Many people who use Apple products assume that all their data with them is private because of the company’s aggressive marketing on the topic. They say things like: “Some things shouldn’t be shared. iPhone helps keep it that way,” and “Privacy. That’s iPhone.” Privacy is something we’ve come to immediately associate with Apple. Now if you use an iPhone or other Apple products, you probably also use the company’s cloud storage service, iCloud, to back up your photos, contacts, emails, calendars, notes, messages, voice memos, and other data. But your iCloud is probably NOT as private as you think. Let me explain. In late 2022, Apple did introduce end to end encryption for a range of iCloud categories. Sensitive and personal data like photos, notes, and iMessage backups were now protected from unauthorized access. With the addition of a setting called “Advanced Data Protection” Apple significantly enhanced user privacy and data security. Things protected with this setting can only be accessed by the user -- not even Apple can access these files. But it’s super important that users know that, even though this enhanced privacy setting exists, and despite Apple, in general, being a vocal proponent of privacy, your iCloud is probably not at all private. Because this new setting’s end to end encryption is NOT turned on by default. So if you’ve been happily backing up all of your private files to iCloud all this time and never bothered to turn on Advanced Data Protection, Apple has been able to see everything you’ve uploaded. In this video I’m going to give an overview of exactly what is being protected with Advanced Data Protection, how to turn it on, and I’ll also talk about its limitations, and other options that you might use for your backups instead. Let’s start by diving into the details of Advanced Data Protection. It’s a setting that gives you a choice to better protect your privacy on iCloud if you want to, and take your data out of the reach of even Apple itself. Once enabled, it makes sure that data can only be decrypted on devices where you're signed in with your Apple ID account. Whether you turn on Advanced Data Protection or not, Apple does already protect some sensitive data categories with end to end encryption by default. These include things like your passwords and keychain, payment information, health data and home data. Enabling Advanced Data Protection, adds a whole bunch more categories to that list. iCloud Backup including device and Messages backup, iCloud Drive, Photos, Notes, Reminders, Safari Bookmarks, Siri Shortcuts, Voice Memos, Wallet passes, and Freeform. Now let’s dive into exactly how to set it up. First you'll first have to update all your devices to the latest software versions. This means every device where you’re signed in with your Apple ID, otherwise you’ll have to sign out on those devices, because they won’t support end to end encryption. Next, you’ll have to enable Account Recovery. If you lose access to your account, Apply won’t be able to resend you your log in. So you’re required to set up a recovery contact first, which ensures that you can still recover your data if you forget your password. First, open Settings on your iPhone and click on your Apple ID at the top. Then select iCloud. Click Advanced Data Protection and click Account Recovery Then you’ll add your recovery contact, which is a trusted person who also owns an Apple device, like a friend or family member. Once you confirm them as your recovery contact, they will receive recovery codes if you ever forget your password. You'll also have the option to set a 28-character recovery key, which you should write down somewhere safe or store in a password manager. The final two things that you’ll need in order to turn on Advanced Data Protection are 2FA on your Apple ID and a passcode locking your device, both of which you hopefully already have set up anyway. Now you should see the option to toggle on Advanced Data Protection for iCloud backups. Once Advanced Data Protection is enabled, it’s worth noting that, by default, you won’t be able to access your data via iCloud.com. If you’d like this feature, you’ll have to toggle it on manually, but keep in mind that this allows the web browser and Apple to have access to your encryption keys. That's it. Your iCloud backups are now protected with end-to-end encryption. It means that only devices signed in to your iCloud account, and that you have explicitly trusted, can access your files. Your decryption keys are held only on these devices, so nobody else can decrypt and view your sensitive digital assets. Turning this on is a huge step forward for your privacy. But now let’s talk about some of the limitations of Advanced Data Protection. First, even if you turn on the new Advanced Data Protection feature, three important kinds of data are never end-to-end encrypted: iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendars. Apple says that it can’t encrypt this data because it wants these services to remain interoperable with other email and calendar providers. So keep in mind that no matter what you do, Apple will be able to scan your emails, calendar events, and see personal details about people in your network. But on top of that, whether you have Advanced Data Protection turned on or not, all your files’ metadata is still visible to Apple. This includes: File type, File size, How many times a photo has been viewed, Whether a file was pinned or marked as favorite, usage data, such as timestamps of when the file was created or last modified. Finally, you are now in control of protecting your own data. You can’t go to Apple to regain access to your account, because Apple itself doesn’t have access. So make sure your recovery contact is up to date, and make sure that you have your recovery key saved somewhere really safe. If you ever forget your password, these recovery methods are your only options. Now I want to briefly mention some alternative options to using the Apple ecosystem for backups. Why might you want to do this? Well, in other videos we talk about the huge amount of data that Apple collects from users, especially through things like telemetry, and how they bypass VPNs for a lot of this collection. So some people might want to limit their exposure to the Apple ecosystem as much as they can, even while still using Apple devices. So we’d recommend not using apple mail, calendar, or contacts because of their lack of end to end encryption. We have videos diving into more private email options. For calendars, I personally like Proton’s end to end encrypted calendar, and my contacts are all stored locally on my Graphene phone and not backed up to any central server. When it comes to backing up photos and files, we just released a video exploring 3 options that we like: Proton Drive, and 2 self hosting options: Synology and Nextcloud. These are all private backup options that you can set up to happen automatically, so that you never have to think about it again. So check out those videos if you want to be walked through the process. In general, Apple products do offer a higher level of security and privacy compared to top competitors. For example, stock iPhone is far more private and secure than stock Android. But don’t presume that your iphone is more private than it actually is. And if you’re already logged into an iCloud account, absolutely make sure that you have Advanced Data Protection turned on. It’s an easy step that goes a long way to improving the privacy of your digital files. As always, there were no sponsors in this video. NBTV is funded entirely by community donations. So if you’d like to support our free educational videos, head to nbtv.media/support. Or take a look at our book, “Beginner’s Introduction to Privacy”, which also supports our channel. Thanks so much for liking, sharing, and subscribing, and for watching through till the end. I just got back from CactusCon, which is a hacker conference in Arizona, and they had the best theme this year, which was “Big Hacktar”, a Big Brother spin off. So, a big shout out to them for putting a focus on privacy at their conference. And this little guy is gonna go into my set. And thanks so much to everyone who came to say “hi”! It was super awesome to meet so many of you. If you ever see me at an event, come say hi because you will get one of these little NTV stickers. Stickers! He’s adorable!