What do you do about trackers in apps?
You might be surprised by how many apps track you and steal private data from your iPhone and iPad.
Even without your permission, they can also steal all kinds of information you probably prefer to keep private.
Peter Dazeley / Getty Images
The solution is to install some kind of firewall on your machine.
What Are Trackers?
A tracker is anything that tracks you on the internet.
Lockdown
Thats a form of tracking.
Another example is Facebook.
Even when youre not on the social networks site, Facebook knows what youre doing.
Its not just Facebook, either.
Recently, many weather apps were found to beselling your location data.
You should also be paranoid about an app that uses your email credentials or accesses your contacts and photos.
Guardian Firewall
Guardian Firewallwas the first firewall app on iOS.
This VPN routes all of your internet connections through Guardians servers, and blocks trackers and other privacy-stealing connections.
The blocking is completely anonymous.
There are some other nice side effects, too.
Because your connection is routed through Guardians servers, websites cannot see where you are in the world.
You know how Google guesses your location, and tells you at the bottom of every search page?
That cant happen with a VPN.
However, in version 2.0, there are new tools to help you track down bad apps.
This real-time feedback lets you work out which apps are the worst offenders.
I personally feel it helps hammer in how pervasive this kind of activity is, says Strafach.
With some apps, they appear to be pinging trackers almost nonstop.
Lockdown
Another security option isLockdown, which has the advantage of working entirely on your unit.
It routes all your internet traffic through a filter that blocks unwanted connections.
Block lists are updated weekly, and you could add your own items to the list.
Can You Trust These Apps?
One problem with offloading your security to yet another app/service is that you have to trust it.
After all, your sensitive data is being funneled through their apps and/or servers.
Doesnt iOS 14 Do All This Already?
In iOS 14, Apple added a lot of new anti-tracking features, but theyreconfusing at best.
It has alsodelayed some of its anti-tracking featuresafter complaints from advertisers.
The advantage of using Apples built-in tools is that you already trust the platform vendor.
The disadvantage is a lack of configurability.
Safaris Intelligent Tracking only works inside Safari.
It doesnt block apps.
