The development team behind elementary OS understands that privacy is a top concern for most consumers. Because of that, they've placed a high importance on privacy and consent.

One way of addressing this is by providing a new Background & Autostart portal (within the Settings app) that will alert users when apps are running in the background and ensures those apps ask for permission before auto-starting. If you don't want an app to be able to auto-start, you can easily disable it with the click of a slider.

As well, the developers have made it possible for users to control what apps have access to their location and even access data without permission. They've also migrated Location Services from the Agents system to the new Portal.

In elementary OS 7.1, the AppCenter will now inform users if an application can read a location, send notifications, or automatically start. Users are also notified if an application will run in the background, access system or home folders, read and write system settings, and escape the sandbox to gain heightened permissions.

Other improvements include those for Housekeeping and temp accounts, inclusivity and personalization, gestures and keyboard navigation, login & lock screen, hardware support, a much-improved default web browser (GNOME Web), enhanced Mail app, and more.

You can read about the new release in the official announcement and download elementary OS 7.1 from the official site.