While it is undeniably true that Android, just as any other networked product by Google, is a nightmare with respect to privacy, I hardly believe that Apple doesn't collect any user data. They very likely want to remain the #1 solution for wealthy people who don't want their communications to be bugged, and they're surely much much better than Google in that context, still I don't trust them because their product is even more closed than Android, therefore impossible to audit just as Android.
Meanwhile, the only competitor(Google's Android) tracks everything you do everywhere.
So Apple's privacy perspective is way better than Android's. Could it be better? Of course, and I'm fine with trying to pressure them to do more for protecting our privacy, but between the 2, it's not even close, Apple is WAY more private with your data than Google will ever be.
Apple is consistently better on privacy, actually, than competitors. Not sure which competitors you are talking about or which issues/products, but you're way, way off-base. And for obvious reasons: Amazon and Google need to gather user data to survive because they don't make any profitable hardware. Apple doesn't need your data, plus, they have a real and honest commitment to privacy.
Apple has a proven track record of respecting user privacy, Google has hardly any. iOS has a proven track record of respecting user privacy, Android has hardly any. Other 'open-source' alternatives shouldn't be considered generally viable at the moment.
With regards to privacy I trust Apple more than Google, if only for the fact that their business doesn't operate on the principle of violating your privacy.
Thing is, I don't trust Apple, just as I don't trust other companies (Google included, which is why I don't have Google proprietary stuff on my Android devices). I trust them to the extent that their current business plan does not centre around 'monetising' profile data but that's about it. I fully expect they did in fact design their systems to make it possible to eventually 'monetise' such data.
Do I have proof for this, other than the fact that they've shown to be less than fully truthful about their data retention policies? No, I do not, but I do know that it is more rule than exception for commercial entities to eventually renege on their promises of personal privacy, probably because that huge 'big data' carrot on that stick is just too juicy to be ignored.
Given Apple's enormous cash reserve they pose the additional threat of being able to outright buy large industrial players in lucrative fields which would allow them to use the collected data to target their customers without needing to 'sell to advertisers'.
If you think Apple cares more about you and your privacy than Google, I have a bridge to sell you.
Sure, it probably does deny Google some data, but you really think Apple doesn't collect data for itself?
It's the world's most valuable company, its iOS is not open source, and by extension we can't verify that it doesn't do shady stuff with our data - and given that it's a pretty big megacorp, experience says to be cautious, to say the least.
The article is about Apple because Apple is the one billing itself as the vanguard of privacy and as the privacy-preserving opponent of Android. It's also quite possible the author doesn't have or use an Android device. If you've invested in a platform for reasons related to privacy, I think it's quite okay to be concerned when that platform falls short on some pretty big privacy invasions.
I don't know how you keep failing to understand this. How little Apple and Google care about privacy doesn't matter. What matters is being able to avoid them as much as possible. iOS fails completely at this, while Android fares much better.
There is some difference though. You can turn off iCloud and then device lock an Apple phone and make it rather secure. No such option exists for an Android phone. I agree with your general idea though, but I want to nuance. Apple gets too much credit for their privacy efforts, and Google gets too little shit.
Apples efforts only look good compared to Amazon, Google and Microsoft, but that's because they are so bad.
Well it appears Apple are really working towards user privacy as their main sell where android is locked in with Google Play services so though I do not personally have a preference I do know why some people choose Apple devices.
Google was cool, once upon a time, but they always used your personal info pretty openly. The CEO a himself famously said, “The Google policy on a lot of things is to get right up to the creepy line and not cross it.”
Apple has taken a markedly different approach, and has done so for years - E2E encryption, hashing and segmenting routes on maps, Secure Enclave, etc.
While I think it’s perfectly reasonable to “trust no one”, and I fully agree that there may be things we don’t know, I don’t think there it’s reasonable to put Apple on the same (exceedingly low) level as Google.
Their record isn't perfect, but there's plenty of evidence Apple cares about privacy. For example, Apple added E2E encryption of iMessages long before signal and whatsapp made E2E popular. They also E2E encrypt the location of AirTags - which they absolutely did not need to do. Or the recent opt-in iOS data sharing rules - much to Facebook's frustration.
But companies, like governments, countries and people are not wholly good or bad. Companies don't think with a single mind, or act with a single voice by default. They're a flag waved by thousands of different people who each have a different background, different capabilities and who each make slightly different ethical and financial tradeoffs.
Google is a massive contributor to opensource. And they harvest vast amounts of user data. And they use far less of it for advertising targetting than they could, out of respect for their users. Google makes some of their most valuable IP - Android and Chrome - (mostly) opensource and open platforms. They suspend users' accounts for silly reasons, and have a bad habit of shuttering services people care about, to the point where I generally avoid new google products to prevent heartache.
Apple makes beautiful devices. And they do a good job caring about user privacy. And the iOS app store is a rent-seeking monopoly designed to maximise profit, where they pull crap like this. They have given the world llvm. And their design leadership invented the modern smartphone. Without them android might still be trying to emulate the blackberry.
Apple deserves praise for their privacy friendly technology. And they deserve criticism for how they run the app store. I see no contradiction there.
A big thing too is that Apple sells itself as privacy preserving. Google doesn't. It's one thing if someone says something they aren't and another thing if someone never makes that promise.
I don't know how Apple has managed to get the image of a "privacy friendly" company while painting Google as "privacy unfriendly" at the same time. Apple is better than Google, but mostly because they can't gather as much data about you as Google does (this is not related to iOS vs Android; it's about how pervasive Google is on the WWW), and that's about all the practical differences between the two. And on iOS, Apple is also just one silent App Store update away from being able to exploit your data, not very different from Android.
Even if I consider Google enemy #1 right now, I also don't really see them as privacy unfriendly. They have a shitton of data, but what have they exactly done with it that warrants the moniker? Microsoft seems to me to be much more privacy unfriendly (e.g., LinkedIn)
I have a hard time believing that any invasions of privacy Apple might be up to are anywhere near as severe as what Google does regularly. They specifically do as much as possible on device — for instance, all AI-based stuff in Photos is done with NNs on your phone itself while it’s charging rather than off in some data center somewhere and they limit data capture to the point that they cripple themselves in some ways (why do you think Siri is so lacking?)
They’re a company like any other and thus not some pristine angel, but I based on what’s visible as an end user and developer I would be shocked if Apple’s data hoovering is anywhere near as egregious as that of Google.
Apple itself may well have a pro-privacy stance regarding the data associated with their products & services, but if I can't even install a firewall on one of their phones then that doesn't protect my privacy much against malicious or deceptive third-parties.
I don't much like Android as a system but at least I can strip it of Google services and install a firewall and feel reasonably private. It's not an ideal option but it works.
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