Apple Privacy Policy Review
This review explains Apple’s Privacy Policy in plain language, for iPhone, iPad, and Mac households, including parents and older adults. It was last checked on October 31, 2026. The policy on Apple’s site is still the version updated July 30, 2025. Product-specific notices, such as a feature that asks for data inside an app, were not each opened. This is not legal advice.
Primary source: Apple Privacy Policy.
Snapshot
- Describes how Apple collects, uses, and shares personal data. Feature-specific notices sit on top of this policy, marked with Apple’s Data & Privacy icon.
- Precise location is limited to services such as Find My, or where you agree.
- Apple says it does not sell personal data, including as California and Nevada define sale, and does not “share” it as California defines that word.
- Apple says your private personal data is not used to train its foundational AI models. Public web pages are crawled by Applebot.
- Apple’s own ads can be switched off in two taps. The exact paths are below.
- A child account requires a parent to review a family disclosure and give verifiable consent.
Ten-minute privacy check for an iPhone or Mac
These steps come straight from the settings paths Apple names in its policy. Do them on each family member’s device, because the ad setting follows the Apple Account but the tracking setting is per device.
- Turn off Personalized Ads. On iPhone or iPad: Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising, then turn off Personalized Ads. On a Mac: System Settings > Privacy & Security > Advertising, then deselect Personalized Ads. Apple says this opts the whole Apple Account out of interest-based ads from its platform on any device. You may still see ads in the App Store, Apple News, or Stocks based on what you search for or read.
- Stop apps from asking to track you. Settings > Privacy & Security > Tracking, then turn off Allow Apps to Request to Track. Apple says third-party apps then cannot request the Advertising Identifier used to follow you across other companies’ apps and websites.
- Check Location Services app by app. Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Set most apps to While Using or Never, and turn off Precise Location for apps that only need your town, such as weather.
- Look at Find My sharing. In the Find My app, open People and confirm who can see your location. That list is a choice you made, not a hidden clause in the policy.
- Download or review your data. Sign in at privacy.apple.com to get a copy of your data, correct it, or delete the account. Apple verifies your identity first.
What they collect
The policy lists location as precise only to support services such as Find My, or where you agree for region-specific services, plus coarse location. Fitness details are collected where you choose to share them. Apple may also receive data from another person, for example if someone sends you a gift card or shares content with you, or if you direct a carrier to share account data for activation.
The policy does not give fixed retention periods. It says Apple keeps personal data for the period needed for the purposes in the policy and the feature notices, and works to keep it for the shortest period the law allows. For a specific feature, check that feature’s own notice at apple.com/legal/privacy/data.
Who gets the data
Apple says it may share personal data with affiliated companies, service providers acting for Apple, partners, developers, and publishers, or others at your direction. It says it does not share personal data with third parties for their own marketing purposes. Service providers are obligated to handle personal data for Apple’s tasks, such as processing, storage, and delivery.
Apple’s advertising platform may show ads on the App Store, Apple News, Stocks, and the Apple TV app, depending on location. The policy says that platform “does not track you,” meaning it does not link user or device data from Apple’s apps with user or device data from third parties for targeted advertising or measurement, and does not share user or device data with data brokers.
Easy to miss
- Find My is a precise-location service. The policy names Find My as a reason precise location is used.
- Turning off Personalized Ads does not remove ads. It changes how they are chosen.
- Apple’s own ad setting and the third-party tracking setting are two different switches. Turn off both if you want both kinds of targeting off.
- A school-managed Apple Account is created by the school, not by the parent. The parent path and the school path are different.
- Privacy requests generally require signing in at privacy.apple.com so Apple can verify identity.
New technology
Apple uses Applebot, a web crawler, “to power features such as search and as a source for our foundational AI models.” It crawls information that is publicly available on the internet. Apple says it has measures to reduce personal data collected, makes no attempt to connect crawled data to an individual Apple user, and does not build profiles about individuals from it. The policy states: “Your private personal data is not used to train our foundational AI models.”
To opt out of that processing as an individual, the policy points to the Apple Intelligence Privacy Inquiries form. That form was not submitted for this review. Research datasets that contain images or voices are mentioned separately, and Apple says those are acquired under applicable law and are not the same sentence as the private-data training ban.
Kids and families
Apple treats a child as under 13, or the equivalent age set by law where you live. Certain services require a child Apple Account. A parent must review the Family Privacy Disclosure for Children and provide verifiable parental consent. If Apple learns a child’s data was collected without appropriate authorization, it says the data will be deleted as soon as possible. Parents exercise the child’s privacy rights by signing in to that child’s account at privacy.apple.com.
For the controls themselves, such as purchase approval, app limits, and who a child can message, see the iPhone parental controls guide. It covers the new Family settings in iOS 27.
Older adults
Account and privacy tools require the Apple Account password. Set up a recovery contact or a trusted family member before a password is lost. Apple says it does not use algorithms or profiling to make a decision that would significantly affect you without a chance for human review. That is a useful limit, and it is not a promise that a scammer calling “from Apple” is real. Apple Support contact paths are listed on the policy page. Do not install remote-control software because a caller says they are Apple. The warning signs are in how to spot a fake tech-support pop-up.
What you can turn off
- Personalized Ads, under Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising on iPhone and iPad, or Privacy & Security > Advertising on a Mac.
- Allow Apps to Request to Track, under Privacy & Security > Tracking.
- Location permission for each app, under Privacy & Security > Location Services. Precise location for Find My is a feature, not something this policy says is always on for every app.
- For Apple Intelligence processing described above, use the Apple Intelligence Privacy Inquiries form linked from the policy.
- For a child, create a child Apple Account and complete the Family Privacy Disclosure. Do not hand over an adult Apple ID.
What this means for you
Among the policies reviewed on this site, Apple’s is one of the tighter ones: no sale, no sharing with third parties for their own marketing, and a direct statement that private personal data is not used to train foundational models. The family issues that remain are Find My location sharing, the two ad and tracking switches, and making sure a child has a child account rather than a shared adult login. Compare it with the Google privacy policy review if your family uses both.
Does Apple sell personal data?
The policy says Apple does not sell your personal data, including as sale is defined in Nevada and California, and does not share it as California defines that term.
How do I turn off Apple ads on my iPhone?
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Advertising and turn off Personalized Ads. You will still see some ads in the App Store, News, and Stocks, but Apple says they will be based on context, such as your search, rather than your interests.
Is my iPhone data used to train Apple’s AI?
The policy says private personal data is not used to train foundational AI models. Public web pages crawled by Applebot are a separate source. If a specific feature shows its own data notice, read that notice too. Those in-app notices were not all opened for this review.
How long does Apple keep my data?
The main policy does not list fixed periods. It says Apple keeps data only as long as needed for the stated purposes and for the shortest period the law allows. Feature notices can give more detail.
This is not legal advice. Last checked October 31, 2026. The policy date on the page was July 30, 2025.
Back to Privacy Policies Watch
Where this information comes from: This guide is built from official sources, such as U.S. government consumer agencies and the companies’ own help pages and policies, linked in the guide where they are used. I looked it over myself before publishing. I’m not a lawyer or a security professional; like many parents and caregivers, I’m learning as I go, so check the official source before a big decision. How these guides are made.
