iPhone Wi-Fi Privacy: 5 Settings to Check in 3 Minutes

When your iPhone joins a Wi-Fi network, the network learns a little about your phone, and the sites you visit see the address of that network. A few switches decide how much. Checking them takes three minutes.

Most of them are in Settings > Wi-Fi. Tap the small (i) next to a network to open its own settings.

1. Use a private Wi-Fi address

Every phone has a hardware address that a network can use to recognise it each time it comes back. Your iPhone can show each network a private address instead. Tap (i) next to a network and check Private Wi-Fi Address. On recent versions of iOS you can choose Fixed (the same private address on this network) or Rotating (it changes from time to time). Off shows the real one. Keep it on everywhere, and choose Rotating for cafés, airports and hotels.

2. Turn on Limit IP Address Tracking

On the same page, Limit IP Address Tracking hides your IP address from known trackers in Mail and Safari. Leave it on. Mobile data has the same switch under Settings > Mobile Data > Mobile Data Options (called Cellular in some regions).

3. Stop joining networks on its own

Auto-Join on a network's page lets your phone connect whenever that network is in range. That is fine at home. For a café network you used once, turn it off. At the bottom of the Wi-Fi page, also look at Ask to Join Networks and Auto-Join Hotspot: asking first is safer than joining quietly.

4. Forget networks you no longer use

Tap Edit at the top of the Wi-Fi page to see every network your phone remembers. Remove the ones you will not use again, especially open networks with common names like "Free WiFi". Anyone can create a network with the same name, and your phone may join it by itself.

5. Read the warnings

If a network's page shows Privacy Warning or Weak Security, tap it and read why. It usually means the private address is off, or the network uses no encryption or an old kind, so other people on it may see more of what you do. Pick another network if you can, or protect your connection before you use it.

What a VPN changes, and what it does not

These settings decide what the Wi-Fi network learns about your phone. A VPN adds a different layer: it encrypts the connection between your phone and the VPN server, so the people running the network cannot see which sites and apps you talk to, and websites see the VPN server's address instead of the network's. It does not change the address your phone shows the Wi-Fi network, so keep the switches above on as well. More on open networks: Public Wi-Fi risks.

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