App Privacy Report

With iOS 15.2 you’ll now be able to see all the information that your apps are actually accessing on your iPhone, rather than simply relying on developers to voluntarily disclose what types of data they collect.

Last year, Apple brought us App Privacy Labels in iOS 14, and although this was a well-intentioned move, it turned out to be a better idea in theory than in practice. Not only did many developers drag their heels at adding these labels, but the entire system relied on their honesty in disclosing this data. It’s unclear if Apple’s App Store review team ever cross-checked the information that was provided.

The iOS 15.2 App Privacy Report, on the other hand, will actually tell you what apps are doing with your privacy, based on how often they access key features within iOS. According to Apple, you’ll see “how often apps have accessed your location, photos, camera, microphone, contacts, and more during the last seven days, as well as their network activity.”

While the App Privacy Report only stores the last seven days of activity, that’s probably because the information is extremely granular. For each app, you can drill down to find out now only how recently this data was accessed, but even see a list of the exact dates and times that each access occurred.

While the foundation for this feature has shown up in prior iOS 15 releases, it’s basically been non-functional. iOS 15.2 finally polishes things up and turns the key. You can find it in the Settings app under Privacy > App Privacy Report.