Privacy expert sounds the alarm about new Apple feature: ‘It has access to your banking apps’

An internet privacy expert has warned users about the dangers of Apple’s new AI feature.

Apple Intelligence, released last month, will be integrated into the operating system, allowing it to extract information from apps and take action there.

Chip Hallett, author of The Ultimate Privacy Playbook, warned that the process allows the AI ​​to learn how people use their banking and finance apps and location maps.

However, there are ways to prevent the technology from analyzing sensitive information on your smartphone.

There is a hidden ‘disable’ feature in Settings, which is present in Apple Intelligence and & Siri.

There is ‘Learn from this app’ automatically enabled, which Hallett urged users to disable, along with the ‘Suggest app’ and ‘Suggest notifications’ toggles.

Other tech experts have suggested doing the same for health and fitness apps, otherwise Apple Intelligence will gain access to the personal information.

Apple Intelligence’s privacy page assures users that their data won’t be stored, but it also says the feature “identifies the data needed to provide to a generative model to best serve you.”

Apple Intelligence, released last month, will be integrated into the operating system, allowing it to extract information from apps and take action there

“Apple Intelligence is designed to deliver personalized information without Apple collecting your personal data,” according to the tech giant’s website.

“To provide a customized experience, Apple Intelligence uses information on your device, including in your apps.”

Apple Intelligence, launched only for those with the high-end iPhone 15 smartphones and the new iPhone 16, which CEO Tim Cook touted as “a new chapter in Apple innovation.”

Apple Intelligence focuses largely on so-called “generative” AI models, which allow users to create text or images based on prompts.

Generative AI models, however, analyze data by learning patterns and structures within large data sets, which can be found in iPhone apps.

“Apple Intelligence is going to learn how you use your banking apps, your finance apps and your location maps,” Hallett claimed in a TikTok video.

He urged users to open their iPhone’s ‘Settings’, then select ‘Apple Intelligence & Siri’, scroll down again and select Apps.

“Scroll all the way down to where your banking information is,” Hallett said, using his Wells Fargo app as an example.

Chip Hallett, author of The Ultimate Privacy Playbook, warned that the process allows the AI ​​to learn how people use their banking and financial apps and location maps. However, there are ways to prevent the technology from analyzing sensitive information on your smartphone

He then urged users to disable the options.

“I also don’t want Google Maps to know my location and learn from my location,” he said.

But Apple Intelligence will still have access to other personal information, such as written messages, photos, videos and calendar events, CNN reported.

However, the tech giant said that Apple Intelligence data is encrypted, specifically through Apple’s ‘Private Cloud Compute’ system.

It ensures that when data is sent to Apple’s servers for processing, it is only used to fulfill the user’s request and is never stored or made accessible to Apple itself.

The tech giant was so confident that its Apple Intelligence was safe that it offered a bounty of up to $1 million to anyone who could hack it before its October 28 release.

The public was invited to test the security of ‘Private Cloud Computer’, the servers that receive and process user requests for Apple Intelligence when the AI ​​task is too complex for processing on the device.

According to Apple, the system features end-to-end encryption and immediately deletes a user’s request once the task is completed.

However, the system is designed to help improve the lives of its users.

This system introduces a range of new AI features, including the ability to create custom images and ‘Genmojis’, enhanced Siri capabilities, email generation via ChatGPT integration and more.

Some features have yet to appear on iPhones, but will be released with later iOS 18 versions.