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Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

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Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#481

Post by m463 »

Kleinlieu wrote: post #460
m463 wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have an iphone, but I think a few things would be nice: - not identify yourself to apple - be able to firewall apps - be able to determine who your app is contacting and block them - allow running of your own software (without asking permission from apple) - be able to turn off location services (even if the Location Services checkbox is off, apple continuously contacts ls.apple.com) - be able to turn off "side fea…

- be able to firewall apps - be able to determine who your app is contacting and block them FYI you can do this with an ad blocker app that users VPN. - allow running of your own software (without asking permission from apple) There’s the option to sideload apps but it does require a Mac and developer knowledge.

- firewall

I have an ad blocker app (adblockios.com) that uses an internal 127.0.0.1 VPN. The version I have was yanked by apple and they had to change to a less powerful "dns based solution".

In any case, a true firewall would be my holy grail.

- sideloading

I believe sideloading only allows you to run an app for 7 days (You have to continually ask for permission)

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#482

Post by ekianjo »

dijit wrote: post #175
ekianjo wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use DAVDroid (now DAVx5) and I have had no issues with it so far, coupled with a NextCloud DAV server. So far it has worked well to sync contact information, calendars and the like (for close to 2 years now)

it would be stupid (and ignorant) of me to claim that it doesn't work for anybody. I'm glad it works for you, it wasn't a very nice experience for me and it's certainly not comparable to having the OS designed and built for my use-case in mind, but I certainly don't think it's "unworkable" just that Apple provides a superior product in this example. :)

Apple usually has better integration when they care about something, but in most cases I find their offering lacking or not free enough so Android feels like a better environment at this stage to supplement the functions of the base OS with less restrictions. For example, I really like the fact that I can see the file system on Android, while on iOS it's completely obfuscated from the end user.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#483

Post by mike10010100 »

geofft wrote: post #470
deanCommie wrote: post #450

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lock-in is more than just "not giving you the chance to opt out ahead of time" It's also "give you the chance to opt out LATER after you've invested some time into it." Most people don't change defaults. So if they buy an iPhone, they are going to go all in on iMessage, whether they've heard of those horror stories of people losing messages or not. Then, if they ever think they could switch to another OS, they experi…

You can disable iMessage at any point and it works. New texts from iMessage users get sent over SMS instead. You don't have to do it in advance—I just did so out of paranoia, and I don't think other people need to do the same. (Of course, one side effect is that you can't use iMessage any more and iMessage-specific features are unavailable to you, e.g., group texts might get weird. I don't know of any platform that h…

> You can disable iMessage at any point and it works.

Maybe now, but there was a time when iMessage would continue to hijack your number and divert messages from your phone, even if you disabled it.

Also, have you ever tried extricating your photos from iCloud? It's ridiculously complicated, and Apple doesn't give a bulk "download all my photos and delete from your servers". You have to go photo by photo and download them.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#484

Post by mike10010100 »

Asmod4n wrote: post #437
autoexec wrote: post #425

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that the system integration is so wonderful, it's that they make it extremely difficult to work outside of it for no reason. A few years ago I had a friend who wanted a song put on her iphone. I've never used one but I assumed I could do exactly what I've done with every other phone/MP3 player in the universe and just connect it to my laptop via USB and move the file over to some folder called "music" or som…

Just ask Siri to play that song? Or search for it in the music app? Or was it from some Indy Band which only publishes on its own website? Then yeah, best bet to get it into a iPhone would be a browser with a download manager and Files App support. (iOS 13 will add a download manager to Safari)

Lol "I don't want to use Apple's services for everyhing"...."Just use Apple's services!"

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#485

Post by mike10010100 »

FabHK wrote: post #467
autoexec wrote: post #442

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The MP3 was a cool solo I recorded that my friend wanted to bring to her singing coach, but it could have been anything. An MP3 from some random CD that's never been available on the itunes, or maybe just one she wasn't interested in buying even if it were available. What you choose to listen to on your devices isn't any of Apple's business. Streaming isn't a solution for getting media on a device either. It's a nice…

It's trivial to add an .mp3 (or, as I prefer, .m4a) to iTunes and have it sync to your phone. And that's really the model: files of certain types are handled by certain apps (on the mobile device and the computer, respectively), and sync is handled by those, as well. It makes things very simple, convenient, and consistent, and allows for rich metadata, without having to deal with the filesystem (which is really not g…

> An iPhone is not a hard disk, but a computer with its own operating system, and you need dedicated software to communicate with it, imagine that.

Lol so I guess my Android phone isn't a computer with its own OS, since I can just plug it into a computer and copy over whatever files I want without bloatware, or, even better, plug in an external drive and copy over files to my phone.

This rationale of answering "I don't want to use Apple's BS ecosystem" with "Just use Apple's ecosystem" with a side order of "you luddite this is how technology works" snide is so sadly typical of people entrenched in the Apple ecosystem.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#486

Post by mike10010100 »

lern_too_spel wrote: post #456
babypuncher wrote: post #419

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SMS is just as bad on Android phones as it is on iPhones. The problem is it's an ancient crappy standard and carriers are uninterested in fixing it. That is why Apple created iMessage. Apple does nothing to cripple SMS on iPhones. The only thing Apple is guilty of is not opening up iMessage to non-Apple devices. With Apple Music and TV+ making their way to other ecosystems, I'm hopeful this might change.

> SMS is just as bad on Android phones as it is on iPhones. False. Unlike iOS, Android supports RCS.

This. When is Apple getting on board?

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#487

Post by isbjorn16 »

throwayEngineer wrote: post #439
isbjorn16 wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which isn't really privacy related. I value privacy more than a robust and fair market. I can understand why others wouldn't, but I'm not the one spending their money, nor are they the ones spending mine.

I imagine you are doing something truly horrible if you need privacy over quality.

Yep, truly horrible things like buying power tools and wood working plans, but not wanting to see advertisements for those things on every last fucking website or application I ever use ever again for the rest of all time.

Re: Apple is now a privacy-as-a-service company

#488

Post by scarface74 »

mirimir wrote: post #474
scarface74 wrote: post #471

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When an app asks for access to your location, you are given three choices - never, when using, or always. How technical do you have to be to know that when you allow an app access to your location - it has access to your location?

All apps always that honest about it?

Apps don’t have to be “honest”. iOS enforces it.

But to be clear by saying “the app asks you”, it would be more accurate that the app asks the operating system for the location, the operating system asks you and the OS enforces it.

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