Chris WiegmanI updated all my Apple devices and turned on Advanced Data Protection for my iCloud account today. It was super easy to enable this feature which, if it lives up to its promise, should do a lot to improve the security and privacy of iCloud users.
That’s not the only reason I’m excited about it though. It should also help push me to getting out of being so deep in the Apple ecosystem altogether. That is a major benefit.
Today I personally have 10 devices in my iCloud account, a laptop, iPad, iPhone, Apple Watch, 3 Apple TVs, Apple Pencil 2, and 2 pairs of headphones. On top of it I’m to the point where I have every type of data and sync feature in iCloud turned on for my account. I use it for files, photos, messages, calls, email, news and so much more. It just isn’t safe to have all my eggs in this one basket.
So how will it help me get out of Apple? I’m typing this from my Linux laptop. While it’s not perfect I’ve been accessing a lot of my Apple data through iCloud.com but even that’s gone. Yes, I could turn it on but I don’t think I will. Instead I’ll use the opportunity to explore new services that I can use on either device and start moving in a more open, less Apple-centric direction. That, at least to me, is a major win.