Privacy is more important than ever and iOS 7 has several features you can use to make sure that you are protected when using your iPhone. For example, you can clear and disable Frequent Locations if you don’t wish for your whereabouts to be tracked by going to Settings, Privacy, Location Services, System Services and then tapping on Frequent Locations.
When you are in the Frequent Locations settings you can clear any tracked locations, disable your iPhone from tracking your location and choose to not provide your location to Apple. While you are in the Frequent Locations settings, you can also disable cell network search, compass calibration, diagnostics and usage tracking, location based iAds, time zone, traffic information and Wi-Fi depending on what type of privacy you are looking for.
If you want some of your apps to track your location, and for others not to, you can set restrictions for this by going to Settings, General, Restrictions, and then Enable Restrictions. While you are in the Restrictions settings you can set your preferences for diagnostics and usage, location-based iAds, “Popular Near Me,” time zone, traffic, and Wi-Fi. You can also scroll down to find settings that restrict content by rating for music, televisions, podcasts, books, apps, Siri, limit adult content and restrict specific sites. You will also see settings to adjust contacts, calendars, reminders, photos, Bluetooth sharing, Twitter, Facebook, and advertising.
Another privacy setting you can activate on your iPhone when you are running iOS7 is to block callers in your contacts, FaceTime and Messages. To do this, access your contacts or your FaceTime apps and open Favorites or Recents and tap on the Info button by the contact you want to block. You will find the Block this Caller feature when you scroll to the bottom of that screen. To block a sender in Messages, open one of the messages from that sender, tap Contact and press Info button. If you decide you no longer want someone blocked you can go to Settings, select the app that you blocked that contact from and then tap on Blocked. When you get to “Blocked”, you can choose Edit and then choose to unblock the contact.
If you want to enable Do Not Track and block cookies in Safari for additional privacy for your iPhone that is running iOS 7, open Settings and choose Safari and choose Do Not Track. You can also block some or all cookies in Safari’s settings by choosing Always or From third parties and advertisers. You will also see options to clear history, clear cookies and other data from the settings in Safari.
One more of the privacy features in your iPhone that runs iOS 7 is the ability to view the URL of a link before you choose it by pressing and holding the link. At that point a window will open that will allow you to open the link, open it in a new page, add to your reading list, or copy it.