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Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

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Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#101

Post by K0nserv »

zsmi wrote: post #28

I think this study is quite good but it does come with one important caveat: From page 5, "This is before the introduction of Apple's new opt-in mechanism for tracking in 2021. Our dataset therefore reflects privacy in the app ecosystem shortly before this policy change." Personally, I would prefer to see the difference between apps monetized by customers paying directly and apps monetized by advertising. I take for…

I analysed[0] this early in 2021 based on the self repeated “nutrition labels” that Apple started requiring. There’s definitely a strong correlation between and collects significant data.

0: https://hugotunius.se/2021/01/03/an-analysis-of-privacy-on-t...

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#102

Post by smoldesu »

imwillofficial wrote: post #89
smoldesu wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You'd likely attract the ire of some 3-letter-agencies long before you found your market. Even low-volume devices like the Pinephone and Librem have come under fire for potentially including hardware backdoors in newer models. It's a game of cat-and-mouse, where the cat has unlimited resources.

I didn’t know this, could you share some reading on this potential scandal?

I'm not fully clued-in to the situation (why I included the word "potentially"), but I've been hearing that the latest Pinephone shipping delay was in part due to the fact that the board schematic changed slightly. Details on this seem very sparse, but I'm sure you could get the full story if you poke someone in the right IRC channel.

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#103

Post by smoldesu »

imchillyb wrote: post #44

Look how we selectively choose information and how that is bad for consumers! iOS 14 released anti-tracking features in April of 2021. This article is released at the end of september, almost october, of 2021. Yet, the authors choose to specifically use a version of iOS that was prior to these changes. This is proof enough for me that the authors purposely skewed the data. This skewed data does not reflect reality, a…

Yeah, the data is totally skewed! They didn't even include Android 12 which just hit AOSP beta last week!

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#104

Post by nemothekid »

amelius wrote: post #66
wtallis wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> i0S Slightly OT, but: is there a reason why you're spelling that with a numeral zero?

By the way, what does "i" in "iOS" stand for? EDIT: I looked it up, it stands for "internet". From now on we should be referring to it as "internet OS" where space is not an issue.

iOS, is short form for iPhone OS. i in iPhone, doesn't really stand for something (it's derived from iPod, which was derived from iMac). Accoding to wikipedia, Jobs said the "i" stood for "internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire".

Given that the abbreviation isn't literal, "internet OS" is not colloquial and you will confuse others.

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#105

Post by mattl »

spansoa wrote: post #21

One thing you have to consider when debating i0S versus Android in the context of privacy is: you can have the best of both worlds and own an Android phone and an i0S device (if you can afford that, and I'm aware many citizens in third world countries don't have the luxury of owning two phones). It's like the old Chrome versus Firefox debates that happen every other month now on Hackernews & Reddit. I own a Chromeboo…

iOS not i0S

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#106

Post by merlinscholz »

smoldesu wrote: post #99
PaulBGD_ wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While it would be nice to be able to ensure that the source is what's exactly on the app store, protonmail does have their iOS app open sourced. Not quite the same as a generic email client, but is probably the next closest thing.

Nice, but that doesn't really address the plethora of other privacy/security concerns that Protonmail has server-side (like their IP logging which they claims never happened).

The IP logging they were legally obliged to set up, so the IP of a specific account would be stored upon the next successful login? Where’s the problem with that?

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#107

Post by mattl »

chmsky00 wrote: post #62
teddyh wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I prefer free friends to those that charge me money to be my friend.

Android phones are free like speech, not free like beer.

Does any Android phone run a freely licensed image?

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#108

Post by mattl »

nemothekid wrote: post #104
amelius wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the way, what does "i" in "iOS" stand for? EDIT: I looked it up, it stands for "internet". From now on we should be referring to it as "internet OS" where space is not an issue.

iOS, is short form for iPhone OS. i in iPhone, doesn't really stand for something (it's derived from iPod, which was derived from iMac). Accoding to wikipedia, Jobs said the "i" stood for "internet, individual, instruct, inform, and inspire". Given that the abbreviation isn't literal, "internet OS" is not colloquial and you will confuse others.

We also had an iCEO and that meant interim.

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#109

Post by escherize »

dtonon wrote: post #82
collsni wrote: post #42

Caylxos is the best alternative to both that I've found. Anyone know of something better?

I didn't test CalyxOS yet but I suggest you to try GrapheneOS, if you have a Pixel. I think it is really well done, the documentation is detailed and the team's attention about security, and so privacy, is rock solid.

I use lineage os for microG [0] myself, but can't find a good foss android keyboard. Is there such a thing?

[0] - https://lineage.microg.org/

Re: Are iPhones Better for Privacy? Comparative Study of iOS and Android Apps

#110

Post by HWR_14 »

Crash0v3rid3 wrote: post #94
spansoa wrote: post #21

One thing you have to consider when debating i0S versus Android in the context of privacy is: you can have the best of both worlds and own an Android phone and an i0S device (if you can afford that, and I'm aware many citizens in third world countries don't have the luxury of owning two phones). It's like the old Chrome versus Firefox debates that happen every other month now on Hackernews & Reddit. I own a Chromeboo…

> you can have the best of both worlds and own an Android phone and an i0S device This is something I’ve been wanting to do! I’d love to own an iPhone and Android so I can get the best of both worlds. Does anyone have any suggestions going this route? Ideally I’d like to keep a single number that can be used on both devices and I can just decide myself what device I want to drive for the day.

I found an iPhone and a cheaper Android tablet is a cost effective way of experiencing both. I don't get the benefits of the tablet being connected to my phone number, but it lets me play with both OSes at a nominal upcharge to just an iPhone (You can get a good android tablet for <$100)
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