iOS 26 Enables Safari's Advanced Fingerprinting Protection Feature by Default

iOS 26 isn't expected to roll out for another couple of months, but developers and early adopters can already access upcoming features and experience the new Liquid Glass interface via beta releases. When Apple rolls out iOS 26 later this year, it will enable Advanced Fingerprinting Protection, a privacy-focused feature on Safari that protects users from being tracked as they browse the web, even when they aren't using a private browsing tab. Mozilla's open source Firefox browser also offers protection against fingerprinting.

iOS 26 Public Beta Requires Advanced Fingerprinting Protection to Be Enabled

When Apple unveiled iOS 26 at WWDC 2025, the company announced that it would improve user privacy by expanding the Advanced Fingerprinting Protection feature "to all browsing by default". The feature was previously enabled for Private Browsing tabs in September 2023 as part of iOS 17. It will be available for all Safari tabs in September, when iOS 26 rolls out to all users.

Advanced Fingerprinting Protection on iOS 26 (Tap to expand)

Fingerprinting is a nefarious form of tracking used by companies to monitor a user's activity across the internet. Think of it as a digital fingerprint that is generated based on your device's hardware, your third-party browser extensions, custom fonts, and specific settings.

This form of tracking is designed to persist even after the browser's history, storage, and cache are cleared. In order to protect users, Apple provides random information and changes the details about hardware and software shared with trackers. This makes it difficult for data brokers and companies to create a fingerprint for a browser and track users.

Safari's rival Firefox has also offered protection against fingerprinting since 2020. However, the open source browser blocks third-party requests to companies that fingerprint users online, which is a more aggressive approach compared to Advanced Fingerprinting Protection on Safari.

It's worth noting that Advanced Fingerprinting Protection isn't enabled for all tabs on Safari, with the first iOS 26 public beta that rolled out to eligible smartphones last week. A Gadgets 360 staff member confirmed that the feature was working for Private Browsing tabs, but it had to be manually enabled via the Settings app.

Users who want to turn on Advanced Fingerprinting Protection can navigate to the Settings app and tap on Apps > Safari > Advanced > Advanced Tracking and Fingerprinting > All Browsing. This will enable the feature on Safari before the stable version of iOS 26 rolls out in September.