New privacy controls coming to Apple's Mail app will hide data such as a user's IP address and location as well as details about if and when someone opened a marketing email, the company announced in its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) late Monday.

The new Mail Privacy Protection feature, being launched later this year, will block data brokers and advertisers from gathering personal information that can be collected when users interact with emails sent to them.

Unveiled during the company's annual WWDC, the new tools are the latest attempts by the firm to boost its stance as a privacy-first company, having earlier this year launched a wave of data use transparency tools including so-called privacy nutrition labels for all apps in its App Store.

Apple said that in addition to boosting its privacy features in the Mail app, it will now provide users with an ongoing App Privacy Report – found in the Settings app – which will give a breakdown of how different apps are gathering and sharing any personal data they collect.

In another upgrade, voice assistant Siri will now do on-device speech recognition – rather than process voice commands in the cloud – in an effort to better secure audio recordings and prevent unwanted recordings from being accessed by third parties.

In its Safari web browser, the company also announced it will introduce a feature called Private Relay, which will encrypt traffic leaving a user's device and help hide who you are and the websites you're visiting.

While a further tool called Hide My Email will enable users to create unique, random email address to input where an address is needed but someone is not comfortable sharing their real address – the random email will then forward any emails to a user's main account.

"At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. We don't think you should have to make a trade-off between great features and privacy, we believe you deserve both," Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said.

"Since the beginning, we've worked to help you keep your personal data under your control, and over the years we've integrated powerful privacy control into our operating systems.

"Today, privacy is more important than ever, because when you use the internet and third-party apps, you can be tracked by a complex ecosystem of data brokers and ad-tech firms, often without your permission. We don't think this is right.

"We believe in protecting your privacy and giving you transparency and control over your information."

Industry expert Ben Wood, the chief analyst at CCS Insight, welcomed Apple's latest privacy controls but warned it could further upset advertising and other firms reliant on the gathering of data.

"Apple's tightening of privacy options for users is the defining theme for this year's WWDC and will cause further consternation among those companies' dependent on user data for tracking, advertising and monetization," he said.

"Hiding information such as IP addresses, location and whether users have opened or read emails could severely limit the way many companies track and monetize users but will be welcomed by consumers who are becoming increasingly aware of how much data is being captured.

"It will further Apple's position as being a consumer champion when it comes to privacy."

Elsewhere during the WWDC keynote, the firm offered early previews of the features coming to the next versions of the software that powers the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac computer lines.