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Apple’s new privacy pages are easier to read and look way better

Apple’s new privacy pages are easier to read and look way better

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They’re now like product pages but for privacy

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Illustration of a glowing apple on a blue, dotted background
Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Today, Apple refreshed apple.com/privacy, its webpages that explain what the company does to protect your privacy. They’re much easier to read, letting you skim through a list of individual Apple apps to see what each one does to protect your personal data.

Previously, if you looked at that URL, you’d find Apple’s generic statement about how it protected your personal information, followed by a bunch of info in a confusing order, with a hard-to-read two-column layout on any but the skinniest of window sizes. Apple’s new pages still lead with a generic statement about privacy, but it’s now much easier to understand what each app does to protect your privacy on an app-by-app basis.

Here are some screenshots of what the new privacy pages look like:

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It doesn’t seem as though Apple made any policy changes on the new pages. Instead, this refresh does a good job of organizing information Apple has shared in the past into one place (including the privacy protections it added to iOS 13 and macOS Catalina). I was happy to see that Apple included clear information about its policies on listening to Siri recordings (and how you can delete that information), but I was disappointed that the company didn’t say anything new to clear up the recent controversy about how Safari checks URLs against blacklists from companies like Google and Tencent.

The new pages feel similar to Google’s Nest privacy page in breaking down information in a well-organized, visual format, though Google’s tone makes its pages read more like a list of commitments than Apple’s matter-of-fact style. Amazon also has a privacy page for Alexa and Echo devices with information on privacy features and settings as well as answers to common questions.

Even if there isn’t much new with Apple’s refreshed pages, they’re still a helpful way to see everything the company is doing for user privacy. And it makes sense that the company is so adamant about presenting the information well since it wants to be the only tech company you trust.

Update, November 6th, 1:43PM ET: Added a link to a different Amazon privacy page.