Most of the apps on your iPhone ask for your permission to access something before long. You might have granted a permission without thinking about it, then wondered how iPhone permissions actually work.
Below, we look at the iPhone's system of permissions so you can understand exactly what you're letting apps do on your device.
What Are iPhone Permissions?
Permissions are a system built into iOS and iPadOS, the operating system that your iPhone or iPad runs. They control apps' access to sensitive information on your device, allowing you to control what data apps can use.
Permissions are important because they keep you in control of your information. Thanks to them, you can enjoy using an app without it accessing all sorts of personal content on your phone.
How Do iPhone Permissions Work?
The first time that an app wants to access something sensitive on your iPhone, it will ask for your permission. At that time, you'll see a banner asking you to approve the request. Ideally, apps should include reasoning for why they need this permission so they aren't asking you to grant it blindly.
If you grant the permission, the app will be able to access that data until you revoke the permission (which we discuss below). If you reject it, the app cannot access that data unless you later grant the permission. Some permissions have special options, which we'll consider in a moment.
If you deny a permission, the app will still run, but it might not function correctly. Its performance will depend on how important that permission is to its operation.
For example, if you deny Google Maps permission to use your location, it can't give you accurate directions, so it's not of much use. Denying WhatsApp permission to use your microphone won't affect normal chatting, but you won't be able to record voice messages.
How to Manage Permissions on Your iPhone
It's easy to take a look over the permission categories on your iPhone and see what you've granted and denied to various apps. To do so, open the Settings app, then scroll down and tap the Privacy entry.
Here, you'll see an entry for each of the permission types your iPhone controls. These are as follows (we've included a description for anything that's not self-explanatory):
- Location Services
- Tracking (lets apps request to track your activity across apps and websites)
- Contacts
- Calendars
- Reminders
- Photos
- Bluetooth
- Local Network (allows an app to talk with other devices on your current network)
- Nearby Interactions (allows apps to measure the precise distance between your phone and other objects)
- Microphone
- Speech Recognition (lets the app send voice data to Apple's servers to process what you said)
- Camera
- Health
- Research Sensor & Usage Data (enables the collection of data concerning how you interact with your device, to later share with research studies)
- HomeKit
- Media & Apple Music
- Files and Folders
- Motion & Fitness (can track your body motions to estimate step counts and similar)
- Focus (tells apps that you've silenced notifications using Focus on your iPhone)
Tap one, and you'll see all apps that have requested access to that permission. A green On slider means the app has access, while a gray Off slider means it doesn't have that permission. For some permissions, you might not see any apps yet.
Permissions With Granular Controls
While most permission types offer a simple on/off switch, some categories give you more control. Let's take a look at these.
Location Services allows you to choose whether apps can use your location all the time, while you use the app, or never. You can also choose to ask again next time you share your location. Finally, this menu lets you disable precise location detection for any app. See how to manage location settings on your iPhone for more guidance.
If you disable the Allow Apps to Request to Track slider in Tracking, any request to track your activity across apps is automatically denied. This is a great way to increase privacy on your iPhone.
Photos lets you choose whether to let apps access all photos, none, or only ones that you choose. This lets you share just a few photos without exposing your whole library.
Health contains various types of data, so make sure you examine all of them and confirm you're not sharing more than you want to.
Advertising Permissions
At the bottom of the Privacy list, you'll see a few additional entries. First is Analytics & Improvements, which lets you decide whether to automatically send analytical data to Apple. Tap Analytics Data here to look at what's collected, though be warned it's not in a user-friendly format.
The Apple Advertising menu contains a Personalized Ads toggle. Disable this to prevent your iPhone from showing Apple ads relevant to your interests on services like the App Store.
Finally, if you're interested in how often apps actually use the permissions you grant them and contact remote domains, enable the Record App Activity slider under the menu of the same name. After seven days, tap Save App Activity to export a JSON file containing the information.
Again, this isn't human-readable, so you'll need to use a JSON formatter to clean it up.
Viewing Permissions by App
The above menu lets you see all the apps that have asked for a certain type of permission. If you'd prefer the reverse, it's easy to see all the permissions that an app has asked to use.
To do this, scroll down on the main screen of the Settings app until you reach your list of installed apps. Tap an app to review the permissions it currently has, then use the sliders to change access as desired.
As a bonus, you'll also see toggles for other controls that don't appear on the above Privacy menu. These include changing what appears in Siri & Search for the app, how it delivers Notifications, whether it can utilize Background App Refresh and Cellular Data, and similar.
Be Wise With iPhone Permissions
There's no one-size-fits-all answer for iPhone permissions. You'll have to use some prudent thinking to decide what you should grant and reject for each app.
As a baseline, think about what each app requires to do what it says. It makes sense for Google Duo to request access to your microphone, since it's used for video calls. But there's no good reason that a chess game would need to use your microphone, so you shouldn't grant that.
Sometimes, granting permissions means giving up a bit of privacy in exchange for convenience. For instance, granting your location for a retail store's app might set the closest store as your default for order pickups and alert you of special offers when you arrive in the store. It's up to you to whether this is worth not having to select these options manually.
It's wise to regularly look over your list of permissions to make sure that no app is accessing more than you want it to. Be aware of the app permissions that are the most dangerous.
iPhone App Permissions, Mastered
We've looked over the permissions that iOS and iPadOS make available to apps on your iPhone or iPad. App permissions help you control exactly what apps are allowed to access, so you can use them without handing over too much personal data. Take care when granting them to protect your private information.
Speaking of permissions, the orange and green dots on your iPhone also clue you into when apps are accessing sensitive information.