Apple on Monday unveiled a new feature that will arrive in iOS 16 designed primarily to help people break ties with their abusive partners who can track their location or secretly read their messages.
“Many people share passwords and access their devices with their partner; however, in abusive relationships, this can threaten personal security and make it difficult for victims to receive help, “said Katie Skinner, Apple’s privacy engineering manager, during her keynote address at the World Developers Conference. of 2022, better known as WWDC.
This new feature, called Safety Check, will allow users to quickly stop exchanging location information using Find My and reset an iPhone’s privacy settings with just a few buttons. Enabling Security Verification further helps protect users by logging them out of all other devices and restricting access to FaceTime and iMessage.
The feature will also help interested users to audit the permissions they have granted to a number of applications, as well as to manage the types of access granted to others.
“This allows people in abusive situations to quickly revoke an abuser’s access to their data and location, allowing them to cut ties and secure themselves,” Skinner said.
Security is the best thing Apple has done for iOS in a long time. # WWDC22
– Andrew (@AndrewCrow) June 6, 2022
Domestic violence is common in the United States. According to the CDC, up to 1 in 3 women and 1 in 4 men will experience some form of intimate partner abuse throughout their lives, ranging from harassment to physical violence and rape. That equates to about 10 million women and men each year, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.
Apple says the Safety Check is the culmination of discussions with several similar organizations that support victims of domestic abuse, such as the National Center for Victims of Crime (NCVC), the Women’s Services Network, and the National Network to End. Domestic Violence.
“In times of crisis, for many survivors, it is important to know who has their information and location. Security control helps return control to survivors, “the NCVC said.
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