At this point, Apple has already handed over the encryption keys to the third party running the second of the two stops, so Apple can’t see what website you’re trying to access with your encrypted DNS request. This is the first of two stops your traffic will make before you see a website. Once the two pieces of information are split, Private Relay encrypts your DNS request and sends both the IP address and now-encrypted DNS request to an Apple proxy server. Those are your IP address (who and exactly where you are) and your DNS request (the address of the website you want, in numeric form). Once it’s enabled and you open Safari to browse, Private Relay splits up two pieces of information that-when delivered to websites together as normal-could quickly identify you. Privacy Relay is built into both the forthcoming iOS and MacOS versions, but it will only work if you’re an iCloud Plus subscriber and you have it enabled from within your iCloud settings. Apple Will Offer Onion Routing for iCloud/Safari UsersĪt this year’s Apple Worldwide Developer Conference, Apple announced something called “iCloud Private Relay.” That’s basically its private version of onion routing, which is what Tor does.

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