You’d like to think your iPhone has your back and your protection and security in mind. But every now and then we learn about another iPhone setting that just so happens to be turned on (or off) and is affecting our privacy and security.
Scott Polderman recently took to TikTok to share his shock at an iPhone tracking setting that Apple secretly turned on. “And I wasn’t real happy about it,” Polderman revealed. Since the setting is “probably” enabled on your phone too, Polderman suggests grabbing your phone and making this quick change to boost your privacy and security.
Nearby Interactions
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > scroll down until you see Nearby Interactions. Click on this. When you click here, Polderman says you used to be able to turn this on and off and it just says “nearby interactions uses ultra Wideband and Bluetooth to precisely measure the distance between your iPhone and other devices and items.” Polderman wondered why this was turned off and did a bit more research into it.
Journaling Suggestions
Polderman recommends next clicking the back button and when you scroll down you’ll see Journaling Suggestions. Even though he recently deleted the journaling app from his phone, when he clicked onto Journaling Suggestions he saw “Discoverable by Others” was enabled. This setting allows other to detect your are nearby to help prioritize their suggestions. Polderman was shocked to find this was automatically turned on, even though he had turned off tracking in all other places.
If this setting was set on Polderman’s phone without his knowledge, it could also be set on yours. Make sure you check your device’s settings and, if it’s turned on for you, disable “Discoverable by Others” to prevent others from being able to detect your location.
