictation History link, then confirm your request to delete your history from Apple’s servers.

If you care about privacy: Keep Google off your phone! For other excellent ideas, check out our Privacy Section.