Apple has upgraded its iCloud subscription service, and it brings some new key privacy features. The major one among them being Private Relay, which is a VPN-like service, it is designed to mask your internet traffic.
How do we use Apple’s Private Relay?
You have to have iOS 15, iPadOS 15, or macOS Monterey on top of being a subscriber to iCloud plans. Any one of the plans works. The whole process of turning on Private Relay is super simple.
- On an iPhone/iPad, navigate to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud > Private Relay, then toggle the “Private Relay” switch to on.
- On a Mac, navigate to System Preferences > Apple ID > iCloud, then check the box labeled “Private Relay”
Private Relay provides only one configurable option: the ability to choose your IP address location, making it different from other VPNs. Apple provides you with two choices: you can use your “general IP address” so that websites can still give you appropriate location data. OR You can choose a broader IP address somewhere in your country as well as time zone.
Private Relay as of now only lets you navigate through the web through your existing geographic location(approximate), so you won’t be able to use it for more popular VPN activities, like streaming Netflix content from a different country. Private Relay is more secure than a traditional VPN, as its traffic is masked twice, says Apple.
How Does Private Relay work?
When you navigate to a URL using Safari, it is first received by Apple, which strips out the identifying IP address information, then further sends it to a second server. That is maintained by an as-of-yet-undisclosed third party, who will assign a new, temporary IP address. The net result is that neither Apple, the third-party relay company, nor the website will be able to track you.
Is there any Limitation to Private Relay?
There are limitations to Private Relay though. It will be inaccessible for users living in China, Belarus, Colombia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkmenistan, Uganda, as well as the Philippines. As per information told to Reuters by Apple, the reason Private Relay won’t be available is due to regulatory limitations in those countries.
Private Relay will only work with Safari. It also won’t help in dodging geographic location limits.
However, when you consider it is a free service to all the iCloud subscribers, it is quite a nice and useful addition. As it provides the privacy benefits of a VPN for regular web browsing. The Safari-only limitation might also help push Apple’s very own browser over competitors like Chrome or Firefox, too. If you liked this, leave a comment below or share it with friends, so that they also know How to use Apple’s Private Relay feature with iCloud Plus?
