Apple iOS 18 update is live: These are the most important new iPhone security features to protect your private life

Published

8 months ago

September 16, 2024

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Apple released the latest version of its iPhone operating system, iOS 18, on Monday, including several new security and privacy features. The rollout comes a week after Apple unveiled new versions of the iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch. Preorders for the new iPhones began Friday and will be widely available on Sept. 20.

Some consumer tech experts say the new iPhone hardware is best judged as incremental, and early data suggests demand could be sluggish, so neither the phone nor new artificial intelligence features will necessarily result in an upgrade supercycle. But for iPhone users, it’s worth familiarizing yourself with the new operating system’s Password Manager app and additional choices on how and where your data is accessed. That includes controls related to your personal and business contacts, and new ways to protect sensitive apps and associated information on devices that may be shared.

Privacy professionals say updates for iOS 18, the public beta version of which has been available since July, should make it easier for consumers to understand and use available privacy protections.

“Apple continues to try to build privacy for its users, and it does typically try to make them easy for people to understand,” said Jodi Daniels, chief executive and privacy consultant at Red Clover Advisors.

Here’s a rundown of some new security and privacy features and how to access them.

A new Passwords app to improve on iCloud keychain

Apple has created a separate app for storing user passwords. Previously, passwords could be stored in iCloud Keychain, the password management system integrated into Apple devices, but a separate app makes access easier, privacy professionals said.

The new app has other features to promote good privacy practices. For instance, users are alerted if passwords or account credentials may have been part of data breaches, which can be helpful for fraud protection purposes. In addition, users who have a weak password or one that’s been used before will be alerted so they can update that credential.

“The broader goal is to have more people using unique passwords and having more general online security,” said Thorin Klosowski, security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit that focuses on privacy matters.

As in the past, Apple can’t access these passwords, but users can on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Vision Pro and on Windows with the iCloud for Windows app. Users of the AutoFill function will have their passwords automatically added to the Passwords app.

Users will also have quick access to categories of credentials including verification codes, passkeys and Wi-Fi passwords. Passwords can also be categorized under shared groups such as work or family.

A way to lock and hide apps

With limited exceptions, apps on the phone can be either locked, or, for additional privacy, hidden if the user chooses. Basic functional apps can’t be hidden, but generally speaking, if it’s on the App Store it can be hidden, an Apple spokesperson said.

This is a useful tool because people sometimes hand their phones to friends to show them photos, messages or emails, for example, or parents may offer their phones temporarily to children to play a game. In all these cases, users may not want others to have unfettered access to their phone.

When an app is in locked or hidden mode, content like messages or emails inside the app aren’t searchable, and notifications don’t pop up. Apps can be locked and unlocked with Face ID, Touch ID, if available, or the device passcode.

Apple has also taken steps to help ensure young children don’t use these features to thwart parental observation. Accountholders under age 13 can’t lock or hide an app, according to the Apple spokesperson. Users between the ages of 13 and 18 can use these functions, but parents can still see what apps were downloaded and how much they are used in Screen Time. Apple warns children in the older age group when they lock or hide an app that parents retain the ability to see that information.

More control over contact-sharing

In iOS 18, consumers have the option to determine more precisely how they want their contacts shared with apps. They can choose to share all, none or specific contacts. So, if for example, a person uses an app solely for work, he might decide to share only work-related contacts with the app. Access can be updated as desired.

When they update to iOS 18, users can change their settings for apps they already use. “In practice, it will provide a little bit of a speed bump for people to think whether they really need an app to have access to their contacts,” Klosowski said.

A better view of data apps are accessing

Apple users can now see, at a glance, how many apps have access to data like location services, tracking, calendars, files and folders, contacts and health information. When they tap on a particular category, users see a list of which apps have what level of access, such as limited or full.

AI privacy protections

Separately, Apple will soon be launching Apple Intelligence, an artificial intelligence platform developed by Apple. Its features include on-device processing so it’s aware of your personal data, but doesn’t require Apple to collect or store it, and a new complex system designed to draw on larger server-based models to handle more complex requests, while still protecting user privacy.

These privacy protections can be important to users who want to have access to AI, but are concerned about privacy ramifications, including having their private data used to train models, which is a concern, even for many AI enthusiasts.

“Having it local to the device reduces that risk,” Daniels said.

Technology

From the New Testament to Nixon: Takeaways from Palantir CEO Alex Karp’s shareholder letter

Published

3 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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From the New Testament to Nixon: Takeaways from Palantir CEO Alex Karp's shareholder letter

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, speaks on a panel titled Power, Purpose, and the New American Century at the Hill and Valley Forum at the U.S. Capitol on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images

Palantir CEO Alex Karp offered up another batch of colorful commentary to investors alongside the data analytics company’s first-quarter earnings.

In a letter to shareholders, Karp quoted his own book and some significant historical figures — including St. Augustine and President Richard Nixon — and the New Testament as he touted the company’s artificial intelligence-fueled growth and commitment toward equipping and enhancing U.S. defense interests.

“Our financial performance, that crude yardstick by which the market attempts to measure worth in this world, continues to exceed many of our greatest expectations,” he wrote.

The eccentric technology billionaire has become widely known over the years for his energetic interviews and flowing shareholder letters that often incorporate philosophy, ethics and unconventional language.

His letters often read like an essay or dissertation, broken down into parts.

Tech and military

“We, the heretics, this motley band of characters, were cast out and nearly discarded by Silicon Valley. And yet there are signs that some within the Valley have now turned a corner and begun following our lead. We note only that our commitment to building software for the U.S. military, to those whom we have asked to step into harm’s way, remains steadfast, when such a commitment is fashionable and convenient, and when it is not.”

St. Augustine

Karp quoted philosopher and theologian St. Augustine in his case for defending the U.S.

“All men are to be loved equally,” he wrote. “But since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special regard to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstance, are brought into closer connection with you.”

Weltanschauung

In highlighting the company’s culture, Karp likened the environment to a Weltanschauung “nation that is bound together by a short but evolving history and patterns of discourse and shared beliefs” and quoted the New Testament.

“There is no question that both cultures and companies, including the one we have built, must over a long period of time be judged ‘by their fruits.’ Matt. 7:16,”

‘Cultural elites’

Karp cited French author Michel Houellebecq in a section about the “entrenched and resilient” cultural aristocracy of the learned class.

“Nobility had nothing to explain their right to stay in power, apart from their birth. … Contemporary elites claim intellectual and moral superiority.”

President Nixon

Karp concluded his letter with a call to action for rooting out the “cynics and the skeptics,” quoting an excerpt from President Nixon’s 1974 resignation speech.

“Always remember, others may hate you. But those who hate you don’t win, unless you hate them. And then, you destroy yourself.”

Technology

Palantir lifts full-year guidance as CEO Karp cites ‘tectonic shift’ in AI adoption

Published

3 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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Palantir lifts full-year guidance as CEO Karp cites 'tectonic shift' in AI adoption

Alex Karp, chief executive officer of Palantir Technologies Inc., speaks during the AIPCon conference in Palo Alto, California, US, on March 13, 2025.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Palantir boosted its revenue guidance Monday as the artificial intelligence software company saw commercial and government revenue boom.

Shares fell about 5% after the bell.

Here’s how the company did compared with LSEG consensus estimates:

Earnings per share: 13 cents adjusted vs. 13 cents expected
Revenue: $884 million vs. $863 million expected

“We are delivering the operating system for the modern enterprise in the era of AI,” CEO Alex Karp wrote in an earnings release Monday, adding that the company is in the “middle of a tectonic shift in the adoption” of its software.

The defense technology company said that its commercial revenues grew 71% from a year ago to $255 million, while its government segment sales jumped 45% to $373 million. The company is forecasting that U.S. commercial revenues will top $1.178 billion this year.

Karp attributed Palantir’s government sector growth to greater U.S. defense sector adoption of its tools. He said that demand for large language models and the software supporting it has “turned into a stampede.”

Palantir’s revenues grew 39% from $634.3 million in the year-ago period. Net income rose to about $214 million, or 8 cents per share, from roughly $105.5 million, or 4 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter. U.S revenues jumped 55% to $628 million, Palantir said.

Waymo plans to double robotaxi production at Arizona plant by end of 2026

Published

5 hours ago

May 5, 2025

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Waymo plans to double robotaxi production at Arizona plant by end of 2026

A Waymo self-driving vehicle seen in Phoenix, Arizona, on Feb. 27, 2025.

Leslie Josephs | CNBC

Alphabet-owned Waymo and the auto manufacturing giant Magna International plan to double robotaxi production at their new plant in Mesa, Arizona, by the end of 2026, the companies announced Monday.

The “Waymo Driver Integration Plant,” a 239,000 square foot facility outside of Phoenix, will assemble more than 2,000 Jaguar I-PACE robotaxis, the Alphabet company said in a statement. Waymo will add those self-driving vehicles to its existing fleet that already includes around 1,500 robotaxis.

The plant will be “capable of building tens of thousands of fully autonomous Waymo vehicles per year,” when it is fully built out, Waymo said. The company also said it plans to build its more advanced Geely Zeekr RT robotaxis that feature its “6th-generation Waymo Driver” technology later this year at the plant.

Waymo and Magna opened the Mesa plant in October, Forbes reported Monday.

The Alphabet-owned company started its commercial robotaxi service in Phoenix in 2020 and now calls the area its domestic manufacturing home.

Already, Waymo is conducting 250,000 paid, driverless rides per week across its service areas in Austin, the San Francisco Bay area, Los Angeles and Phoenix, and the company is planning to begin serving the Atlanta; Miami; and Washington, D.C., markets in 2026.

Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai last month said Waymo has not strictly defined its long-term business model yet, and there is “future optionality around personal ownership” of vehicles equipped with Waymo’s self-driving technology. A week later, Waymo and Toyota announced a preliminary partnership to potentially bring the self-driving tech to personally owned vehicles.

A would-be Waymo competitor, Tesla has said it plans to launch a robotaxi service in Austin in June using the company’s Model Y SUVs and its Unsupervised Full Self-Driving technology.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has criticized Waymo’s approach to driverless tech, saying the cars by his competitor cost “way more money” than his company’s.

Waymo systems employ more sophisticated and expensive sensors than Tesla vehicles do. Waymo vehicles rely on radar and lidar sensors alongside cameras and sonar to get around. Tesla’s systems mostly rely on cameras.

However, Waymo has beat Tesla to the market with its robotaxis, and now stands to more than double its U.S. fleet by the end of 2026. Tesla does not yet offer vehicles that are safe to use without a human at the wheel ready to steer or brake at any time.