You can now get a copy of your account data via Apple’s new Data & Privacy website

apple Data & Privacy website screenshotFollowing the announcement in March, a new Apple tool for getting a copy of your account data began rolling out today through the company’s new Data & Privacy website.

The new page is located at privacy.apple.com.

The new tool, website and privacy controls are in compliance with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which comes into effect on Friday, May 25.

The data-download feature currently works with Apple ID accounts hosted in the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, but will expand globally by year-end.

The link to the page has been added to the Data & Privacy section of the Apple ID portal.

The new privacy tools offer the following options:

  • Get a copy of your data—Download a copy of your data from Apple apps and services. This may include your purchase and usage history along with any user-created data hosted on Apple’s servers, including your photos, calendars, contacts, notes, reminders, documents, iCloud bookmarks, marketing subscriptions, downloads and other activity.
  • Correct your data—Apple stores some information about you that you provided when you created or updated your account. If you believe that any personal information Apple has on you is incorrect, use this link to have them update it.
  • Deactivate your account—Temporarily deactivate your account and restrict access to your date hosted on Apple’s servers. You won’t be able to access your Apple ID or any Apple services while the account is inactive.
  • Delete your account—A nuclear option, this will initiate an account deletion process that will permanently delete your Apple ID account along with any associated data.

A company spokesperson told AppleInsider that the implementation of EU’s GDPR law into the new portal corresponds with Apple’s privacy values while at the same time giving them an opportunity to provide more control over customers’ personal data.

TUTORIAL: How to permanently delete your Apple ID account

The data-download feature currently works in Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, plus with Apple ID accounts that are hosted in the European Union.

Since this tool is being released on a staggered basis, Apple expects to finish rolling it out to all customers globally before the end of 2018.

According to a support document on Apple’s website, it may take up to seven days to prepare your account archive for download. The company will notify the user as soon as their data becomes available to download from the Apple ID website.

The archive must be downloaded within 14 days of making the request before it’s deleted.

apple Data & Privacy website limited options screenshot

Those who don’t live in a supported country will see limited options.

There were ways to acquire, correct and delete your Apple ID data online or by calling AppleCare, but this new portal consolidates those separate initiatives into one central place.

TUTORIAL: How to request a copy of identifiable information Apple has on you

If you don’t live in a supported country, you can still request a copy of any identifiable information Apple knows about you by contacting their privacy response team. After a few days, they’ll email you a link to a password-protected ZIP archive containing things like your app and media purchase history, the full list of Apple devices you own, a log of every AppleCare support query you’ve made, repair session logs detailing what was damaged and more.

The new data-download tool is, however, much broader in scope because you can actually download your own stuff like photos and vides, documents, calendars and more. To be completely honest, this feature marks the first time Apple has offered customers the ability to download all data associated with their Apple ID account.

Will you be visiting the new Data & Privacy page to grab a local copy of everything you keep on Apple’s servers, do you think? And what else might you be planning to use this handy feature for?

Sound off with your thoughts in the comment section down below.