I have a company phone. Can my company add sites directly to my reading list on my iPhone?
Also with this same phone can my company add directly sites to my "private" browser?
iPhone X
Let me clarify, if I have my own user id on my iPhone. No one, not even my company, can add/put on sites or reading lists. UNLESS the apple id belongs to the company. Is this correct?
Let me clarify, if I have my own user id on my iPhone. No one, not even my company, can add/put on sites or reading lists. UNLESS the apple id belongs to the company. Is this correct?
No. There is no way to open tabs remotely in or out of Private Browsing mode, and the only way to add websites to the reading list, is to add them yourself unless an apple Id is being shared for iCloud as already stated. In this case, any websites added to the reading list on one device will appear on others sharing the same Apple ID for iCloud.
It is very unlikely the company is doing any of this.
If you are using your own Apple ID no, if the company Apple ID yes.
The company phone can be configured to track web activity, and particularly if this is a managed device.
Use your own phone and your own,Apple ID and stay separate from the company devices.
Private browsers don’t exist. Not here, and not in most of reality. Not outside of maybe Tor and a hardened and isolated browser, and a whole lot of care. Particularly not if somebody else controls and monitors the local device and the upstream network. Which is (or can be) the case here. Pretty much everything on that phone can be tracked and logged, or can be blocked, if the owner is inclined to configure the device for that.
Company-owned and company-managed devices are at the behest of the company.
BYOD is its own mess.
Your own device—without company add-ons—is the one that you (and the vendor) control.
This discussion reminds me of depending on the “company lawyer”, should something go legally sideways involving both you and the company. The company lawyer is the lawyer aligned with the interests of the company, and that’s not necessarily a lawyer aligned with your interests. Similar possibilities with this phone. Sometimes the requirements and expectations and configurations all align with both the company and you and your respective interests, and sometimes not. And with a company-owned device (and absent local employment regulations or such specifically addressing the situation), the company has precedence.
To be clear, if the iPhone is using a company Apple ID for iCloud, and that ID is shared with any other company device, then items added to the reading list on one device will appear on all devices sharing that ID. Same goes for bookmarks, and non-private tabs if iCloud tabs is turned on.
That said, tabs opened in Prvate browsing mode in Safari are not shared across devices under iCloud Tabs. Not sure if MDMs that manage Apple devices can unilaterally add tabs to the iCloud tabs list however , but seems unlikely.
Beyond that as explained, expect that the company can know anything you do on an iPhone they manage.
--questions-- wrote:
Let me clarify, if I have my own user id on my iPhone. No one, not even my company, can add/put on sites or reading lists. UNLESS the apple id belongs to the company. Is this correct?
I don’t know what you mean by “add/put on sites”, but I’ve already answered the reading list portion of that.
And if you’re a target—journalist, dissident, organizer, access to financial or classified or sensitive data, or otherwise somehow interesting to well-funded adversaries—then pretty much anything is possible, even on your own device.
Here is the situation. My husband had open porn sites on his "private" search. He said his employer, put them in the private search part of his iPhone so he could verify if it was actually porn. We got a log from his employer listing all of the sights he looked at for the month. None of these sites were on the report. Then I saw 2 more sights a month later, on his "reading" list on his iPhone. He said, his work put them there. He has no idea how they got there. His phone was destroyed after the first time I found the sights. So he said, when his work gave him a new phone they must have backed up from the old one and these next 2 sights, must have gotten put on at that time. Could this actually happen, or is he giving me a story. It seems to me to put something in the reading list. You actually have to do this on your own. And it can't appear there from being sent from your employer. He claims only to have looked at what was put on his phone.
Phil0124 wrote:
It is very unlikely the company is doing any of this.
Oddly, my comments earlier seemingly apply far more directly here than I'd expected. Your lawyer chats with the company lawyers, and the company lawyers will likely address their involvement in device monitoring—if any—right quick. The company is unlikely to be making intrusive access to the devices, as Phil0124 quite correctly states. We've also gone here from a hypothetical and possibilities to a rather different and much more specific situation. The company also likely wants no part of whatever local matter is being resolved here.
MrHoffman wrote:
Phil0124 wrote:
It is very unlikely the company is doing any of this.
Oddly, my comments earlier seemingly apply far more directly here than I'd expected. Your lawyer chats with the company lawyers, and the company lawyers will likely address their involvement in device monitoring—if any—right quick. The company is unlikely to be making intrusive access to the devices, as Phil0124 quite correctly states. We've also gone here from a hypothetical and possibilities to a rather different and much more specific situation. The company also likely wants no part of whatever local matter is being resolved here.
Indeed. Completely different matter now than when this started.
How about the second question? Can they add sites directly to my "private" browser? What if the apple id on the phone is my own?
If the phone is centrally managed by your employer, they can do what they want. You have no expectation of privacy on the device that belongs to them. Hence Mr. Hoffman's recommendations.
Talk to a lawyer, as I'd infer that there are deeper issues arising here than those involving the browsing history.
I have a company phone. Can my company add sites to my reading list directly to my phone?
