This is an archived article and the information in the story may be outdated. Please check the time stamp on the story to see when it was updated last.
Apple’s iCloud is mostly a dream of a feature to have at your disposal. Think of it as a secure bank where you can store all of the data you want to save in a place where it is less likely to fall into the hands of the wrong people. It also provides a back-up plan when you need to restore space on your phone or computer but don’t want to delete the many amazing videos and photos you have (in addition to other data). Like most banks, iCloud is mostly a secure tool. But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t encounter problems now and again when it comes to breaching your security and privacy. According to tech experts, this is the scary iCloud setting that could be sharing your data. You can keep yourself safe by turning it off immediately.
Sharing To Multiple Devices
Sharing to multiple devices is the one iCloud setting that could be compromising your data’s privacy, according to Katherine Brown, the founder of Spyic, a company engaged in parental control and remote monitoring programs. “When you enable this setting, it means that several devices connected to your Apple account allow access to the data that you store to your cloud,” Brown says.
As you might be guessing, when this feature is enabled, the biggest problem is that losing any one of your other devices opens you up to a major invasion of privacy.
“Should you lose one of these devices, someone can easily access your iCloud storage and thus breach your privacy,” Brown says. “To turn this setting off, access the settings app on either your iPhone or iPad, tap on general, then proceed to handoff. Swipe this button to the left to turn off the multiple device sharing feature.”
A Connected VPN
According to Camille Stewart, Cybersecurity Expert and Harvard Fellow, the most important setting to keep on involves your VPN.
"I always have a VPN connected and switched on when using public or unsecured wifi,” Stewart says. “Using a VPN prevents unwanted access to your device from malicious actors. When you’re browsing through a VPN, your traffic is encrypted protecting your data and your privacy.”
A connected VPN may boost your privacy measures, but there are other experts who suggest paying attention to setting that will boost your storage space and increase the longevity of your phone.
“This feature, although improvement is its goal, is an unnecessary feature and poses more risk to your privacy as you allow them to keep a record and use all data analysis from your iCloud account than not,” Worrell says. “So to prevent this and make you feel less worried, you can just turn this off and go on. This will give you more privacy and even improve your phone's battery life.”
To turn off the feature simply go to Settings > Privacy > Analytics & Improvement > tap to turn off Share iCloud Analytics.
