iOS 18.4 privacy issue: Safari shows recent searches upon tapping the address bar
Apple tweaked Safari in iOS 18.4 in a way that could upset privacy advocates because the browser exposes recent searches when touching the address bar.
When you open a new tab in Safari on iOS 18.4 and nit the URL field, the browser immediately lists the most recent entries from your web history. Actually, you don’t even need to open a new tab, as recent searches are exposed upon hitting the address field on any page. This is a departure from iOS 18.3 and earlier versions that don’t show recent searches, whether you tap the URL field or not.
9to5Mac spotted the change, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to turn it off. The same behavior can be observed in Safari on iPadOS 18.4. The Mac edition of Safari in macOS Sequoia 15.4 doesn’t expose recent searches this way.
iOS 18.4: Safari shows recent searches on new tabs
People don’t like change, and this change could be particularly controversial. I can see why Apple has decided to do this; being able to quickly re-visit prior searches and submit them again is useful. It’s also great for tweaking a recent search without typing it again. However, privacy advocates may disagree with me.
The feature could easily irk many people who care about their online privacy. I, for one, don’t want a friend borrowing my iPhone to settle an argument on Google to be able to see that I’ve recently searched for information about my medical condition he’s not privy to. I know I can use Safari’s private browsing mode when I don’t want searches to be saved, but that’s a workaround, not a solution.
Apple touts privacy as a significant competitive advantage, and this feature has the potential to provoke controversy. iOS 18.4 is scheduled to be released in April, so the company has plenty of time to reverse this change. If I were Apple, I’d add a toggle in the Safari settings and make this an opt-in. I would also love the ability to clear individual recent searches in this interface. There’s only the option to clear all recent searches. Does this change make you uneasy? Let us know in the comments!
iOS 18 brought several new Safari features like highlighting helpful information from web pages, article summarization in Reader Mode and the ability to temporarily zap annoying web page elements like ads, chat boxes and the like.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/02/26/apple-ios-18-4-safari-recent-searches-exposed-privacy-issue/
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