On Monday at Apple’s annual conference, the American multinational technology company revealed that the latest version of its mobile operating system iOS 12 will have new privacy features which block social media companies from tracking users’.

Apple’s ‘Intelligent Tracking Prevention’ in Safari’s web browser will help block social media ‘like’ or ‘share’ buttons, as well as comment widgets from tracking users without permission.

‘Simplified system information’

Its new software upgrades will also allow older iPhones to run faster, help parents limit their children’s screen time and make its Siri voice assistant work more like Amazon’s rival feature.

“Safari now also presents simplified system information when users browse the web, preventing them from being tracked based on their system configuration,” said the company at The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference.

Despite this, industry experts have raised concerns, saying that the move will add tension between Apple and social media companies such as Facebook.

‘Invasion of privacy’ 

Following this, Tim Cook, Chief Executive at Apple, previously described Facebook’s practices as being an “invasion of privacy”because of Facebook “keeping watch over people in ways the might not be aware of”, according to the BBC.

Apple also revealed that its MacOS Mojave will battle advertisers tracking users who delete their cookies by using a technique named “fingerprinting”, which involves identifying computers by the fonts and plug-ins installed among other configuration details.

Written by Leah Alger