Are you concerned about people and companies gaining access to your personal data—contacts, photos, videos, and more—stored on your iPhone and iPad, and about keeping private information private? A Practical Guide to Networking, Privacy & Security in iOS 11 helps with every dimension of controlling your own device, protecting it from marketers, thieves, and other illegal or unwanted access.
The book covers networking thoroughly in the first section, including all the basics and advanced steps in connecting safely and consistently to Wi-Fi networks, managing cellular usage to avoid being throttled for overuse, sending and receiving files via AirDrop, and using AirPlay for streaming media.
The privacy section walks through all of Apple’s set-up options and default settings, and helps you understand how your choices can result in information being sent to Apple or third parties, so you can make an informed decision. It also explains how Safari now automatically restricts and blocks Web-based tracking IDs, and tells you how to block people sending calls and messages, as well as filter text messages and identify and block unwanted voice calls. You will also learn how to use third-party apps to control the scripts, ads, and trackers that appear on Safari pages while you browse, and the ins and outs of Face ID for iPhone X.
In the third part, security, you learn about setting up a secure tunnel when you’re working away from home or a trusted office using VPN apps, turning on two-factor authentication with your Apple ID to prevent people from hijacking your account, and sort out setting up and using Find My iPhone, even when it’s just missing in the couch cushions.
For anyone trying to maximize their safety and privacy, this book has all the answers with friendly step-by-step guidance alongside explanations.
Hey, What’s This?
We can focus our attention on only so many books, so when our friend and longtime collaborator Glenn Fleishman proposed creating this book on his own, we jumped at the chance to bring it to you alongside our Take Control titles. It’s his book, so it looks a little different, but the content is rock solid.
You’ll get the most out of your network connections by learning how to:
- Troubleshoot problematic Wi-Fi connections.
- Use Control Center’s new networking shortcuts and information pane.
- Master all the options for a Personal Hotspot.
- Know which radios are on (cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS) — and turn them on and off whenever you like.
- Plan and manage your cellular data usage to avoid being throttled by your provider.
- Make phone calls over Wi-Fi from your iPhone, iPad, and Mac with Wi-Fi Calling.
- Find the Wi-Fi Assist switch, and know when to disable it.
- Stream music and video to other devices with AirPlay.
- Transfer files between iOS and macOS with AirDrop.
You’ll find strategies for keeping your data private:
- Know what kinds of data can be leaked and consider your privacy settings.
- Block creeps from iMessage, FaceTime, text messages, and phone calls.
- Load pages faster, use less data, suppress ads, and be less trackable with Safari content-blocking extensions.
- Understand what information Apple gathers from you and what it does with it.
- Determine how much detail about your current location you share with apps, and how to control and change that.
You’ll learn about securing your data in transit and on your device:
- Connect to a WPA2 Wi-Fi network in home and corporate scenarios.
- Understand, set up, and work with Apple’s two-factor authentication.
- Secure data in transit with a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection.
- Protect your device against intruders, and use Find My iPhone to deal with it going missing.
About Glenn Fleishman
Glenn Fleishman is a veteran technology writer who has contributed to dozens of publications across his career, including Macworld, Fast Company, and Increment. He has also written dozens of editions of books in the Take Control series. He spent 2019 and 2020 building 100 tiny type museums full of real printing artifacts. Glenn lives in Seattle with his wife and two children.
