How to Get All of the Data Apple Has Stored on You
Apple users based in the U.S. now have a quick way to see what type of data the company has associated with their account. A new privacy portal offers the option to request a copy of the data associated with your Apple ID.
While the feature has previously existed in Europe as part of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulations, U.S. users will now also be able to retrieve information that includes their contacts, emails, photos, and more.
Information customers can retrieve from the company’s servers include data stored on iCloud like contacts, calendars, notes, bookmarks, reminders, email, photos, videos, and documents.
Users can also get data saved on their Health app alongside app usage information, records of apple retail store and support transactions, and a record of items purchased or downloaded from the App Store, iTunes Store, and from Apple Books.
Information like messages won’t show up in the data copies, as a large amount of the data is encrypted and cannot be seen without a password to the user’s device.
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To request a copy, users need to sign into their Apple ID account on a Mac, PC, iPhone, or iPad and scroll down to the “Data and Privacy” section. From there, select “Manage your Data and Privacy” to be sent to a page to select the “Get a copy of your data” option.
Once a request is entered, Apple will notify the user when the data copy is ready, with the information available for download on the Apple ID account for up to 14 days before a request will need to be made again.
Users who feel they have incorrect data stored can request to update the data on file. Apple plans to roll out the feature to customers worldwide by the end of the year.
