After first making the feature available in the European Union to comply with GDPR, Apple users in the US, Canada, and more can now download a copy of their personal information stored by the company. Follow along for how to request your personal data from Apple.
Apple updated its privacy website today, highlighting new features that arrived with macOS Mojave and iOS 12 like Screen Time and Intelligent Tracking Prevention. Apple also brought its data download tool to eight more countries. Apple also said it will bring the feature to more users around the world in the coming months.
The complete set of self-service data and privacy tools is currently available to customers in the United States, the European Union, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland.
How to request your personal data from Apple
- Head to Apple’s Data and Privacy log in page
- Log in with the Apple ID for which you’d like to download data
- Under Get a copy of your data, click Get Started
- Select the data you’d like, and the maximum file size, then click Complete Request
Here’s how the process looks:
After logging in you’ll get options to not only request your personal data from Apple, but also correct your data, as well as deactivating or deleting your account.
Under Get a copy of your data, choose Get Started to request your information.
Now you’ll see options to choose individual categories of personal data to download. Check the boxes for the data you’d like, or click Select all to download everything.
There’s a second section below what’s shown the image above for iCloud Mail, iCloud Drive, and iCloud Photos.
Lastly, choose the maximum file size that you’d like to download, and click blue Complete request button. You’ll receive a notification within seven days at your Apple ID email when your data is ready.
Apple notes that the personal information it keeps includes, but is not limited to:
- Your Apple ID account details and sign-in records.
- Data that you store with iCloud such as contacts, calendars, notes, bookmarks, reminders, email, photos, videos, and document.
- App usage information, as it relates to use of iCloud, Apple Music, Game Center and other services.
- A record of the items you have purchased or downloaded from the App Store, iTunes Store, and Apple Books, as well as your browsing history in those stores.
- Records of your Apple retail store and support transactions.
- Records of marketing communications, preferences, and other activity.
It further explains in a support document that encrypted data is not included in the report, so don’t be alarmed if there’s not a lot when you receive your data.
Any data that isn’t provided is either in a form that is not personally identifiable or linked to your Apple ID, is stored in an end-to-end encrypted format that Apple cannot decrypt, or is not stored by Apple at all. Additionally, some data may have been held only for a very short time and is no longer on our servers.
Apple strives to collect and store the minimum amount of data required to provide the services you use. Learn more about Apple’s privacy policy and practices.
For more details about managing your Apple ID data, have a look at Apple’s support page. For more on privacy updates, check out our coverage and Apple’s new privacy website.
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