Ironically the Pixels are the easiest to de-Google.
Apple wants your data as well
this post was submitted on 07 Aug 2023
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Privacy
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Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
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Is that true? I thought apple’s business model was to not sell your data but charge more upfront. Do you have a source discussing this that you can point me to?
Edit: I’ve searched online and can’t find even a single article talking about Apple selling your data. I’m an iPhone user so I want to know. The most recent Apple privacy article I can find reports on how they’re closing fingerprinting loopholes in third party apps.
I definitely don’t want to be naive or credulous, but given how aggressively they’ve prevented third parties from gathering data, I’m cautiously optimistic. I don’t think this is a “both sides” situation, unless someone can point me to some information to the contrary.
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iPhone has the better reputation for privacy/security, however it is proprietary software and so no one can really tell for sure what kind of data that Apple might collect on you.
The same is true for stock Android devices. Unless you are using a custom ROM without Google Play Services, there is more proprietary software than open source running on Android devices.
The best fasle advertising on privacy/security rather?
Their goal is blocking any other advertising method so only they can collect and use the data of their users for advertising.
Security? They can (or could) be hacked, with a backdoor, just with an invisible message...
So most of their reputation is just marketing (which goes pretty near to false advertising ex : the your data stays on your device... Which is just false).
Tho they may have a reputation of refusing to give data to public organizations (or at least depending on the data).
I used to work for Apple and the issue tracker engineers had for known iOS issues, their criticality, and resolution time was alarmingly lengthy and slow. What the public knew or may figure out was prioritised and resolved much higher and quicker than other issues that were worse. It wasn't unusual to see techs in AppleCare and Retail Stores being provided internal articles that had them advise an issue was caused by something else (usually third-party apps or services, and carriers), but in the back-end we'd see what frontline techs didn't and that it was indeed a critical issue with iOS. These could sit in the pipeline for months until the next update, rather than releasing hotfixes and looking bad. What the consumers don't know doesn't hurt Apple, so deflect until that release.
If a customer did catch on, someone from the Carpe Facto team would swoop in and silence with "compensation", like a new top-end Mac, upgraded iPhone, Watch, etc. and an NDA. People never turn that stuff down and it's positioned like Apple is doing the good guy thing and they should be so lucky to receive such generosity and praise for being amazing customer.
This was many years ago, though. No idea if it's still the same. But the way that place runs, made me feel sick being part of it some times and I can't imagine it's changed. Apple's real good at hiding their shit and appearing like good guys, but it's pretty damned evil in there.
I assume this is how 99% of big tech corps are run
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Graphene OS > iOS > Stock Android
Where is lineage OS in that?
All I know is LineageOS claims to support devices beyond the date manufacturers do. Graphene stops getting updates the same date the manufacturer sets.
LineageOS doesn't claim to be Degoogled, and it isn't so I think it would be an improvement, but a small one. It would remove the trackers your OEM has built into stock but that's about it. It's still phoning home to Google.
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I tend to lean toward Android simply because it gives me more control/options instead of completely relying on Apple's promise that they care
E.g. I like that I can use NeoStore for FOSS apps instead of the google Play store
grapheneos might add more to this comment time permitting
You can make stock Android much more private. Universal debloat tool + Invisible Pro - remove unnecessary apps, restrict internet access to only the apps you want to have internet access, add a tracker blocker list.
I chose Apple on that matter. Not that it’s the perfect choice, but it’s for now a "good" compromise. At least they "seem" to be concerned about their customers’ data (encrypted messages, data not sold to advertisers…)
Exactly "seem" they make vision of it only and good marketing.https://sneak.berlin/20201112/your-computer-isnt-yours I would always prefer android for reasons that i can delete a lot stuff using android debug bridge while on ios i can't do anything,more over not talking about root rights to completely delete spyware or block them using firewall.
Jesus Christ, what a read.
Wow, I didn't know about this. I think that's a big reason for not choosing Apple..
that was harrowing. it really makes me reconsider the trust I have in apple - beyond the frustration I have with their walled garden ecosystem
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If it's Stock vs iOS, do you really care about privacy? Google is a data mining ad company, that's why their stuff is free. "If you're no paying for the product, you are the product". So Apple right? LOL no. Paying is no protection against being sold too. It's closed, you're never know, so they might as well make more money from you.
The only way is having any confidence in things is open source.
So I don't think iOS vs Stock matters. Android is more open, but all those root level closed Google services completely compromise the phone. They owned the phone.
Personally for me, I don't want to store my personal files in anybody else's cloud besides mine. I don't want Google to have them, I don't want Apple to have them. I use Syncthing to sync files between my devices. My understanding is it is a much better implementation on Android than Apple (basically non existent due to rules for apps on iOS is my understanding)
+1 for syncthing. It's one of the apps that I can't do without.
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I use and strongly recommend iodé OS
It is a degoogled android version with a built in ad blocker and microG. All my apps including banking and such work like a charm.
Since tha latest update it's been great.
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iOS is fully proprietary, so while some might argue that it is more private, it is almost impossible to know. What we do know is that it isn't private, and apple has a track record against privacy.
I think comparing the two platforms from a privacy perspective is pointless. You're not going to be private either way. Might as well focus on other factors.
Stick with Android, you have much more control over the phone even when running stock compared to iOS Besides using Adguard you can also disable the apps you don't want (some of which are used purely for tracking) using universal Android debloater and also turn of all kinds of tracking in the system
Banking apps are fine on GrapheneOS and o think smart watches are too but can't personally confirm.
My banking app works just fine on GrapheneOS, and it's required no tinkering to get it working the way I want. I can't speak for smart watches unfortunately, but I'd still recommend a Pixel with GrapheneOS if you really care about privacy. If you really don't want to go with GrapheneOS, I'd still recommend Android. Apple may be marketing towards privacy friendly, but Android still has better FOSS options, which is better than blindly trusting Apple.
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Stock IOS is probably more privacy friendly than android. Googles entire business is to make money off your data. Stock android uses google play services that have access to pretty much everything on your phone. Apple will bend to politicians on scanning your files and shit, but at least they (probably) aren't selling your data. As much as google at the very least.
But like many comments here, if you actually care about privacy, stock anything isn't the way to go. I use calyxos and find it to be a good balance between privacy and usability. No android auto, but banking apps work and from what I've read you can use garmin smartwatches or other similar watches that use their own app and smart watches that have been added to gadgetbridge https://f-droid.org/packages/nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge/
Some people don't like microg, but I believe you can use calyxos without it. (Not sure if that will break banking apps though).
I use /e/OS and it suits all my needs. I use mostly F-droid apps but I have access to Playstore apps through the AppLounge and it works like a charm. I don't have to do any tinkering so far and I've been using it for a year or so.
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For purely just privacy I would say custom rom android > iphone > stock android > samsung android.
But "<" means "less than"...?
Oh sorry I have no clue what I was thinking I meant >.
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To your point about tinkering, GrapheneOS has an excellent web installer. CalyxOS has a fairly decent install procedure but is maybe slightly more involved.
If you want to make a move in favour of privacy you might want to ditch the smart watch you currently use if it's a proprietary system that also leverages Google play services, as your health and biometric data is also very valuable to these companies.
Regarding root, I feel as if root access has been more or less phased out in custom ROMs today, likely for attestation purposes but I suppose also to prevent end users from causing irreparable system damage.
If you like a Smartwatch-like experience, just try out the PineTime. Been using it now for 5Months and it's been great so far.
You can use Shelter and to have there all the closed-source apps.
Banking apps work on a different user (Shelter's/Android's reg. secondary user) on GrapheneOS.
If you're not comfortable with tinkering with your phone, that's a different story. But know that you *can* have your cake and eat it.
AdGuard (DNS) is available on any platform, you can even set up your router to use AdGuard.
Was in the same Situation. Tried calyxos and lineage os with microg but there were always issues. I wanted a phone that works, so I bought an iPhone. I know that is not at all the best way to have privacy, but it works. I try to use as much open source and selfhosting as possible to minimize the data Apple gets. https://github.com/dkhamsing/open-source-ios-apps
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Privacy is not free, you can't just get it by choosing the right phone. Sadly everything is set up today to gather as many info about you as possible. If you want to avoid it you have to make some compromises.
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