iOS 18 – Three new privacy and security features coming soon to your iPhone

Apple’s iOS 18 is just around the corner, and the iPhone maker has confirmed major privacy and security features coming this fall: Apple’s iOS 18 will be one of the iPhone maker’s biggest updates in a while, as it includes the iPhone maker’s first AI features.

The “Apple Intelligence” AI will be supported by security and privacy settings, as well as the iPhone maker’s private cloud computing, the company announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference last week.

Apple’s AI capabilities add to a suite of exciting new privacy and security features you can try out on your iPhone when iOS 18 arrives. Here are three of the best.

Locked and hidden apps in iOS 18

Although the iPhone already comes with several privacy and security features, anyone who has access to your device can also see everything on it. With this in mind, starting with iOS 18, you can lock apps so that they can only be accessed at the tap of a button using Face ID or Touch ID, or a passcode.

This means that on iOS 18 and later, if you hand your device over to someone to look at something or take a photo, they won’t be able to see other apps, like banking or social media.

Additionally, in iOS 18, Apple is offering the ability to hide iPhone apps by moving them into a locked, hidden app folder that must be opened using Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode.

Password app for iOS 18

I think one of the best new security features coming to iOS 18 is the Passwords app, a step up from the current iCloud Keychain. The new Passwords app is more similar to traditional password managers like 1Password, so it works better across platforms, and it also includes alerts to let you know when you’re using weak passwords or passwords that have been leaked in a recent breach.

The new Passwords app strikes a “great balance between security and functionality” while providing “much-needed easy access” to account passwords and other personal information, said Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at ESET.

Moore believes iOS 18’s password manager “risks crushing the competition,” but acknowledges that it “could be an important app that makes password management the default.”

Preventing credential reuse and the use of easy-to-guess passwords is a win-win for people’s security.

Contacts Permissions Improvements in iOS 18

Being able to control app permissions is important, and Apple has long given iPhone users the means to do this. For example, App Tracking Transparency lets you stop being tracked across apps and websites, and lets you choose which photos an app can use without giving the app full library access.

In iOS 18, Apple is extending this to your contacts, giving you easier control over the information you share with apps and helping to improve your privacy. This is great news for your contacts too.

Other Security and Privacy Enhancements in iOS 18

Apple’s iOS 18 also comes with an Accessory Setup Kit, which lets developers pair accessories without their apps knowing about all the other devices on the network. The feature is “incredibly important and often overlooked by users,” Moore said. “It’s something that’s typically not prioritized until it’s compromised.”

Meanwhile, the Privacy and Security section of Settings is getting a revamp, making it easier to understand each app’s access level and change it if necessary, Apple says.

iOS 18 AI Upgrade

Apple’s iOS 18 is the first iPhone software update to include a major AI upgrade, which itself has raised security and privacy concerns, especially given its partnership with OpenAI on ChatGPT.

But Apple claims that on-device processing keeps its AI features protected and private, with resource-intensive requests handled in its own private cloud environment, Private Cloud Compute.

iOS 18 will definitely be a groundbreaking update for iPhones and promises a ton of privacy and security features. I’ll be tracking all the updates so stay tuned ahead of the official release.