The much awaited iOS 8 is finally available for use. As an Apple enthusiast, you must be thinking of downloading and installing it as early as possible. However, just after installing this new Apple’s mobile operating system (OS) on your iPhone or iPad, you must take note of the following privacy settings and change those necessarily.

The latest iOS 8 has introduced many new features such as location based apps, new privacy settings, new private browsing settings, etc. So, if you are concerned of your privacy then immediately after upgrading to iOS 8, you should check and change your iPhone settings.

1. Don’t allow apps from tracking your location in the background

There are apps that run in the background and continue using your location information even when you’re not actively using it. Usually, when such apps are active, you are intimated with a message pop up. If you are not actively using the location based app, then always choose “Don’t Allow” when the message pop ups get displayed. You might have to do this a number of times as different apps will continue asking for your permission. If you find them irritating, you can chose the permanent way out “Don’t Allow” option in your phone settings and can later turn it off when you are actively using a location based app.

2. Prevent third party apps from accessing your data

There are certain apps that need to access your contacts, email, photos, calendar, etc. However, these contain very personal data and you should be aware that certain apps might upload your contact list to their servers. This is an invasion of your privacy because your personal data can further get stolen from their servers. Hence, to prevent such situations go to Settings > Privacy and select each app (Contacts, Facebook, Twitter, etc)

and individually select to which app you want to grant permission for third-party apps access.

3. Enable ‘Find My iPhone’

There is an interesting and highly useful app called ‘Find My iPhone.’ This app helps in tracing your lost iPhone or iPad. With this app, the location of your stolen device can get displayed on a map and hence can be traced out easily.

For the security of your device, it is very important that you keep this app switched on. To switch on the device go to Settings > iCloud > Find My iPhone (or iPad) and switch it ON by swiping. Here, you need to enter your device passcode as an authorization. This passcode ensures that your device is accessed only by legitimate people having your consent.

This app has one more feature called ‘Send Last Location.’ This feature updates the Apple’s server with your device’s last location just before it powers down.

4. Allow iMessages to expire over time

iOS 8 supports voice and video messages over Apple’s data-based iMessage network. These messages can be stored on your device indefinitely. But if your device gets lost, then it can be a matter of concern as anyone can scroll back weeks, months, or even years to check your old conversations, provided you had not kept the protection enabled.

Hence, to be on safer side, you must maintain iCloud-based backups of your old messages and you must allow these iMessages to get expired over a time. To set an expiry date for your messages go to Settings > Messages > Keep Messages, and now select the time period for which you wish to retain your messages. You need to enable this setting for Audio Messages and Video Messages separately.

5. Prevent sharing your location to strangers

Sharing your location with others sometimes becomes very important but at occasions it can be risky as well. Henceforth, depending on your need you must keep your location on or off. To fix this up, head to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location. Here, you can disable or enable it as per your requirement. Here, you can select to share your location only with contacts connected to your iCloud account. In this way you can feel safe that strangers are not tracing your location.

If you’re concerned about your iPhone privacy and security, then iOS 8 has many tweaks and features that can strengthen your privacy over Apple iOS platform. The aforementioned are such five privacy settings for iOS 8. To learn more, explore the your device just after upgrading it and see what privacy tweaks it has proposed rather than straightway rushing to customizing your phone or loading new apps.

About the Author: Hi! I am Polly M Quinton, a prolific blog writer and keen author of articles related to computer security and solution for issues related to computers and mobile devices. Being associated with the reputed best pc tuneup service provider Qresolve, I have resolved thousands of tech issues for our customers from worldwide. computer virus removal My areas of interest are PC security, endpoint security system, router support etc. You can follow me for my useful remote computer support articles on Ezine and other article-oriented websites.