Get ready to be mercilessly chainsawed in half by randos rolling around the map like bowling balls, ‘cause the Gears of War: Reloaded multiplayer beta is this happening this weekend and next. It’ll be a nice dose of 2006 nostalgia hitting right in th

This month, join forces to tackle the paranormal crises of a mysterious federal agency under siege in the cooperative first-person shooter FBC: Firebreak, lead your team to victory in the iconic all-out warfare of Battlefield 2042, test your skills as a new Fazbear employee managing and maintaining the eerie pizzeria of Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 or live for the thrill of the hunt in the realistic hunting open world theHunter: Call of the Wild. All of these titles and more are available in June’s PlayStation Plus Game Catalog lineup*.    Meanwhile, PS2’s Deus Ex: The Conspiracy merges action-RPG, stealth and FPS gameplay in PlayStation Plus Premium.    All titles will be available to play on June 17.   PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium | Game Catalog  View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image FBC: Firebreak | PS5 Launching on the PlayStation Plus Game Catalog this month is FBC: Firebreak, a cooperative first-person shooter set within a mysterious federal agency under assault by otherworldly forces. Return to the strange and unexpected world of Control or venture in for the first time in this standalone, multiplayer experience. As a years-long siege on the agency’s headquarters reaches its boiling point, only Firebreak—the Bureau’s most versatile unit—has the gear and the guts to plunge into the building’s strangest crises, restore order, contain the chaos, and fight to reclaim control. Join forces with friends or strangers to tackle each job as a well-oiled crew. Survival in this three-player cooperative FPS hinges on quick thinking and seamless teamwork as you scramble to tame raging paranatural crises across a variety of unexpected locations.    View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Battlefield 2042 | PS4, PS5 Battlefield 2042 is a first-person shooter that marks the return to the iconic all-out warfare of the franchise. With the help of a cutting-edge arsenal, engage in intense, immersive multiplayer battles. Lead your team to victory in both large all-out warfare and close quarters combat on maps from the world of 2042 and classic Battlefield titles. Find your playstyle in class-based gameplay and take on several experiences comprising elevated versions of Conquest and Breakthrough. Explore Battlefield Portal, a platform where players can discover, create, and share unexpected battles from Battlefield’s past and present. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 | PS5 Five Nights at Freddy’s: Help Wanted 2 is the sequel to the terrifying VR experience that brought new life to the iconic horror franchise. As a brand new Fazbear employee you’ll have to prove you have what it takes to excel in all aspects of Pizzeria management and maintenance. Find out if you have what it takes to be a Fazbear Entertainment Superstar! View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image theHunter: Call of the Wild | PS4 Discover an atmospheric hunting game like no other in this realistic, stunning open world – regularly updated in collaboration with its community. Immerse yourself in the single player campaign, or share the ultimate hunting experience with friends. Roam freely across meticulously crafted environments and explore a diverse range of regions and biomes, each with its own unique flora and fauna. Experience the intricacies of complex animal behavior, dynamic weather events, full day and night cycles, simulated ballistics, highly realistic acoustics, and scents carried by the wind. Select from a variety of weapons, ammunition, and equipment to create the ultimate hunting experience. With a diverse range of wildlife, including Jackrabbits, Mallard Ducks, Black Bears, Elk, and Moose, you will need to strategically match prey to weaponry to successfully track, lure, and ambush animals based on their unique behavior and environment. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image We Love Katamari Reroll + Royal Reverie | PS4, PS5 We Love Katamari Damacy, the second title in the Katamari series released in 2005, has been remastered with redesigned graphics and a revamped in-game UI. The King of the Cosmos accidentally destroyed all the stars in the universe. He sent his son, the Prince, to Earth and ordered him to create a large katamari. Roll the katamari to make it bigger and bigger, rolling up all the things on the earth. You can roll up anything from paper clips and snacks in the house, to telephone poles and buildings in the town, to even living creatures such as people and animals. Once the katamari is complete, it will turn into a star that colors the night sky. You cannot roll up anything larger than the current size of your katamari, so the key is to think in advance about the order in which you roll things up around the stage. In Royal Reverie, roll up katamari as the King of All Cosmos in his boyhood! View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Eiyuden Chronicles: Hundred Heroes | PS4, PS5 Directed and produced by the creator of treasured JRPG series Suikoden, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes provides a contemporary take on the classic JRPG experience. In the land of Allraan, two friends from different backgrounds are united by a war waged by the power-hungry Galdean Empire. Explore a diverse, magical world populated by humans, beastmen, elves and desert people. Meet and recruit over 100 unique characters, each with their own vivid voice acting and intricate backstories. Over four years in the making, and funded by the most successful Kickstarter videogame campaign of 2020, Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes features turn-based battles, a staggering selection of heroes and a thrilling story to discover. View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Train Sim World 5 | PS4, PS5 The rails are yours in Train Sim World 5! Take on new challenges and new roles as you master the tracks and trains of iconic cities across 3 new routes. Immerse yourself in the ultimate rail hobby and embark on your next journey. Be swept off your feet with the commuter mayhem of the West Coast main line with the Northwestern Class 350, the twisting Kinzigtalbahn with the tilting DB BR 411 ICE-T, or the sun-soaked tracks of the San Bernardino line and its Metrolink movements, powered by the MP36 & F125.  View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Endless Dungeon | PS4, PS5 Endless Dungeon is a unique blend of roguelite, tactical action, and tower defense set in the award-winning Endless Universe. Plunge into an abandoned space station alone or with friends in co-op, recruit a team of shipwrecked heroes, and protect your crystal against never-ending waves of monsters… or die trying, get reloaded, and try again. You’re stranded on an abandoned space station chock-full of monsters and mysteries. To get out you’ll have to reach The Core, but you can’t do that without your crystal bot. That scuttling critter is your key to surviving the procedurally generated rooms of this space ruin. Sadly, it’s also a fragile soul, and every monster in the place wants a piece of it. You’re going to have to think quick, plan well, place your turrets, and then… fireworks! Bugs, bots and blobs will stop at nothing to turn you and that crystal into dust and debris. With a large choice of weapons and turrets, the right gear will be the difference between life and death. PlayStation Plus Premium  View and download image Download the image close Close Download this image Deus Ex: The Conspiracy | PS4, PS5This is an emulation of the classic PS2 title, Deus Ex: The Conspiracy, playable on PS4 and PS5 for the first time. The year is 2052 and the world is a dangerous and chaotic place. Terrorists operate openly – killing thousands; drugs, disease and pollution kill even more. The world’s economies are close to collapse and the gap between the insanely wealthy and the desperately poor grows ever wider. Worst of all, an age- old conspiracy bent on world domination has decided that the time is right to emerge from the shadows and take control.  *PlayStation Plus Game Catalog and PlayStation Plus Premium/Deluxe lineups may differ by region. Please check PlayStation Store on release day. 

I recently came across an old jQuery tutorial demonstrating a “moving highlight” navigation bar and decided the concept was due for a modern upgrade. With this pattern, the border around the active navigation item animates directly from one element to another as the user clicks on menu items. In 2025, we have much better tools to manipulate the DOM via vanilla JavaScript. New features like the View Transition API make progressive enhancement more easily achievable and handle a lot of the animation minutiae. (Large preview) In this tutorial, I will demonstrate two methods of creating the “moving highlight” navigation bar using plain JavaScript and CSS. The first example uses the getBoundingClientRect method to explicitly animate the border between navigation bar items when they are clicked. The second example achieves the same functionality using the new View Transition API. The Initial Markup Let’s assume that we have a single-page application where content changes without the page being reloaded. The starting HTML and CSS are your standard navigation bar with an additional div element containing an id of #highlight. We give the first navigation item a class of .active. See the Pen Moving Highlight Navbar Starting Markup [forked] by Blake Lundquist. For this version, we will position the #highlight element around the element with the .active class to create a border. We can utilize absolute positioning and animate the element across the navigation bar to create the desired effect. We’ll hide it off-screen initially by adding left: -200px and include transition styles for all properties so that any changes in the position and size of the element will happen gradually. #highlight { z-index: 0; position: absolute; height: 100%; width: 100px; left: -200px; border: 2px solid green; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.2s ease; } Add A Boilerplate Event Handler For Click Interactions We want the highlight element to animate when a user changes the .active navigation item. Let’s add a click event handler to the nav element, then filter for events caused only by elements matching our desired selector. In this case, we only want to change the .active nav item if the user clicks on a link that does not already have the .active class. Initially, we can call console.log to ensure the handler fires only when expected: const navbar = document.querySelector('nav'); navbar.addEventListener('click', function (event) { // return if the clicked element doesn't have the correct selector if (!event.target.matches('nav a:not(active)')) { return; } console.log('click'); }); Open your browser console and try clicking different items in the navigation bar. You should only see "click" being logged when you select a new item in the navigation bar. Now that we know our event handler is working on the correct elements let’s add code to move the .active class to the navigation item that was clicked. We can use the object passed into the event handler to find the element that initialized the event and give that element a class of .active after removing it from the previously active item. const navbar = document.querySelector('nav'); navbar.addEventListener('click', function (event) { // return if the clicked element doesn't have the correct selector if (!event.target.matches('nav a:not(active)')) { return; } - console.log('click'); + document.querySelector('nav a.active').classList.remove('active'); + event.target.classList.add('active'); }); Our #highlight element needs to move across the navigation bar and position itself around the active item. Let’s write a function to calculate a new position and width. Since the #highlight selector has transition styles applied, it will move gradually when its position changes. Using getBoundingClientRect, we can get information about the position and size of an element. We calculate the width of the active navigation item and its offset from the left boundary of the parent element. Then, we assign styles to the highlight element so that its size and position match. // handler for moving the highlight const moveHighlight = () => { const activeNavItem = document.querySelector('a.active'); const highlighterElement = document.querySelector('#highlight'); const width = activeNavItem.offsetWidth; const itemPos = activeNavItem.getBoundingClientRect(); const navbarPos = navbar.getBoundingClientRect() const relativePosX = itemPos.left - navbarPos.left; const styles = { left: ${relativePosX}px, width: ${width}px, }; Object.assign(highlighterElement.style, styles); } Let’s call our new function when the click event fires: navbar.addEventListener('click', function (event) { // return if the clicked element doesn't have the correct selector if (!event.target.matches('nav a:not(active)')) { return; } document.querySelector('nav a.active').classList.remove('active'); event.target.classList.add('active'); + moveHighlight(); }); Finally, let’s also call the function immediately so that the border moves behind our initial active item when the page first loads: // handler for moving the highlight const moveHighlight = () => { // ... } // display the highlight when the page loads moveHighlight(); Now, the border moves across the navigation bar when a new item is selected. Try clicking the different navigation links to animate the navigation bar. See the Pen Moving Highlight Navbar [forked] by Blake Lundquist. That only took a few lines of vanilla JavaScript and could easily be extended to account for other interactions, like mouseover events. In the next section, we will explore refactoring this feature using the View Transition API. Using The View Transition API The View Transition API provides functionality to create animated transitions between website views. Under the hood, the API creates snapshots of “before” and “after” views and then handles transitioning between them. View transitions are useful for creating animations between documents, providing the native-app-like user experience featured in frameworks like Astro. However, the API also provides handlers meant for SPA-style applications. We will use it to reduce the JavaScript needed in our implementation and more easily create fallback functionality. For this approach, we no longer need a separate #highlight element. Instead, we can style the .active navigation item directly using pseudo-selectors and let the View Transition API handle the animation between the before-and-after UI states when a new navigation item is clicked. We’ll start by getting rid of the #highlight element and its associated CSS and replacing it with styles for the nav a::after pseudo-selector: <nav> - <div id="highlight"></div> <a href="#" class="active">Home</a> <a href="#services">Services</a> <a href="#about">About</a> <a href="#contact">Contact</a> </nav> - #highlight { - z-index: 0; - position: absolute; - height: 100%; - width: 0; - left: 0; - box-sizing: border-box; - transition: all 0.2s ease; - } + nav a::after { + content: " "; + position: absolute; + left: 0; + top: 0; + width: 100%; + height: 100%; + border: none; + box-sizing: border-box; + } For the .active class, we include the view-transition-name property, thus unlocking the magic of the View Transition API. Once we trigger the view transition and change the location of the .active navigation item in the DOM, “before” and “after” snapshots will be taken, and the browser will animate the border across the bar. We’ll give our view transition the name of highlight, but we could theoretically give it any name. nav a.active::after { border: 2px solid green; view-transition-name: highlight; } Once we have a selector that contains a view-transition-name property, the only remaining step is to trigger the transition using the startViewTransition method and pass in a callback function. const navbar = document.querySelector('nav'); // Change the active nav item on click navbar.addEventListener('click', async function (event) { if (!event.target.matches('nav a:not(.active)')) { return; } document.startViewTransition(() => { document.querySelector('nav a.active').classList.remove('active'); event.target.classList.add('active'); }); }); Above is a revised version of the click handler. Instead of doing all the calculations for the size and position of the moving border ourselves, the View Transition API handles all of it for us. We only need to call document.startViewTransition and pass in a callback function to change the item that has the .active class! Adjusting The View Transition At this point, when clicking on a navigation link, you’ll notice that the transition works, but some strange sizing issues are visible. (Large preview) This sizing inconsistency is caused by aspect ratio changes during the course of the view transition. We won’t go into detail here, but Jake Archibald has a detailed explanation you can read for more information. In short, to ensure the height of the border stays uniform throughout the transition, we need to declare an explicit height for the ::view-transition-old and ::view-transition-new pseudo-selectors representing a static snapshot of the old and new view, respectively. ::view-transition-old(highlight) { height: 100%; } ::view-transition-new(highlight) { height: 100%; } Let’s do some final refactoring to tidy up our code by moving the callback to a separate function and adding a fallback for when view transitions aren’t supported: const navbar = document.querySelector('nav'); // change the item that has the .active class applied const setActiveElement = (elem) => { document.querySelector('nav a.active').classList.remove('active'); elem.classList.add('active'); } // Start view transition and pass in a callback on click navbar.addEventListener('click', async function (event) { if (!event.target.matches('nav a:not(.active)')) { return; } // Fallback for browsers that don't support View Transitions: if (!document.startViewTransition) { setActiveElement(event.target); return; } document.startViewTransition(() => setActiveElement(event.target)); }); Here’s our view transition-powered navigation bar! Observe the smooth transition when you click on the different links. See the Pen Moving Highlight Navbar with View Transition [forked] by Blake Lundquist. Conclusion Animations and transitions between website UI states used to require many kilobytes of external libraries, along with verbose, confusing, and error-prone code, but vanilla JavaScript and CSS have since incorporated features to achieve native-app-like interactions without breaking the bank. We demonstrated this by implementing the “moving highlight” navigation pattern using two approaches: CSS transitions combined with the getBoundingClientRect() method and the View Transition API. Resources getBoundingClientRect() method documentation View Transition API documentation “View Transitions: Handling Aspect Ratio Changes” by Jake Archibald

Smart TVs, take note Breaking down why Apple TVs are privacy advocates’ go-to streaming device Using the Apple TV app or an Apple account means giving Apple more data, though. Scharon Harding – Jun 1, 2025 7:35 am | 22 Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Credit: Aurich Lawson | Getty Images Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more Every time I write an article about the escalating advertising and tracking on today's TVs, someone brings up Apple TV boxes. Among smart TVs, streaming sticks, and other streaming devices, Apple TVs are largely viewed as a safe haven. "Just disconnect your TV from the Internet and use an Apple TV box." That's the common guidance you'll hear from Ars readers for those seeking the joys of streaming without giving up too much privacy. Based on our research and the experts we've consulted, that advice is pretty solid, as Apple TVs offer significantly more privacy than other streaming hardware providers. But how private are Apple TV boxes, really? Apple TVs don't use automatic content recognition (ACR, a user-tracking technology leveraged by nearly all smart TVs and streaming devices), but could that change? And what about the software that Apple TV users do use—could those apps provide information about you to advertisers or Apple? In this article, we'll delve into what makes the Apple TV's privacy stand out and examine whether users should expect the limited ads and enhanced privacy to last forever. Apple TV boxes limit tracking out of the box One of the simplest ways Apple TVs ensure better privacy is through their setup process, during which you can disable Siri, location tracking, and sending analytics data to Apple. During setup, users also receive several opportunities to review Apple's data and privacy policies. Also off by default is the boxes' ability to send voice input data to Apple. Most other streaming devices require users to navigate through pages of settings to disable similar tracking capabilities, which most people are unlikely to do. Apple’s approach creates a line of defense against snooping, even for those unaware of how invasive smart devices can be. Apple TVs running tvOS 14.5 and later also make third-party app tracking more difficult by requiring such apps to request permission before they can track users. "If you choose Ask App Not to Track, the app developer can’t access the system advertising identifier (IDFA), which is often used to track," Apple says. "The app is also not permitted to track your activity using other information that identifies you or your device, like your email address." Users can access the Apple TV settings and disable the ability of third-party apps to ask permission for tracking. However, Apple could further enhance privacy by enabling this setting by default. The Apple TV also lets users control which apps can access the set-top box's Bluetooth functionality, photos, music, and HomeKit data (if applicable), and the remote's microphone. "Apple’s primary business model isn’t dependent on selling targeted ads, so it has somewhat less incentive to harvest and monetize incredible amounts of your data," said RJ Cross, director of the consumer privacy program at the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). "I personally trust them more with my data than other tech companies." What if you share analytics data? If you allow your Apple TV to share analytics data with Apple or app developers, that data won't be personally identifiable, Apple says. Any collected personal data is "not logged at all, removed from reports before they’re sent to Apple, or protected by techniques, such as differential privacy," Apple says. Differential privacy, which injects noise into collected data, is one of the most common methods used for anonymizing data. In support documentation (PDF), Apple details its use of differential privacy: The first step we take is to privatize the information using local differential privacy on the user’s device. The purpose of privatization is to assure that Apple’s servers don't receive clear data. Device identifiers are removed from the data, and it is transmitted to Apple over an encrypted channel. The Apple analysis system ingests the differentially private contributions, dropping IP addresses and other metadata. The final stage is aggregation, where the privatized records are processed to compute the relevant statistics, and the aggregate statistics are then shared with relevant Apple teams. Both the ingestion and aggregation stages are performed in a restricted access environment so even the privatized data isn’t broadly accessible to Apple employees. What if you use an Apple account with your Apple TV? Another factor to consider is Apple's privacy policy regarding Apple accounts, formerly Apple IDs. Apple support documentation says you "need" an Apple account to use an Apple TV, but you can use the hardware without one. Still, it's common for people to log into Apple accounts on their Apple TV boxes because it makes it easier to link with other Apple products. Another reason someone might link an Apple TV box with an Apple account is to use the Apple TV app, a common way to stream on Apple TV boxes. So what type of data does Apple harvest from Apple accounts? According to its privacy policy, the company gathers usage data, such as "data about your activity on and use of" Apple offerings, including "app launches within our services...; browsing history; search history; [and] product interaction." Other types of data Apple may collect from Apple accounts include transaction information (Apple says this is "data about purchases of Apple products and services or transactions facilitated by Apple, including purchases on Apple platforms"), account information ("including email address, devices registered, account status, and age"), device information (including serial number and browser type), contact information (including physical address and phone number), and payment information (including bank details). None of that is surprising considering the type of data needed to make an Apple account work. Many Apple TV users can expect Apple to gather more data from their Apple account usage on other devices, such as iPhones or Macs. However, if you use the same Apple account across multiple devices, Apple recognizes that all the data it has collected from, for example, your iPhone activity, also applies to you as an Apple TV user. A potential workaround could be maintaining multiple Apple accounts. With an Apple account solely dedicated to your Apple TV box and Apple TV hardware and software tracking disabled as much as possible, Apple would have minimal data to ascribe to you as an Apple TV owner. You can also use your Apple TV box without an Apple account, but then you won't be able to use the Apple TV app, one of the device's key features. Data collection via the Apple TV app You can download third-party apps like Netflix and Hulu onto an Apple TV box, but most TV and movie watching on Apple TV boxes likely occurs via the Apple TV app. The app is necessary for watching content on the Apple TV+ streaming service, but it also drives usage by providing access to the libraries of many (but not all) popular streaming apps in one location. So understanding the Apple TV app’s privacy policy is critical to evaluating how private Apple TV activity truly is. As expected, some of the data the app gathers is necessary for the software to work. That includes, according to the app's privacy policy, "information about your purchases, downloads, activity in the Apple TV app, the content you watch, and where you watch it in the Apple TV app and in connected apps on any of your supported devices." That all makes sense for ensuring that the app remembers things like which episode of Severance you're on across devices. Apple collects other data, though, that isn't necessary for functionality. It says it gathers data on things like the "features you use (for example, Continue Watching or Library)," content pages you view, how you interact with notifications, and approximate location information (that Apple says doesn't identify users) to help improve the app. Additionally, Apple tracks the terms you search for within the app, per its policy: We use Apple TV search data to improve models that power Apple TV. For example, aggregate Apple TV search queries are used to fine-tune the Apple TV search model. This data usage is less intrusive than that of other streaming devices, which might track your activity and then sell that data to third-party advertisers. But some people may be hesitant about having any of their activities tracked to benefit a multi-trillion-dollar conglomerate. Data collected from the Apple TV app used for ads By default, the Apple TV app also tracks "what you watch, your purchases, subscriptions, downloads, browsing, and other activities in the Apple TV app" to make personalized content recommendations. Content recommendations aren't ads in the traditional sense but instead provide a way for Apple to push you toward products by analyzing data it has on you. You can disable the Apple TV app's personalized recommendations, but it's a little harder than you might expect since you can't do it through the app. Instead, you need to go to the Apple TV settings and then select Apps > TV > Use Play History > Off. The most privacy-conscious users may wish that personalized recommendations were off by default. Darío Maestro, senior legal fellow at the nonprofit Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP), noted to Ars that even though Apple TV users can opt out of personalized content recommendations, "many will not realize they can." Apple can also use data it gathers on you from the Apple TV app to serve traditional ads. If you allow your Apple TV box to track your location, the Apple TV app can also track your location. That data can "be used to serve geographically relevant ads," according to the Apple TV app privacy policy. Location tracking, however, is off by default on Apple TV boxes. Apple's tvOS doesn't have integrated ads. For comparison, some TV OSes, like Roku OS and LG's webOS, show ads on the OS's home screen and/or when showing screensavers. But data gathered from the Apple TV app can still help Apple's advertising efforts. This can happen if you allow personalized ads in other Apple apps serving targeted apps, such as Apple News, the App Store, or Stocks. In such cases, Apple may apply data gathered from the Apple TV app, "including information about the movies and TV shows you purchase from Apple, to serve ads in those apps that are more relevant to you," the Apple TV app privacy policy says. Apple also provides third-party advertisers and strategic partners with "non-personal data" gathered from the Apple TV app: We provide some non-personal data to our advertisers and strategic partners that work with Apple to provide our products and services, help Apple market to customers, and sell ads on Apple’s behalf to display on the App Store and Apple News and Stocks. Apple also shares non-personal data from the Apple TV with third parties, such as content owners, so they can pay royalties, gauge how much people are watching their shows or movies, "and improve their associated products and services," Apple says. Apple's policy notes: For example, we may share non-personal data about your transactions, viewing activity, and region, as well as aggregated user demographics[,] such as age group and gender (which may be inferred from information such as your name and salutation in your Apple Account), to Apple TV strategic partners, such as content owners, so that they can measure the performance of their creative work [and] meet royalty and accounting requirements. When reached for comment, an Apple spokesperson told Ars that Apple TV users can clear their play history from the app. All that said, the Apple TV app still shares far less data with third parties than other streaming apps. Netflix, for example, says it discloses some personal information to advertising companies "in order to select Advertisements shown on Netflix, to facilitate interaction with Advertisements, and to measure and improve effectiveness of Advertisements." Warner Bros. Discovery says it discloses information about Max viewers "with advertisers, ad agencies, ad networks and platforms, and other companies to provide advertising to you based on your interests." And Disney+ users have Nielsen tracking on by default. What if you use Siri? You can easily deactivate Siri when setting up an Apple TV. But those who opt to keep the voice assistant and the ability to control Apple TV with their voice take somewhat of a privacy hit. According to the privacy policy accessible in Apple TV boxes' settings, Apple boxes automatically send all Siri requests to Apple's servers. If you opt into using Siri data to "Improve Siri and Dictation," Apple will store your audio data. If you opt out, audio data won't be stored, but per the policy: In all cases, transcripts of your interactions will be sent to Apple to process your requests and may be stored by Apple. Apple TV boxes also send audio and transcriptions of dictation input to Apple servers for processing. Apple says it doesn't store the audio but may store transcriptions of the audio. If you opt to "Improve Siri and Dictation," Apple says your history of voice requests isn't tied to your Apple account or email. But Apple is vague about how long it may store data related to voice input performed with the Apple TV if you choose this option. The policy states: Your request history, which includes transcripts and any related request data, is associated with a random identifier for up to six months and is not tied to your Apple Account or email address. After six months, you request history is disassociated from the random identifier and may be retained for up to two years. Apple may use this data to develop and improve Siri, Dictation, Search, and limited other language processing functionality in Apple products ... Apple may also review a subset of the transcripts of your interactions and this ... may be kept beyond two years for the ongoing improvements of products and services. Apple promises not to use Siri and voice data to build marketing profiles or sell them to third parties, but it hasn't always adhered to that commitment. In January, Apple agreed to pay $95 million to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing Siri of recording private conversations and sharing them with third parties for targeted ads. In 2019, contractors reported hearing private conversations and recorded sex via Siri-gathered audio. Outside of Apple, we've seen voice request data used questionably, including in criminal trials and by corporate employees. Siri and dictation data also represent additional ways a person's Apple TV usage might be unexpectedly analyzed to fuel Apple's business. Automatic content recognition Apple TVs aren't preloaded with automatic content recognition (ACR), an Apple spokesperson confirmed to Ars, another plus for privacy advocates. But ACR is software, so Apple could technically add it to Apple TV boxes via a software update at some point. Sherman Li, the founder of Enswers, the company that first put ACR in Samsung TVs, confirmed to Ars that it's technically possible for Apple to add ACR to already-purchased Apple boxes. Years ago, Enswers retroactively added ACR to other types of streaming hardware, including Samsung and LG smart TVs. (Enswers was acquired by Gracenote, which Nielsen now owns.) In general, though, there are challenges to adding ACR to hardware that people already own, Li explained: Everyone believes, in theory, you can add ACR anywhere you want at any time because it's software, but because of the way [hardware is] architected... the interplay between the chipsets, like the SoCs, and the firmware is different in a lot of situations. Li pointed to numerous variables that could prevent ACR from being retroactively added to any type of streaming hardware, "including access to video frame buffers, audio streams, networking connectivity, security protocols, OSes, and app interface communication layers, especially at different levels of the stack in these devices, depending on the implementation." Due to the complexity of Apple TV boxes, Li suspects it would be difficult to add ACR to already-purchased Apple TVs. It would likely be simpler for Apple to release a new box with ACR if it ever decided to go down that route. If Apple were to add ACR to old or new Apple TV boxes, the devices would be far less private, and the move would be highly unpopular and eliminate one of the Apple TV's biggest draws. However, Apple reportedly has a growing interest in advertising to streaming subscribers. The Apple TV+ streaming service doesn't currently show commercials, but the company is rumored to be exploring a potential ad tier. The suspicions stem from a reported meeting between Apple and the United Kingdom's ratings body, Barb, to discuss how it might track ads on Apple TV+, according to a July report from The Telegraph. Since 2023, Apple has also hired several prominent names in advertising, including a former head of advertising at NBCUniversal and a new head of video ad sales. Further, Apple TV+ is one of the few streaming services to remain ad-free, and it's reported to be losing Apple $1 billion per year since its launch. One day soon, Apple may have much more reason to care about advertising in streaming and being able to track the activities of people who use its streaming offerings. That has implications for Apple TV box users. "The more Apple creeps into the targeted ads space, the less I’ll trust them to uphold their privacy promises. You can imagine Apple TV being a natural progression for selling ads," PIRG's Cross said. Somewhat ironically, Apple has marketed its approach to privacy as a positive for advertisers. "Apple’s commitment to privacy and personal relevancy builds trust amongst readers, driving a willingness to engage with content and ads alike," Apple's advertising guide for buying ads on Apple News and Stocks reads. The most private streaming gadget It remains technologically possible for Apple to introduce intrusive tracking or ads to Apple TV boxes, but for now, the streaming devices are more private than the vast majority of alternatives, save for dumb TVs (which are incredibly hard to find these days). And if Apple follows its own policies, much of the data it gathers should be kept in-house. However, those with strong privacy concerns should be aware that Apple does track certain tvOS activities, especially those that happen through Apple accounts, voice interaction, or the Apple TV app. And while most of Apple's streaming hardware and software settings prioritize privacy by default, some advocates believe there's room for improvement. For example, STOP's Maestro said: Unlike in the [European Union], where the upcoming Data Act will set clearer rules on transfers of data generated by smart devices, the US has no real legislation governing what happens with your data once it reaches Apple's servers. Users are left with little way to verify those privacy promises. Maestro suggested that Apple could address these concerns by making it easier for people to conduct security research on smart device software. "Allowing the development of alternative or modified software that can evaluate privacy settings could also increase user trust and better uphold Apple's public commitment to privacy," Maestro said. There are ways to limit the amount of data that advertisers can get from your Apple TV. But if you use the Apple TV app, Apple can use your activity to help make business decisions—and therefore money. As you might expect from a device that connects to the Internet and lets you stream shows and movies, Apple TV boxes aren't totally incapable of tracking you. But they're still the best recommendation for streaming users seeking hardware with more privacy and fewer ads. Scharon Harding Senior Technology Reporter Scharon Harding Senior Technology Reporter Scharon is a Senior Technology Reporter at Ars Technica writing news, reviews, and analysis on consumer gadgets and services. She's been reporting on technology for over 10 years, with bylines at Tom’s Hardware, Channelnomics, and CRN UK. 22 Comments