New iOS15 to hide IP addresses in web and email

Apple last month announced new iOS settings to increase the privacy of users browsing the internet or receiving/sending emails. The mail app and the safari browser in iOS 15 will start hide IP addresses in the fall.

iOS 15 will be released this year, in the fall. Apps are still not impacted by this. Only web and email.

According to Apple, the new feature in the mail app masks IP address so it can’t be linked to other online activities or used to determine the location. In the Safari browser, the Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) hides IP addresses from trackers, meaning ad tech companies can’t utilize user’s IP addresses as a unique identifier to connect their activity across websites and build profiles.

Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) uses a Private Relay ensuring all traffic leaving a user’s device is encrypted - no one between the user and the website they are visiting can access and read it - not even Apple or the user’s network provider.

Apple clarifies that with Private Relay, all user’s requests are sent through two separate internet relays. The first assigns the user an anonymous IP address that maps to their region but not their actual location. The second decrypts the web address they want to visit and forwards them to their destination. This separation of information protects the user’s privacy because no single entity can identify both who a user is and which sites they visit.

Private Relay has the capacity to impact user targeting and user verification in the DSPs and Adservers.

Additionally, Apple is launching a feature that enables users to hide their email address when subscribing to a service.