Apple has stepped up its privacy war with Facebook and Google by unveiling a challenger to the internet login systems that the two digital advertising giants use to gather data from around the web.

The tech giant announced a new “Login with Apple” feature that will let internet users access websites and apps by linking it to an Apple ID instead of having to remember passwords. The feature is a direct challenge to similar systems designed by Facebook and Google, which the two companies use to collect data on their users.

Facebook and Google’s login systems are used by popular services including Spotify and Airbnb but have been widely criticised for leaking users’ data and for allowing the two web giants to track people’s browsing habits.

The Cambridge Analytica scandal emerged because a quiz app linked to Facebook profiles was able to harvest data about their friends and interests.

Apple, which has touted its privacy credentials in recent months as a way to distance itself from other large tech companies, said its own version would minimise the data handed over to websites, including scrambling a person’s details so that they can be contacted without revealing their email address. Apple’s software chief Craig Federighi said it would be a “fast, easy way to sign in without all the tracking”.