Private relay, limit IP address tracking and all the other settings... Overview/help?

[bsmr]

Hi,

today I started to look into detail concerning Apples iCloud private relay and all the other functions.

I found out, that I can enable/disable iCloud Private Relay (of course).
But when doing so, I do still have settings for 'limit IP address tracking' on several other places:
- within mobile network
- within networks (wifi and ethernet)
- within Safari
- within Mail

So what is this doing in detail and is it better to turn it off everywhere, somewhere?

Isn't it really confusing in having all those settings in several places? Can someone help and maybe know a good website showing all the details (and I don't mean the Apple websites, as they don't go into detail and only explain a bit and not everything).

 

[bogdanw]

- within mobile network
- within networks (wifi and ethernet)

Those allow users to “Turn off Private Relay for a specific network”
https://support.apple.com/102022

- within Safari
- within Mail

Those allow additional options in Safari or Mail.
In Safari, only “from Trackers and Websites” requires iCloud Private Relay
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/sfri35610/17.0/mac/14.0

In Mail, “If you deselect this option, you can choose to separately hide your IP address and prevent remote content in a message from being downloaded until you choose to do so.”
https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/mlhlae4a4fe6/

I have disabled them all and installed a profile to disable iCloud Private Relay
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/permanently-disable-icloud-private-relay.2332146/

 

[bsmr]

Those allow users to “Turn off Private Relay for a specific network”
https://support.apple.com/102022

Thanks. But what happens, if I turn them off within the specific network and leave them on within Mail/Safari?

 

[bsmr]

Those allow additional options in Safari or Mail.
In Safari, only “from Trackers and Websites” requires iCloud Private Relay
https://support.apple.com/guide/safari/sfri35610/17.0/mac/14.0

When iCloud Private relay is turned off it only shows "Trackers" which I understand... But what is happening then? Is it still asking for mask.icloud.com and so on? (so if I block iCloud Private relay via DNS Blocker does it work or not?).

In Mail, “If you deselect this option, you can choose to separately hide your IP address and prevent remote content in a message from being downloaded until you choose to do so.”
https://support.apple.com/guide/mail/mlhlae4a4fe6/

Understand. But what happens if I enabled the function but disabled selective networks settings and/or complete iCloud Private Relay? Does it still work then?

I have disabled them all and installed a profile to disable iCloud Private Relay
https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/permanently-disable-icloud-private-relay.2332146/

Ok - I do have an DNS blocker via mobileconfig installed... But looking forward to disable more and more of those Apple settings too.

What was your reason in this case?

 

[bogdanw]

As I never used it, I can only presume the logical answers to your questions. Maybe someone that uses iCloud Private Relay will give an answer.

I never used it because: I use a VPN; Apple pushed it as enabled by default, although it was beta for a long time; it caused/causes a lot of connection problems.