How to get a copy of your personal data from Apple

In this step-by-step guide, we will show you how to download a copy of the personal information Apple has stored about you.

Download your data from Apple

Like most technology companies, Apple stores information about you on its servers. Unlike most technology companies, however, the Cupertino giant does not store identifiable information such as locations, instant messages, and so forth.

Thanks to Differential Privacy techniques, Apple can build smart services without using the cloud for insight, keeping information about each individual user completely private.

Everything Apple knows about you

The list of personally identifiable things Apple knows about you is rather short compared to other technology companies, namely Facebook and Google. Identifiable information Apple knows about you includes the following:

  • Apps you’ve downloaded
  • A log of every time you updated your installed apps
  • Movies, books, and other media you’ve downloaded
  • All of the songs you’ve stored in iTunes Match
  • In-app purchases you’ve made on your devices
  • All the devices you’ve bought from Apple, along with their serial numbers
  • A log of every AppleCare support query you’ve made
  • A repair session log of what was damaged
  • Serial numbers for both the old and replacement parts

In short, Apple doesn’t know much about you in a personally identifiable form other than your purchase/service history and your App Store/iTunes interactions.

What your Apple archive doesn’t include

Your archive does not contain identifiable data already included within your Apple ID account, such as calendar content, your iCloud emails, iTunes content, and so forth.

Apple clarifies:

If you use iCloud, you will note that we have extremely short retention periods for how long we store such data. Conversations which take place over iMessage and FaceTime are protected by end-to-end encryption so no one but the sender and receiver can see or read them. Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers’ location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form.

How to download your Apple data archive

1) Visit the Apple Privacy Policy webpage at privacy.apple.com and sign in using your Apple ID and password.

2) Click Request a copy of your data under the Manage your data > Get a copy of your data section.

Request a copy of your data from Apple

3) Choose the data you want to download. Since you want to know everything Apple has on you, click the Select all button.

Choose the data you want to download

Once you scroll down, you will see two more headings called “The following items may be large and take a long time to download” and “The following items are provided by Apple Financing and must be requested separately.”

4) After selecting what you want to download, click the Continue button.

Select what data you want to download from Apple

5) Select a maximum file size for each file from 1 GB, 2 GB, 5 GB, 10 GB, or 25 GB. Irrespective of what you choose, you will get all the data.

6) Now, click Complete request.

Complete request to download your Apple data

7) You have successfully requested Apple for your data. They will notify you on your Apple ID email address in about seven days.

Once you receive the email, click Get your data within the time frame mentioned at the top of the email.

Click Get your data in email from Apple

8) Now, sign in with your Apple ID, and you will see the “Download your data” screen. Click the little download icon next to the data types to download them locally to your computer.

Download your data from Apple

9) Open the ZIP file and dive in to see your data.

Apple Media Services Information data downloaded from Apple

Note: If Apple’s privacy response team wants additional information to verify your identity, they will email you asking for that. Reply to the message and be sure to include the follow-up ID (it’s in Apple’s email) and these pieces of information as defined in your Apple ID account:

  • First and last name
  • Apple ID
  • Email address
  • Street address
  • Telephone number
  • The serial number of one of your registered products
  • AppleCare support case number or date and time of your AppleCare support chat. Your AppleCare support case number can be found by signing in to the My Support webpage with your Apple ID and password or in a confirmation email you received from Apple.
Apple's team looking to verify your request

If you need additional clarification, check out this Apple Support page.

On a related note: