Mine don't because they're hard wired into whatever device I use.
Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
51–60 of 431 posts
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
You also can't get firmware updates if you don't install the companion app and allow them to spy on you.
Or just update your firmware and then remove the app. Not just Bose, the Sony WH* series is also guilty of this. Great cans, awful app.
It has an app?
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#53Re: Personal fitness and menstruation history - Is that shocking? They're earbuds, but they're marketed as fitness buds that track personal data. It looks like Fitbit for your ears. Fitbit and Apple Health (or whatever it is called) does these kinds of things as well. Re: Bose collecting all that stuff I can see "why" they would want all that, in order to optimize their sound output of their buds to the kind of music…
> I can see "why" they would want all that, in order to optimize their sound output of their buds to the kind of music and environments for which they are used. I can't see why they would need so many samples. Wouldn't using the data from (say) 100 Bose employees be sufficient to cover most noisy environments these buds are used in?
If you're trying for perfection, then not even remotely, no. The type of data provided by "one million users" will uncover issues that "one hundred users" simply never can.
I believe it was iOS 10 or 11 developer betas that would, on each beta update, run a trial APFS conversion process against the phone's internal filesystem, check the result for consistency, and then discard the replica and report success/failure w/ logs — so that Apple could find the issues that they couldn't find at 'one hundred users' scale.
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#54Earlier quoted context omitted.
which is why bose for example only let you configure noise cancelling through the app.
My QC35IIs have a button on the side to adjust noise cancelling. No need for an app.
I think you need the app to switch that to noise cancellation level from digital assistant activation.
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
You also can't get firmware updates if you don't install the companion app and allow them to spy on you.
Why do my headphones need firmware updates? Presumably they work fine at purchase.
Because we cut a corner somewhere to make a budget device and realized it was a lot more popular and now we have to patch it like if it was a fucking nuclear reactor....
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't this really only an issue if you use the companion app? I doubt the usb-c/lightning/bluetooth headphones can exfiltrate data if you don't have the companion app installed.
You also can't get firmware updates if you don't install the companion app and allow them to spy on you.
After the AirPods Pro noise-cancelling-regression (resolved, albeit after months), this may be a desirable feature.
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#57Re: Personal fitness and menstruation history - Is that shocking? They're earbuds, but they're marketed as fitness buds that track personal data. It looks like Fitbit for your ears. Fitbit and Apple Health (or whatever it is called) does these kinds of things as well. Re: Bose collecting all that stuff I can see "why" they would want all that, in order to optimize their sound output of their buds to the kind of music…
What sound algorithm uses menstruation data to optimize sound output?
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#58How exactly does a headphone app have access to your alcohol use and menstruation history? Where is it pulling this data from?
They don't. The app may ask for it, and there may be some benefit to the user if they provide it, but it's not like the headphones magically acquire any of the data the author is complaining about.
If people want to give their personal information out, that's up to them. I personally limit what information I share, and I get annoyed when devices or apps try to sneakily get more information than I'm willing to intentionally provide, but this article is silly.
The younger generation has grown up without a sense of personal privacy, and they're largely ok with it. They will happily give away personal details in exchange for a "free" app or product, and they bend over backwards to expose their entire lives via images and videos on social media. There's always mock outrage when someone "discovers" that the reason the Internet is free is because someone is selling personal data to drive advertising, but everyone knows that. Most people just don't care.
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
You also can't get firmware updates if you don't install the companion app and allow them to spy on you.
After the AirPods Pro noise-cancelling-regression (resolved, albeit after months), this may be a desirable feature.
Are you talking about Rattlegate? From what I understand, it has been resolved by Apple replacing many people's earpods.
Re: Headphones are collecting too much personal data (2019)
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
which is why bose for example only let you configure noise cancelling through the app.
My QC35IIs have a button on the side to adjust noise cancelling. No need for an app.
The app lets you set the levels the button cycles through, and also set an auto off timer and some other odds and ends.