European users can request a copy of the data Apple keeps on them

Apple has set up a Data and Privacy portal where users can make a request to download all the data Apple has on them, correct their personal information, deactivate or delete their account.

The creation of the portal is a direct result of the GDPR legislation coming into force today (May 25, 2018) and will be made available to all users.

About the “Get a copy of your data” option

For now, only users from the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland will be able to download the Apple ID and iCloud data associated with their account. Users from the rest of the world will get the option in the coming months.

“Any data that isn’t provided is either in a form that is not personally identifiable or linked to your Apple ID, is stored in an end-to-end encrypted format that Apple cannot decrypt, or is not stored by Apple at all. Additionally, some data may have been held only for a very short time and is no longer on our servers,” the company explained.

The company promises to make the copy of the Apple ID and iCloud data available within a week. It might seem long for some, but Apple wants to make sure that the request for data was made by the account owner, and that will take a while.

Once the data is ready, users are notified and have two weeks to download it – after that period has passed, the data is automatically deleted. Of course, they can always make a new request.

Other tools

Users are directed to correct their account information via the Settings on their iOS device, System Preferences on their Mac, and via Account Management on appleid.apple.com.

Deactivating or deleting one’s account is as easy as making a few clicks. Again, Apple explains clearly what each action entails and how long the process might take (up to seven days).