HOW TO: Block Google (And Everybody) From Tracking Which Sites You Visit On Your iPhone

Matt Rosoff

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The Internet has erupted in fury at Google's latest boneheaded move.

The details are complicated, but in basic terms, Google used a sneaky trick to bypass the default privacy settings on the iPhone and iPad.

As a result, Google could have tracked users' activity as they moved between different Web sites -- not just Google sites.
This understandably freaked some people out. Google has now stopped.
But there are actually a few easy steps you can take to make sure that NOBODY -- not Google, not ad networks, not anybody else -- can track which Web sites you visit on your iPhone or iPad.
Here are the steps.

1. Find the "Settings" icon on your home screen.

 It looks like a bunch of gears.

2. Scroll down and open the tab that says "Safari."

3. See where it says "Private Browsing"?

 Move that slider to "On." 

(This setting is only available in iOS 5, 

the latest version.

 But never fear -- if you have an older version, 

we'll tell you what to do.)

4. When you move to Private Browsing, 

you'll get this dialog box. 

Click "Close All Tabs".

 (That makes sure you're starting from scratch.)

5. It should look like this.

 Now you're browsing the web in private mode. 

That means the browser won't store

 any of your data --

 which sites you visited,

 log-in info for any site, and so on. 

But you're not done...

6. See where it says "Accept Cookies" and "From visited"? 

Click on that.

7. This screen will pop up. 

Hit "Never." That means your browser 

will never accept any cookies. 

(Google's trick took advantage of the "From visited" setting. 

That setting means you only want

 cookies from sites you visit. 

But Google and other ad networks found 

a way to deliver their cookies anyway.)

 Then hit "Safari" to go back to the last screen.

8. Now, turn off JavaScript. It should look like this. 

(Google's trick used JavaScript to auto-fill a form 

so it seemed like you had visited

 the ad network's site even when you hadn't).

8. Now, turn off JavaScript. It should look like this. 

(Google's trick used JavaScript to auto-fill a form

 so it seemed like you had visited

 the ad network's site even when you hadn't).