It’s no secret that tracking is a fairly common occurrence on the web, whether on a desktop computer or when doing quick searches on your phone. To highlight both privacy concerns and a browser that aims to eliminate those trackers (or rather make flying security cameras explode), Apple is launching a new campaign touting Safari’s privacy benefits.
The campaign, which debuts today in short film format and in placements designed for desktop and mobile devices, aims to highlight the benefits of using Safari instead of Google Chrome or another browser. It follows everyday people as they browse the web for a whole host of reasons, with flying security cameras following them around and, quite honestly, freaking them out.
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Apple’s goal is to remind people of the privacy protections built into Safari: It was the first web browser to debut a “Private Browsing” experience in 2005, and it’s since been beefed up and is now locked behind Face ID, Touch ID, or a passcode. Safari also blocks cross-site tracking, removes unnecessary trackers from links, and hides location data.
To take it a step further, Apple deploys machine learning to determine which sites might be tracking you with a feature called “Intelligent Tracking Prevention.” When it detects a site tracking you, usually in the same way as a cookie, Safari stops it and deletes the tracker.
You can see it working in real time in the Safari Privacy Report on your device, which lists sites by the number of trackers, the most common ones, and how many have been blocked or stopped.
Of course, Safari also hides your IP address, and when a site requests more precise location information, it asks you, the end user, to approve or deny it. This is all part of Apple’s four main pillars of privacy within Safari.
The ads themselves are pretty catchy; on mobile, it’s a vertical shot of someone opening the webpage from the top, and the tagline “Your browsing is being watched” appears, with “Safari stopping it” shortly after. The idea, of course, is to get more people to use these privacy features if they’re already on Safari (and remember, most of these settings are on by default) or probably to get people to use Safari on a Mac, iPhone, iPad, or Vision Pro.
The film paints a not-so-subtle picture of how Apple views the privacy differences between Android phones and the iPhone. It shows security cameras lurking around while the iPhone stops them and causes them to explode.
Still, it's one of Apple's more light-hearted films, highlighting a set of pretty serious features built into web browsing on its devices.
