Apple has updated its privacy policy to cover newer aspects of iOS 9, including sections breaking down security measures within specific apps like News, Apple Music and public transit directions in Maps. Apple says while News uses information about the stories a user is reading to serve up ads, reading activity information isn’t shared with other Apple services and is linked only to a News-specific identifier that can be reset at any time by clearing the app’s history.
Recommendations within News are generated locally on a user’s device, not sent to Apple. To get Apple Music features like Radio, For You and Connect to reflect a user’s musical tastes, Apple collects activity information spelled out in the app’s individual privacy policy, but again, the company claims the songs a user streams aren’t shared with any other service for advertising purposes.
In a thinly veiled swipe at Google, Apple’s section about Maps highlights the pains to which the company goes to break up and protect data about a user’s travel habits and trips, saying, “Helping you get from Point A to Point B matters a great deal to us, but knowing the history of all your Point A’s and Point B’s doesn’t.” While Spotlight’s search relies on location information to make suggestions, Apple says it uses a randomly rotating identifier that refreshes every 15 minutes to keep users as protected as possible.
Those who still find that use of their location objectionable can opt out of suggestions altogether, switching Spotlight back to a simple local search on their device. In addition to upgrading its privacy information, Apple has also released an iOS 9 security white paper to elaborate on all of the updated security features in iOS 9.
