The Smaller Announcements At WWDC 2021

As with every WWDC event, there are a lot of big features announced but with this, the smaller announcements get buried away so here are all of the smaller things you may have missed or forgotten about from WWDC 2021.

iCloud Plus

Apple is upgrading iCloud with a brand new set of features and they are calling it iCloud Plus. Now, with iCloud Plus, user will have access to a VPN, burner email addresses and unlimited storage for HomeKit enabled security cameras. The VPN, which Apple calls Private Relay, will route your internet traffic through two relays in order to mask who’s browsing and where that data is coming from. Apple is trying to distinguish the feature from traditional VPNs in part because it sends data through that second hop. That second hop prevents any one party, including Apple, from seeing all of your browsing data, Apple says.

The next feature in iCloud Plus is the burner email which is called Hide My Email. This feature allows you to create a one time use email address which will forward to your actual account which helps provide a junk email to a service that you do not trust. This is very similar to how Sign In With Apple currently works.

iCloud Plus also provides you with unlimited storage for video from HomeKit enabled home security cameras. You currently need to pay for at least 200GB of iCloud storage to record video from one camera, and you need to pay for a higher tier to support more streams. The features are all supposed to be included with existing iCloud plans at no additional cost. Apple didn’t say if the feature would be available through its cheapest plans, though, which don’t currently support HomeKit video storage.

There is also a new recovery feature that will send codes to your friends or family if you lose your device. Another new feature is Digital Legacy which is a program that allows you to choose who can access you files after you die.

Privacy Features 

As with every Apple event, they also had a segment talking about privacy and the new privacy features they are bringing over to Mail and Safari.

In Mail, Apple is trying to prevent tracking pixels, which are included in some emails which gives third parties insight and info on if and when their emails were opened. Apple did not provide much information on how exactly they would be doing this but this is indeed a step in the right direction. Mail will also now hide your IP address and so will Safari which will further help prevent you from being tracked.

Apple also announced an App Privacy Report which will be placed in the settings app and will provide you with a better insight on privacy related matters such as how often apps use your contacts, microphone, location and other identifiers. The report will also show you when third party domains are receiving your information.

These are all the smaller features you may have missed out on or forgotten about that were announced at WWDC last night. Apple is certainly paying attention to the smaller details here which is always good news for the end user.