Technologies

Stop ads from following you across the web with this iPhone setting

You can boost your privacy and throw ad-trackers off your trail with Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature on iPhone.

We’ve all had the creepy experience where a brief moment of online shoe shopping turns into weeks of being followed around by ads for that same footwear on every site you visit. But there’s a feature on your iPhone that can help you boost your online privacy by giving you the option to easily disable ad tracking within the apps you use. (For more, check out all the new features in the latest iOS 15 release.)

Apple’s App Tracking Transparency feature gives you more control over which apps can track you on your iPhone, and how. Unless you give an app explicit permission to track you (including those made by Apple), it can’t use your data for targeted ads, share your location data with advertisers or share your advertising ID or any other identifiers with third parties. This change — first unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June 2020 and rolled out with the iOS 14.5 update — drew support from privacy advocates and criticism from companies such as Facebook, which said it will hurt its ad business.

The move came alongside other efforts from Apple to increase transparency and privacy, which CEO Tim Cook called a «fundamental human right.» With the release of iOS 14.3, users began seeing app «nutrition labels» informing them of the categories of data an app requests before downloading it from the App Store.

Here’s how to use the new App Tracking Transparency feature to control which apps are able to track you.

How to turn off app tracking on new apps

When you download and open a new app, you’ll get a notification that asks if you want to let the app track your activity across other companies’ apps and websites. You’ll also see information about what the app would track. You can tap Ask App not to Track to block that activity or Allow.

You can also opt out of app tracking across every app you download by going to Settings > Privacy > Tracking, and toggling off Allow Apps to Request to Track. This means any app that tries to ask for your permission will be automatically blocked from asking and informed that you have requested not to be tracked. And all apps (other than those you’ve given permission to track in the past) will be blocked from accessing your device’s information used for advertising, according to Apple.

It’s important to note that this doesn’t mean ads will disappear. It just means that you’ll be more likely to see generic ads, not one for that pair of shoes you clicked on one time.

How to turn off app tracking on already-downloaded apps

For apps that you’ve already downloaded and may have tracking permissions set up for, you can still turn those permissions on or off on a per-app basis.

Under Settings, tap an app, and then tap to turn off Allow Tracking. Or go to Settings > Privacy > Tracking, and tap to turn on or off each app you’ll see in the list of apps that have requested permission to track your activity.

All app developers are required to ask for permission for tracking. If Apple learns a developer is tracking users who asked not to be tracked, they will need to either update their tracking practices, or else potentially face rejection from the app store.

Apple believes that privacy features like these are a differentiator for its products. Cook has said that because the company’s business model isn’t built on selling ads, it can focus on privacy.

Even so, it’s important to bear in mind that when you ask apps not to track you, all you’re essentially doing is prohibiting app developers from accessing the identifier for advertisers (IDFA) on your iPhone. Developers use your device’s IDFA to track you for targeted advertising purposes. Denying access to your iPhone’s IDFA doesn’t necessarily mean app developers won’t track you through other means, so it’s critical to be mindful of the apps you use and how you interact with them.

For more, check out browser privacy settings you should change immediately, and CNET’s picks for the best VPNs of 2021.

Technologies

The Black Friday Gaming Deals You Want Are Already Here, Including PlayStation, Xbox and Alienware

Technologies

The Black Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Is at a Record $443 Off at Amazon for Black Friday

A Galaxy Z Fold 7 price war between Amazon and Samsung gives us a record-low deal for one color.

If you’re looking for a foldable iPhone, you’re gonna need to wait until 2026, but if you’re looking for the best foldable phone of 2025, there are great deals on the Galaxy Z Fold 7 right now at both Amazon and Samsung, with the former dropping the black version of Samsung’s foldable phone to a record-low $1,557. All other models are $1,600 at both Amazon and Samsung, a $400 discount.

Samsung’s unique foldable phones had an awkward adolescence, but after getting her hands on the new lineup, CNET reviewer Abrar Al-Heet confirms that the latest Z Fold 7 «just feels right.» For one, it’s incredibly sleek at just 8.9mm thick when closed or 4.2mm thick when open, which is so thin you may even forget that it’s foldable.

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Despite weighing just 215 grams, this foldable features some serious hardware. It has a 6.5-inch cover screen and an 8-inch interior display with a fluid 120Hz refresh rate. It’s equipped with a cutting-edge Snapdragon 8 Elite processor and 12GB of RAM to support tons of helpful AI features and functions, and comes with Android 16 and Samsung One UI 8 right out of the box.

The camera system is also pretty impressive, boasting a 200-megapixel rear camera, 12-megapixel ultrawide shooting and a 10-megapixel front camera on both the cover and interior screens. Plus, it’s equipped with a 4,400-mAh battery for all-day use.

MOBILE DEALS OF THE WEEK

iPhone 17 Pro on Us With Any Condition Trade-in and Qualifying Plan
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$900 (save $400)

Deals are selected by the CNET Group commerce team, and may be unrelated to this article.

Why this deal matters

With an unbelievably sleek design and cutting-edge hardware, the impressive Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 is our favorite foldable phone on the market. But it also comes with a staggering $2,000 price tag, and if you’re hoping to get your hands on one, this $443 discount is a way to rack up some serious savings and help cushion the blow of its considerable cost. Just be sure to get your order in soon, as we doubt this deal will remain live for long.

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Technologies

I Almost Missed This Deal Within a Deal for Baseus’ Bose-Infused Headphones and Earbuds

Baseus’ new Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 models with Sound by Bose are 23% to 33% off for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But Baseus throws in its BC1 clip-on earbuds or other «free» bonus items to make the deal even sweeter.

I gave CNET Editors’ Choice awards to Baseus’ Bose-infused Baseus Inspire XH1 headphones and Inspire XP1 earbuds because they’re well designed and sound decent for what they cost. I also liked Baseus’ Inspire XC1 clip-on earbuds, which have dual- drivers and earned a spot on CNET’s best clip-on earbuds list.

Last week all three models were selling for around $110 (though they have higher list prices), but they’re now discounted to around $100 for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. That’s a deal I’d highlight on its own, but if you click through to any of those models’ Amazon product pages an look closely you’ll see that each is eligible for «one free item» with purchase.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2025

You have to click the «how to claim link» and then add one of the three products to the your cart. Once one of the headphones or earbuds is added to your cart, you can click a button on the left side of screen (above the stars for average ratings) that switches the view from «qualifying items» to «benefit items.» You can then add Baseus’s BC1 clip-on earbuds, which list for $40, to your cart as a free item. Baseus’ step-up Basues MC1 Pro ($48 for Black Friday) and Inspire XC1 clip-on buds sound better, but the BC1 are fine for casual use.

If the BC1 earbuds option doesn’t thrill you, there are other freebies you can opt for. Just go back to the Amazon product page for the Inspire XH1, XP1 and XC1 and you’ll see options for one free item with $100, $90, $51 and $46 purchases. The $90 benefit item is a 30W dual-port fast charger (list price $20), which is decent, and the $51 benefit item is a retractable USB-C cable ($19 list) that’s useful. Don’t bother with the $46 benefit item.

You can read my full reviews of the Inspire XH1 headphones here and the Inspire XP1 earbuds here. And here’s my quick take of the Inspire XC1 earbuds:

Like Baseus’ noise-isolating Inspire XP1 earbuds that I rated highly, the Inspire XC1 feature «Sound by Bose» and a more premium design than earlier Baseus earbuds. The XC1 don’t sound as good as the XP1, but they sound good for open earbuds and are equipped with dual drivers, one of which is a Knowles balanced-armature driver that helps improve treble performance. While they don’t produce as much bass as noise-isolating earbuds like the Inspire XP1, their bass performance is better than I expected. The buds’ sound is pretty full, especially in quieter environments, though they do better with less bass-heavy material (I did notice a bit of distortion at higher volumes with certain tracks with harder driving bass).

While I prefer the design and fit of Bose’s Ultra Open Earbuds (as well as the design of their case) and think the Bose buds sound more natural and a tad better overall, the much more affordable Inspire XC1 fit comfortably and offer top-tier sound for clip-on open earbuds (and they play louder than the Bose), as well as decent voice-calling performance with good background noise reduction.