Apple users in the EU

The privacy portal will roll out worldwide in the coming months

Apple has launched a privacy portal where users can download all of the information and data the company has that’s associated with their Apple ID. The portal allows you to receive information including: your activity on the App Store, iTunes Store, iBooks Store, and Apple Music; your activity at Apple’s online store and retail stores; any AppleCare support history and repairs you may have requested; and other data like iCloud bookmarks, calendar entries, reminders, photos, and other documents.

To access this information, just log in to your Apple account on the company’s privacy page. As spotted by 9to5Mac, the page is currently only available to accounts based in the European Union, and it has been rolled out ahead of the General Data Protection Regulation, which is due to go into effect on May 25th. The GDPR sets new rules for how companies manage and share personal data. Apple says the privacy portal will roll out worldwide over the next few months.

Once you’ve logged in, there are options to correct your data if the information Apple has is incorrect, temporarily deactivate your account, or permanently delete it (which purges your info from all of Apple’s services). If you deactivate your account, you won’t be able to access your purchases from the iTunes Store, iBooks, or the App Store. You also won’t be able to use iMessage, FaceTime, or other iCloud services.

It should be noted that because of the huge amounts of data, Apple says files might take up to a week to be prepared. Apple will tell you when your data is ready for download, and those files are automatically deleted after two weeks. If you’re worried about file sizes, Apple does give you an option to choose a maximum (1GB, 2GB, 5GB, 10GB, or 25GB), and Apple says it will divide your data into files of the selected size or smaller.

The GDPR has prompted a number of companies to roll out new privacy platforms for users. Facebook recently announced that it would be rolling out new privacy controls, while others are also updating their terms of service and data tools in preparation for the new rules.

– Rory Sugrue, Social Media Manager