After Apple rolled out iOS 15.1 and other apps worldwide on Monday evening, a new beta phase has now started. iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 were made available, among other things. A particularly interesting feature was added in the process - App Privacy Report.
Apple announced the new App Privacy Report feature back in June during the WWDC 2021 keynote. It was supposed to launch alongside iOS 15 in September, but was one of the many features that were pushed back to a later date. While Apple introduced SharePlay and a few other features with iOS 15.1, iOS 15.2 seems to focus on another important issue for Apple: privacy. After integrating App Tracking Transparency with iOS 14.5, which requires apps to ask users for permission before tracking them across other apps and websites, Apple is now going a step further with the App Privacy Report. This report can be found in the Settings app and provides information about which data and sensors on the device each app has accessed over the past seven days. Apple describes this function as follows:
iOS 15.2 Beta: App privacy report provides more transparency
A section in Settings lets you see how many times apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, and contacts over the past seven days. It also shows you which apps have contacted other domains and how often they have contacted them.
Apple highlights the feature to developers as follows:
In iOS 15.2 beta and iPadOS 15.2 beta, this activity is shown in a new UI in Settings called App Privacy Report. This is a good opportunity to check your app's sensor, data, and internet usage.
We will see in the next few hours whether Apple has added further features as part of the update. (Photo by Peach_BigStockPhoto / Bigstockphoto)
