Although iOS 26 is not set to launch for a few more months, developers and early adopters are already testing its new features, including the innovative Liquid Glass interface available through beta versions. One of the standout features expected to debut in this update is Advanced Fingerprinting Protection on Safari, designed to enhance user privacy by preventing tracking during web browsing, regardless of whether users are in private browsing mode. For comparison, Mozilla’s Firefox browser has also implemented measures to guard against fingerprinting.
iOS 26 Public Beta Introduces Advanced Fingerprinting Protection
At the WWDC 2025, Apple announced its focus on improving user privacy with the expansion of Advanced Fingerprinting Protection, which will soon be enabled for all Safari browsing by default. Previously, this feature was limited to Private Browsing tabs in iOS 17, which was introduced in September 2023. The new iteration of iOS will officially launch in September and will include this enhancement for all tabs in Safari.
Advanced Fingerprinting Protection on iOS 26 (Tap to expand)
Fingerprinting is a sophisticated tracking method that allows companies to surveil user activity online. Instead of utilizing cookies, fingerprinting generates a unique digital identifier based on various parameters, including hardware configurations, browser extensions, custom fonts, and specific user settings.
This type of tracking can persist even after users clear their browser history or cache, making it essential for Apple to implement measures that obscure users’ device information and software characteristics. By providing randomized data and altering the hardware and software details shared with trackers, Apple aims to complicate the creation of unique identifiers by data brokers.
Firefox has been offering fingerprinting protection since 2020, blocking third-party requests from companies that engage in such tracking. This approach is notably more aggressive than the Advanced Fingerprinting Protection provided by Safari.
It is important to note that Advanced Fingerprinting Protection is not automatically enabled for all Safari tabs at this point. The initial public beta of iOS 26, which was released to eligible devices last week, requires users to manually activate the feature for it to function even in Private Browsing mode.
To enable Advanced Fingerprinting Protection, users can go to the Settings app, select Apps > Safari > Advanced > Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting > All Browsing. This process ensures that the privacy feature is active on Safari before the official release of iOS 26 in September.
