When you're using devices that are always connected to the internet, it's difficult to completely protect your privacy. Luckily, there are plenty of great privacy hacks for your iPhone, which you can use to make it harder for trackers and spies to collect your data and snoop on your business. From built-in solutions, like adjusting app permissions, to purchasing privacy screen protectors, here are 10 hacks every iPhone user should consider to protect their privacy.

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Get yourself a privacy screen protector

No software privacy hack can protect you from people looking over your shoulder to memorize your password, or from peeking to see what you're up to. What can protect you, however, is a privacy screen protector. I saw this first-hand: One of my friends recently tried to show me something on her iPhone, and I realized that I couldn't see anything at all until her phone was directly in front of me.

These screen protectors can make it easier to use your phone in public spaces without worrying about who's looking at its screen. That said, there are a few potential dealbreakers. These screen protectors are rather plasticky, and don't feel as nice or smooth as your iPhone's touchscreen. These products also lower your screen's brightness. I don't mind, but it can be a problem if you're trying to use your phone in bright lighting. If you can live with these cons though, this is a cheap privacy hack that's definitely worth considering.

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Stop Apple from collecting your data (as much as you can)

Credit: Pranay Parab

Apple is known for its privacy policies, but in recent years, its resolve seems to be weakening a bit. The company is pushing ads into its apps and your notifications, and it's aggressively encouraging iPhone users to subscribe to Apple services. There's not much you can do to block promotional materials coming from the company directly, but it's still worth changing a few settings to limit Apple's own ads. This includes reducing Apple's data collection, too. Many of these options are available under Settings > Privacy & Security on your iPhone. On that page, you can navigate to these pages to disable quite a bit of tracking:

- Analytics & Improvements

- Apple Advertising

- Location Services > System Services

Carefully reviewing all options on these pages and disabling unnecessary features goes a long way in limiting Apple's data collection.

Deny (or limit) app permissions whenever you can

I used to allow all permissions an app requested when I first opened it. Over time, I realized that this led to a lot of notification spam, unnecessary data collection, and significant battery drain if the app was tracking my location. That's why I developed a new strategy: deny all permissions unless an app absolutely needs it. In general, I almost always deny permissions for the following: notifications, access to contacts, location, camera, microphone, and photos.

Newer versions of iOS allow you to share just a few contacts or photos, and even restrict GPS access to an approximate location instead of a precise marker. All of these are available under Settings > Privacy & Security in case you missed them while setting up an app.

Consider deleting apps known to track you

While the App Tracking Transparency option on your iPhone does reduce data collection from many apps, it's far from foolproof. In general, apps have access to far more data than their web versions, so try switching from apps to mobile websites wherever possible. If you delete apps such as Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, and switch to logging in via Safari, you'll give away much less data, and some of the data you would otherwise give to the web apps will be blocked or spiked by Safari's privacy features, further protecting your data. As an added bonus, since web apps are generally a worse experience than dedicated apps, you're also far less likely to fall into a doomscrolling trap. I've used this fairly effectively with social media apps, but you can't always delete apps, like WhatsApp.

Install an adblocker (or use a better DNS)

Credit: Justin Pot

Installing an ad blocker and a DNS app can do wonders for your iPhone privacy. Ad blockers such as uBlock Origin are good at blocking invasive tracking on your iPhone, but their effect is limited to Safari. To enhance the privacy of your internet traffic, you should consider installing an encrypted DNS app such as NextDNS, AdGuard DNS, or ControlD. All of these will block ads or trackers in most apps on your iPhone and safeguard you from some types of online security threats as well.

Use a VPN to hide your IP address

A good VPN protects your web browsing by routing your traffic through an encrypted network, in the process hiding your device's IP address. As such, it's much easier to surf the web anonymously, and much harder for websites and internet ser

15 Privacy Hacks Every iPhone User Should Know