Mac Security · Mac Privacy Controls · Lesson 3 of 5

Safari Privacy Features

Use Safari's tracking protection, Private Browsing, Private Relay and Hide My Email.

Tracking protection and private windows

Safari is the web browser that comes with every Mac. It has privacy tools built in. Most are already on, but it's worth knowing what each one does.

First, a word you'll see a lot. A tracker is a hidden piece of a web page that notes what you do, so a company can follow you from site to site. That's why shoes you looked at once can follow you around the web in ads.

Prevent cross-site tracking fights this. To check it, open Safari, choose Safari › Settings, then click Privacy. Make sure the box is ticked. Safari then clears trackers' saved data unless you visit their site yourself. It also blocks tracking from Like and Share buttons on other sites, and makes your Mac look more like everyone else's, so it's harder to pick out.

Safari keeps a Privacy Report of the trackers it stopped. You can open it from the Safari menu to see the list.

Private Browsing is a special window. Choose File › New Private Window. While you use it, Safari doesn't remember:

• the pages you visit
• what you search for
• what you type into forms

Here's what it doesn't do. It doesn't hide you from the websites you sign in to. It doesn't hide your browsing from your work or school network, or from your internet company. It doesn't protect you from malware. It only keeps this Mac from saving a record.

In recent versions of Safari, private windows can lock when you step away. Turn this on in the same Privacy settings, so your password or Touch ID is needed to see them again.

Use Private Browsing on a shared Mac, or when shopping for a gift. Don't count on it to make you invisible.

Private Relay and Hide My Email

Two more tools come with iCloud+, which is the name for Apple's paid iCloud storage plans. If you pay for extra iCloud storage, you already have them.

iCloud Private Relay works mainly in Safari. You may remember it from the Mobile side. In plain words, it sends your web traffic through two separate stops before it reaches a website. The first stop knows who you are but not where you're going. The second knows where you're going but not who you are. No single company, Apple included, sees both.

This hides your IP address, the number that marks your internet connection and roughly where you are, from the sites you visit. It also hides your browsing from your internet company. It is not a full VPN, which protects all apps, and it may be off on some work or school networks.

To turn it on, choose Apple menu › System Settings, click your name, then iCloud, and look for Private Relay.

Hide My Email solves a different problem. Every store and app wants your email address. Then it gets sold, leaked or flooded with ads.

Hide My Email makes a random address, like a string of letters at icloud.com. Mail sent to it is forwarded to your real inbox. The store never learns your real address.

• When you sign up on a site in Safari, it may offer to use Hide My Email for you.
• You can also make one in the same iCloud settings.
• If an address starts getting spam, turn off just that one. The rest keep working.

If you don't pay for iCloud+, you still have Prevent cross-site tracking and Private Browsing. Those are free on every Mac.

One last thing. A random address still forwards real mail, so phishing can still reach you. Check every email as you learned before.