I'm so confused: what's the difference between "Private Relay" in iCloud, "Hide IP Address" in Safari, and "Privacy Protection" in Mail??

[sniffies]

So,

iCloud settings have the toggle "Private Relay"
Safari settings have the toggle "Hide IP Address"
Mail settings have the toggle "Privacy Protection"

Why are there all these separate options that are supposed to do the same thing, which is hide IP address and activity??

 

[dukebound85]

Private Relay = encrypted
Hide IP address = Hiding IP address, nothing is encrypted
Privacy Protection = preventing 3rd parties from implementing tracking mechanisms in mail messages.

 

[macOS Lynx]

Private Relay can hide your IP from both websites and trackers.

“Hide IP Address” can only hide your IP from trackers.

Mail Privacy Protection hides your IP from senders by filtering remote images and other content through Apple first (basically Private Relay but just for mail embeds).

 

[cupcakes2000]

So,

iCloud settings have the toggle "Private Relay"
Safari settings have the toggle "Hide IP Address"
Mail settings have the toggle "Privacy Protection"

Why are there all these separate options that are supposed to do the same thing, which is hide IP address and activity??

iCloud setting is to turn the thing on. Without it on, you wouldn’t have the ‘hide my iPad address from websites’ available in safari settings

so… iCloud, turn it on, and decide the location proximity there in these settings.

then… Safari, decide or not whether you ant to hide your ip from websites or trackers or not.

most people will want to preserve the precise location in the iCloud part, and then hide it from trackers and websites in the safari settings.

Mail privacy protection is always enabled (I think, I don’t use mail nor have tested it), and what it does is remove so called tracking pixels and other tracking technologies from emails before you open them. The hide my email part of iCloud underneath the relay section is self evident I assume, it will assign you a fake email address and deal as a intermediary, forearding emails from the sender therefore hiding you address from them..