There are different ways to improve our privacy on the Internet. Of course, one of the most common options is to use a VPN service, although it is important to make sure you choose a trustworthy option. If you’re not interested in using a VPN but want to strengthen your privacy online, I’m sure you’ll be interested to know that your iPhone has a feature to avoid being tracked.
Its about private relaya tool available as part of the iCloud+ subscription that helps us protect our privacy when we browse the Internet. Despite private relay (also know as Private Relay) arrived on our devices several years ago, today many are unaware of its existence. My goal with this article is to tell you what it is and the reasons why I recommend activating it on your iPhone.
What does it consist of private relay?
When we browse the Internet, the network provider can access information related to our browsing data through DNS records, which are linked to our IP address. In this way, Internet companies can create profiles based on the browsing habits of each user. Additionally, the web pages we visit can see our IP address and know our approximate location.
When we activate private relay, our IP address and browsing habits are separated, so our Internet provider cannot know which web pages we visit and the website owners do not see our real IP address. In this way we prevent our IP address from being associated with our browsing activity.
But, how does it work private relay? When browsing the Internet, requests are sent through two different servers. The first of these servers is only aware of our real IP address, but has no way of knowing the website we want to visit (the DNS records are encrypted). On the other hand, the second server only knows the website we want to visit, but cannot see our real IP. Instead, it assigns a temporary IP that connects us to the corresponding web page.
The first of these servers is managed by Apple itself, while the second is managed by an external provider. Taking into account the operation of the private relayno one can associate our browsing habits with our IP address (not even Apple).
Is it better to use a VPN or private relay?
At this point, you’re probably wondering if it’s better to use a VPN or private relay. It is important to keep in mind that this is not the same concept, since private relay cannot be considered a VPN proper. Even so, it may be more than enough option for the vast majority of users.
One of its advantages is that it does not require us to compare the different VPN services available on the market until we find an option that interests us. The configuration is much simpler than that of a traditional VPN, since it only requires activating the option from the iPhone settings. Also, if you are an iCloud+ user, private relay It is already included in the price you pay for your subscriptionso it does not require additional expense.
A possible disadvantage is that unlike a VPN service, private relay It does not allow us to choose an IP from another country. This means that if your goal is to use a VPN to bypass the geo-blocking imposed on many streaming services, private relay It won’t help you.
The tool only allows you to choose between two different settings related to the IP address: maintain our general location (so that the websites we visit have a rough idea of the city we connect from) or choose to use an IP address from the country we are in (which means that the location is much less precise).
Finally, it is worth keeping in mind that private relay It only works when we use Safari, which means that if we use other browsers our browsing data will not be encrypted. Furthermore, it is not available when we use other applications that we have installed on our mobile.
How to activate Private Relay
If you want to know how you can activate private relay on your iPhone and start enjoying all its advantages, the process is very simple. You just have to follow the following steps:
- Open the application Settings
- Tap on your iCloud profile (the option that shows your name and profile photo)
- Accede to iCloud
- Tap on the option private relay and activate the option using the corresponding button
If you want to adjust the location of the IP address you can do it from the menu IP address locationfrom where you can choose between the options Maintain general location either Use country and time zone.
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