Here’s everything you need to know about Safety Check and how to use it!
What is Safety Check in iOS 16?How to Emergency Reset with Safety Check on iPhoneHow to Manage Sharing and Access in iOS 16 on iPhoneThe flip side of Safety Check
What is Safety Check in iOS 16?
Safety Check is a security tool that stops sharing your location in Find My Network, resets your privacy permission for all apps, and protects access to your messages by signing out of your iCloud account. Many of us are comfortable sharing credentials with our partners. However, in some abusive relationships, this becomes a threat to privacy and can even prevent us from getting help. While working with some US organizations supporting victims of domestic and intimate partner violence, like the National Network to End Domestic Violence, the National Center for Victims of Crime, and WESNET (The Women’s Services Network), Apple realized the problem and came up with Safety Check as a solution. Basically, Safety Check consists of two main features:
What is Emergency Reset, and how to use it?
Emergency Reset, as the name suggests, is to be used in emergency situations when you don’t want anyone to access your location or iCloud data. This feature wipes all access permissions and redirects you to review your account security as well as reset your credentials. Moreover, Apple will not notify other users who had access to it. Mainly, when you perform Emergency Reset, Apple will perform actions in these three areas.
People And Apps: It will immediately stop sharing your data with everyone and remove access from all apps.Account Security: You will be asked to change the password of your Apple ID and review account security.Emergency Contacts: We can edit existing or add a new emergency contact to the list.
How to Emergency Reset with Safety Check on iPhone
How to Manage Sharing and Access in iOS 16 on iPhone
You can customize with whom you share your Information, which includes granting/revoking access to apps and people. It will save the changes on the spot. Moreover, it won’t even notify the users about the same. In sharing access management, you can manage People, Apps, and Account security.
The dark side of Safety Check
Nothing is 100% perfect, and it applies to Apple’s Safety Check as well. While Safety Check is excellent in situations such as domestic violence, the feature also has major disadvantages. For instance, what if the partners use the same Apple ID on their devices, and there’s a rift between them; one partner (say abuser) revokes access of the other partner (the victim) before the latter and gets access to all their data, including the proof. In such a case, the victim will get locked out of their data. I think that this major flaw can be prevented to an extent by implementing as simple a step as an OTP authentication via the registered phone number or email. I hope Apple will notice these flaws soon and improve them in the final release, as this is still in the iOS 16 beta version. I hope the above guide helped you understand more about Safety Check and how it works. What do you think about this feature, and how do you think Apple will overcome its misuses? Share your thoughts in the comments below! These articles might also help you improve your privacy:
What is App Privacy Report in iOS 15, and how you can use it?How to change iPhone privacy and security settingsApple Watch security features: All you need to keep your privacy intactHow to use Lockdown mode on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
