At the moment I am thinking about getting a new phone in the foreseeable future. I was long time using android, but switched to iOS 5 years ago because of the longer update period. Now also some android devices offer a longer update support of about 5 years. Now I am thinking about switching back to android.

But i am wondering: is there any big difference from a privacy perspective between iOS and android? I know you can go for custom roms on android that are focused on privacy which i also used in the past, but i am not planning on doing this in the future. So it would come down to stock android vs stock iOS. Any advice there or is all lost anyway?

  • rhabarba@feddit.de
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    19
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 year ago

    Android is primarily sponsored and advertised by Google, which is basically the world’s largest advertising company that also happens to have an IT department.

    iOS is exclusively sponsored and advertised by Apple, which is basically a large IT company that makes most of its money with rather expensive hardware.

    One of those is a wiser choice if you care about your privacy.

    • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      ·
      1 year ago

      I own an iPhone because Google is evil but….

      Make no mistake, Apple has developed their own advertising id and they’re starting to use it to track you just like Google.

      In theory it’s more private, but in practice it’s hard to say for sure.

      • Yendor@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        12
        ·
        1 year ago

        A few massive differences:

        • You opt-in to targeted tracking with Apple. It’s impossible to opt-out with Google. Apple also enforces per-app opt-in for tracking.

        • Apple use your data, but they don’t sell it on

        • Apple features protect you from 3rd party tracking at a software level (Private Relay) and hardware level (MAC randomisation)

        • ArbiterXero@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          10
          ·
          1 year ago

          Oh listen I TOTALLY believe that it’s better, that’s why I have the iPhone.

          HOWEVER, most of these points are what Apple tells me, not verified by a third party research team, so there’s a grain of salt to go along with the statements

    • YoTcA@feddit.deOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      So hoping apple is not selling my data, because they make enough money with their hardware sales?

      This is at least a big difference in the business models of the two companies. Thanks for the input!

      What I struggle a little to understand: How does the add business of google affect my privacy? Is not google also collecting the data for internal use only? If they would sell the data, everybody could also target adds like they do. As I understand it they sell add placement and allow the buyer to target a specific group of people, but without selling the data they used to create the profiles. Or am I mixing something up?

      • rhabarba@feddit.de
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        So hoping apple is not selling my data, because they make enough money with their hardware sales?

        More or less, yes. Because they don’t need the money.

        How does the add business of google affect my privacy?

        Google’s whole business model is selling your private data. Or which product did you buy from them?