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Always, Apple has positioned itself as a privacy defender, but recently foreign media has revealed that Apple is sending iOS user data to Google and Tencent, and it has pushed Apple to the forefront.

Foreign media broke the news. For about two years, as part of the iPhone and iPad security features, Apple has been sending data to Google and Tencent. This feature warns users if the site is malicious or unsafe before the user loads the site.

Deceptive website warnings are enabled by default, IP addresses may be sent to Google and Tencent?

Apple said it may send some user IP addresses to Google and Tencent in the “About Safari and Privacy” section of its Safari settings, by opening the “Settings” app and then selecting “Safari Browser” About Safari and Privacy” to access on iOS devices.

Safari browser settings

Apple said in “Safari and Privacy”:

“Before visiting a website, Safari may send information calculated from the website address to “Google Safe Browsing” and “Tencent Safe Browsing” to check if the website is a fraudulent website. The browsing provider may also record your IP address.”

By default, the “fraudulent website warnings” setting is turned on, which means that unless an iPhone or iPad user has a deep understanding of their settings and turns them off, Tencent or Google may record them when they use Safari. IP address. However, if turned off, the security of browsing will be reduced and users will have easy access to fraudulent websites.

Deceptive Website Warnings is turned on by default

Safari is the default browser on iOS devices. According to recent statistics, it is the most popular mobile internet browser in the US with a market share of over 50%. In China, there are also many users who use Safari.

In addition, even if people install a third-party browser on their iOS device, viewing the page in the app will still open the page in Safari integration (called Safari View Controller) instead of a third-party browser. Clicking on links within the app will also open them in Safari instead of in a third-party browser. These actions force people to re-enter Safari, making it difficult for people to completely avoid using Safari when using their iPhone or iPad.

Apple: Compare data only according to local list, will not be sent to Tencent

Apple is strongly opposed to this statement. In a statement to the media, Apple said that Tencent and Google did not get a list of users’ web browsing history:

Apple protects user privacy and data with Safari Fraudulent Website Warning, a feature that identifies sites that are known to be malicious. When this feature is enabled, Safari checks the website URL against a list of known websites and displays a warning message when there is a possible fraud (such as phishing) at the URL the user visits.

To achieve this goal, Safari received a list of known malicious websites from Google. For devices with regional codes for mainland China, Safari received a malicious network from Tencent.Station list. The actual URL of the website the user visits will never be shared with the secure browsing provider, and the feature can be turned off.

Apple further explains how this feature works. Apple said that Google and Tencent “are sending a copy of the database to the user’s browser and let the browser check the URL against the local database”, so in fact, these traffic has never been sent to these companies. Tencent’s blacklist is only used in mainland China where Google cannot provide related services.

Apple said that this feature protects users’ privacy and protects people’s data. The process of data inspection occurs locally on the device, and the actual URL will never be shared with Tencent and Safe Browsing provider Google. Apple also said that this feature is enabled by default, but can be turned off. When the website is found to be suspicious and an alert is sent, the IP address of the user device will be shared.

Some users are worried that their data will be sent to Tencent, because even the name of Tencent is mentioned on the iPhone outside China. Apple may clarify this in future versions of iOS.

If you are concerned about privacy, you can turn off the Fraudulent Website Warning switch in Safari Settings. Once disabled, the IP address of the user device will not be shared, but Apple will not be able to check the security of the site based on a list of Tencent or Google.

So the question is coming, will you choose to close it?

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