Apples App Privacy Report Launches into Beta to Show you What Your Apps are up to

Apple has now launched a beta version of its “App Privacy Report,” a new feature that aims to provide iOS users with details about how often their everyday apps are requesting access to sensitive information, and where that information is being shared. The feature was first introduced at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in June, amid other privacy-focused improvements, including tools to block tracking pixels in emails, a private VPN and more. Apple explained at the time the new report would include details about an app’s access to user data and sensors, including the user’s location, photos, contacts and more, as well as a list of domains that the app contacts.

Though announced as a part of the iOS 15 update, the App Privacy Report was not available when the new version of iOS rolled out earlier this fall. It’s still not accessible to the general public but has entered into a wider beta test with the release of the iOS 15.2 and iPadOS 15.2 betas.

The new report goes beyond the potentially fallible App Privacy labels, which detail what sort of sensitive data an app collects and how it’s used. Developers may not always fill out their labels accurately — either by mistake or with a desire to mislead end users — and Apple’s App Review team may not always catch those omissions.