Everyone knows that the main Chinese invention is not paper or the compass at all, despite what we’ve been told at school. As a matter of fact, it’s censorship and total control. Just imagine: the smartphone of every (!) resident of the Middle Kingdom is a beacon for surveillance. As soon as a Chinese person thinks about new Snapchat filters, he/she will assemble Apple AirPods for the rest of their life.

In the USA, privacy is also cracking. The first massive crack was made by Edward Snowden’s report on PRISM, a system of total surveillance that leaked information to intelligence agencies upon request. The main revelation of that report was that Google and Facebook cooperate with the authorities. Oh, really?

In such situations, Apple has always been like an older brother who kept watch on your correspondence and nudes. Plus, this is an excellent competitive advantage. Just think about the company’s banner that says, “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone,” and Apple’s public dispute with the FBI.

Intelligence agencies and politicians unanimously shouted about the need to leave encryption loopholes for important FBI’s affairs, but Apple was adamant about it. It seemed like the never-ending confrontation between the two giants is in the best tradition of ancient myths and legends.

The other day, though, Reuters published a sensational investigation that reports that Apple has given up. The publication expectedly caused mass hysteria and discontent, while Pavel Durov recognized iCloud as the official tracking tool.


It doesn’t necessarily mean that the FBI is spying on you through your selfie camera right now, but if you wanted to get rid of naughty photos stored in iCloud, we will tell you how to do it.

  1. Quickly run home and make sure you’re not being followed. Lock the door, make yourself a tin foil hat, and one for your dog as well (they say doggos are spies).
  2. Grab your Apple device.
  3. Go to Settings – click on your Apple ID username – select iCloud – in a list of apps using iCloud, you need to disable iCloud backup.
  4. Go to SettingsGeneraliPhone Storage – and then wait for a bit for the information to show up. Meanwhile, you can read our articles from the WTF category.
  5. Go to Backup and delete each. Take off your hat and then your dog’s.

You can continue to create local backups on your computer. On Windows, everyone’s “favorite” iTunes is still responsible for that. On macOS, iOS device management has moved to the Finder left panel.