Submitted by Mark Struczewski on Tue, 02/28/2017 - 06:00
Privacy is a huge topic these days. But despite this, many of us download apps and accept the terms without even thinking about it, thus giving apps access to our contacts, location, social media accounts, and more. If this describes you, no worries. I am going to tell you how you can check your privacy settings on your iPhone or iPad and revoke the access you absentmindedly gave to these apps.
Related: How to Turn Location Services On or Off on iPhone
How to Control What Information Each App Can Access on Your iPhone or iPad
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Open the Settings app.
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Tap Privacy.
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Open each category one at a time: Location Services, Contacts, Calendars, Reminders, Photos, Bluetooth Sharing, Microphone, and Motion Activity. For each, you’ll see the list of which apps have requested and been given access to that category.
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To revoke access, simply toggle the switch to the off position.
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Continue doing this until you have checked all the categories and determined what, if any, permissions you want to revoke.
You will most likely find that most of the apps in each of these categories are toggled to on. That's okay, mine were too. You only have a choice to accept or deny approval when you install an app. But once that app is installed, you can revoke any access you choose through these settings.
Please understand that your installed apps may behave strangely or not at all once you have revoked access. Most apps will prompt you to give them permission again. And some apps require access to the information in order to work at all. For example, the Maps app needs access to your Location Services—how else would it direct you to your destination? However, you may find other apps that don’t need as much info as they request. Either way, you can always return to this screen to tweak your privacy settings as you figure out what’s necessary and what’s not.