How to easily enable Advanced Data Protection feature on your iPhone and iPad

iOS version 16.2 is among the bigger updates that the iPhone and iPad have received in recent months. The latest patch looks to introduce a number of new features to the Apple ecosystem, with one of the biggest highlights being the online Data Protection feature.

Advanced Data Protection, as it’s officially called, encrypts 23 data types in iCloud end-to-end, which is a significant increase from the default 14.

Enabling this option on your Apple devices makes it significantly harder for unauthorized personnel to view some of your personal data, such as photos, notes, and other device backups.

While this is an optional feature, many Apple users have been making the most of it by enabling protection on their devices. However, some users have been facing a difficult time setting it up and have run into a few issues along the way.

This guide specifically goes over how you can easily enable the Advanced Data Protection feature on your iPhone and iPad.

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Enabling the Advanced Data Protection feature on your iPhone and iPad

As mentioned, with the latest Advanced Data Protection feature, iPhone and iPad users will be able to provide additional E3E encryption on all their private data. To enable this on your respective Apple devices, you will be required to:

• Make your way to the iCloud section of your Settings app. You can do this by clicking on your name which will be at the very top of the settings menu. Upon doing so you will be able to automatically make your way to the iCloud section of your iOS or iPadOS.
• However, do keep in mind that this feature will only work if your device has the software version of 16.2 or later. The Advanced Data Protection feature will not work on your iPhone if you have not updated it to the latest versions.
• In the iCloud menu, you will then be required to scroll down and look for the option that says Advanced Data Protection. You can then tap on it which will allow you to enable the new protection feature.
• However, before you do this make sure to add a Recovery Contact or Recovery Key through the Account Recovery menu at the bottom first. Once enabled you will be able to disable the feature anytime you want.

It’s important to note here that the feature does not encrypt all personal data. Apple has previously stated that the feature will not encrypt iCloud Mail, Contacts, and Calendar. This is because the software can only incorporate them in a manner that takes respective global systems into account.

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Set up Account Recovery method before enabling Advanced Data Protection on your iPhone

Before enabling the Advanced Data Protection feature it’s important that you set up an alternative Account Recovery method. This is because if you get locked out of your ID, even Apple will not be able to recover your data once you have Advanced Data Protection enabled.

Hence, Recovery Contact(s) allows you to gain back access to the ID. You can even opt for a Recovery Key as an alternative. However, if you lose the key, you will not be able to recover your iCloud data.