System Settings#

3.7 System Settings (Phone Edition)#

This guide will focus on mobile phones for the time being, but a lot of these principles will apply to any device, including laptops. The more you poke around in the settings of any device, the more you’ll find!

A general rule: the less information you share, the better. Devices broadcast all kinds of information, all the time. Much of this is used to provide functionality for WiFi, Bluetooth services, cellular, GPS, and more. However, there is a lot of information that is not purely functional that you still have control over, and this is what this guide aims to tackle.

Alongside that, this guide will walk you through setting permissions for certain parts of your device. Permissions are controls that allow an app to access or not access something, and similarly to above, less is more. For example, a sudoku app will never need to use your camera. Why bother allowing it to access it, then? Even if it asks, if a service does not need permission to function, there is no sense in granting that permission.

Below is a walkthrough of most of the settings and permissions you should familiarize yourself with.

IPhone#

Opting Out of Apple Data Collection#

A few suggestions:

1. In the Settings app, navigate to Privacy and Security > Analytics and Improvements. Disable anything you consider unnecessary.
2. Do the same with Privacy and Security > Apple Advertising.

While there is not much risk involved, as Apple anonymizes data collected from your device, less is more. There is no good reason for you to provide that data.

Location#

To ensure your location is accessed only by apps that you actually want to have it, follow these steps.

1. In the Settings app, navigate to Privacy and Security > Location Services. Disable everything that you are not absolutely certain actually needs to access your location. Remember, an app will prompt you if it needs it to function, and you can always grant more permissions later.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the Location Services menu and tap System Services at the bottom of the application list. Once again, disable everything that does not have a clear purpose. Pay special attention to In-App Web Browsing, Homekit, Share My location, Suggestions & Search and Significant Locations. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and disable all features under Product Improvement.
3. At the bottom of the Location Services menu, enable the Status Bar Icon. This allows you to see when your location data is in use via an icon at the top-left of your screen, next to the time.

Tracking#

1. Settings > Privacy and Security > Tracking. Disable everything. Apps do not need to track your activity across other websites any more than they already do.

Camera and Microphone#

4. In the Settings app, navigate to Privacy and Security, then scroll down to find the Camera and Microphone menu. Once again, revoke permissions to access either feature from whichever apps do not need to use them.

App-to-App Communication#

Beneath the Tracking menu in Privacy & Security, there may be a list of apps or features such as Calendars, Contacts, Focus, Health, Photos that other apps have requested or had access to. Tap on each one and verify that the access permissions for each app listed are what you want them to be.

Apple Intelligence#

Think carefully before enabling Apple Intelligence. If enabled, it’s strongly recommended to revoke its permissions to access calendar, email, messaging, and financial apps due to the vast amount of sensitive information the AI model can accrue about you. Not all computation is done on-device, meaning your private data gets sent to Apple servers whenever you use a feature that utilizes Apple Intelligence, and some of the context of its requests may be stored. While not directly harmful, it is a deeply invasive service that collects much more data on you than you can directly see. Whether that is a risk you accept or not is up to you.

Your phone will function perfectly normally with Apple Intelligence disabled. If you do not have an articulable use for it, it’s recommended you disable it entirely.

Apple Account#

In Settings, tap on your name card at the very top of the application’s home page. This brings you to the Apple Account menu.

Sign-In & Security#

1. Navigate to Settings > Apple Account > Sign-In & Security. It’s strongly recommended to enable Two-Factor Authentication, as this is one of the most effective ways to protect your account from being accessed by anyone but you.
   1. Be sure to remove any old emails or phone numbers from the top part of this page if they are no longer in use.
   2. You can also set up a Recovery Contact, if that is a protection you’d need. This is useful if you’re at risk of losing access to your account (or if you forget your passcode).

Find My#

1. Navigate to Settings > Apple Account > Find My. This is a location sharing service that is intended to help you find lost devices. If you have Family Sharing enabled and are in a Family, members may also be permitted to see the locations of your devices. This feature is called Share My Location, and can be disabled.

Other Notable Features#

1. IPhones have a category in Privacy & Security > Safety Check called Manage Sharing & Access, which provides a brief overview of which apps or people can see what information, what devices are connected to your Apple Account, and suggests other steps to take based on your device’s settings.
2. In Privacy & Security, there are a multitude of other features aside from the ones described in this guide. It’s recommended to look through these menus and understand what they do, and to disable anything you don’t need or want shared.
3. Stolen Device Protection is never a bad idea to have enabled. It prevents people who know your passcode from performing actions such as changing your Apple Account password, but by default is set to activate when far from any significant locations.