WHAT THE POLICIES SAY

Apple positions Safari's privacy posture around on-device processing and anti-tracking defaults, most notably Intelligent Tracking Prevention and IP address concealment from known trackers, which the company describes in its own technical documentation. Alphabet Inc. paid Apple Inc. $20 billion in 2022 for Google to be the default search engine in the Safari browser, according to newly unsealed court documents in the Justice Department's antitrust lawsuit against Google. Separately, Safari's default tracking protections were the subject of a 2012 FTC enforcement action against a third party (Google) for circumventing them, and Apple's broader data-handling practices — including features that interact with Safari — have been the subject of a 2025 U.S. class-action settlement and a 2024 Irish Data Protection Commission decision.

TRACK RECORD

1 ENFORCEMENT ACTION

[2012-08-09]

In 2012, the FTC required Google to pay a then-record $22.5 million civil penalty for misrepresenting to Safari browser users that it would not place tracking cookies or serve targeted ads, in violation of an earlier FTC privacy order.

ftc.gov ↗

TIMELINE

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RECEIPTS

11 ON FILE

COLLECTION

Apple's Apple Account privacy disclosure states that data from a user's device, including Safari tabs, is sent to Apple to be stored and backed up when iCloud-linked features are used.

apple.com ↗

COLLECTION

Apple's product-specific privacy disclosure for Safari states that certain attribution/analytics reports are sent to Apple "with limited data in a dedicated mode using IP address protection, no data storage, without any cookies, and delayed randomly between 24 and 48 hours."

apple.com ↗

[2019-11-01] · COLLECTION

Apple's Safari technical white paper describes analytics data shared with Apple as not attached to identifying information and, in some cases, protected using differential privacy techniques.

apple.com ↗

OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

Apple's privacy policy discloses that personal data of individuals in the European Economic Area, UK, and Switzerland is controlled by Apple Distribution International Limited in Ireland, while data is generally stored by Apple Inc. in the United States, with international transfers governed by Standard Contractual Clauses.

apple.com ↗

SHARING

Apple's Privacy Policy discloses use of click-through tracking in emails to measure engagement, describing this as a technology similar to cookies used to determine interest in topics and communication effectiveness.

apple.com ↗

[2025-05-14] · SHARING

A 2025 class-action settlement stemming from a lawsuit against Apple alleged that private conversations captured via unintended Siri activations were shared with third-party businesses that subsequently targeted the plaintiffs with ads in Apple search and its Safari web browser; Apple denied wrongdoing in the settlement.

cbsnews.com ↗

[2012-08-09] · TRACK RECORD

In 2012, the FTC required Google to pay a then-record $22.5 million civil penalty for misrepresenting to Safari browser users that it would not place tracking cookies or serve targeted ads, in violation of an earlier FTC privacy order.

ftc.gov ↗

[2025-05-08] · TRACK RECORD

In 2025, Apple agreed to a $95 million class-action settlement over allegations that Siri recorded private conversations without consent following unintended activations, with the class period running from September 17, 2014, to December 31, 2024; Apple denied wrongdoing.

aarp.org ↗

TRACKING TECH

Apple's Safari privacy marketing page states that Intelligent Tracking Prevention uses on-device intelligence to prevent trackers from learning user identity and interests, and that Safari hides IP address from known trackers.

apple.com ↗

[2012-08-01] · TRACKING TECH

The FTC's 2012 order describes how a third party (Google) technically circumvented Safari's default cookie-blocking setting by exploiting a narrow exception Safari made for web forms, allowing tracking cookies to be set despite Safari's default protections.

ftc.gov ↗

[2019-11-01] · TRACKING TECH

Apple's Safari white paper describes Intelligent Tracking Prevention's mechanism as learning which domains are used for tracking and then isolating and purging tracking data those domains attempt to store on the device.

apple.com ↗

LAST REVIEWED 2026-07-27 · METHODOLOGY v1.7