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Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

lapcatsoftware.com

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Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#521

Post by UnreachableCode »

machinestops wrote: post #514
mort96 wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Running a custom ROM locks you out of almost all decent phone hardware on the market since most have locked bootloaders, and it locks you out of a ton of apps people rely on such as banking and money transfer apps. You must recognise that it's not a practical solution for most people.

Graphene mitigates the locked bootloader issue by only supporting one line of phones (Pixel), which have unlocked bootloaders. A large amount of work has been put into making Graphene specifically work with banking apps. Mine does, for instance.

Are Calyx or Lineage worth a look? It’s a tough choice between the 3.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#522

Post by chikere232 »

As trivia, on mac os, the photoanalysisd service will run in the background and look through your photos, even if you never open Apple Photos. It can't be disabled unless you disable SIP (system integrity protection) which requires a complicated dance of reboots and warnings. It will reenable if you turn SIP back on.

It seems Apple are very passionate about analysing your photos for some reason, regardless if you yourself are.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#523

Post by mikae1 »

mort96 wrote: post #495
mikae1 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you accept Android as an option, then GrapheneOS probably check a lot of your boxes on an OS level. GrapheneOS developers sit between you and Google and make sure that shit like this isn't introduced without the user's knowledge. They actively strip out crap that goes against users interests and add features that empower us. I find that the popular apps for basic operation from F-Droid do a very good job of not sc…

Running a custom ROM locks you out of almost all decent phone hardware on the market since most have locked bootloaders, and it locks you out of a ton of apps people rely on such as banking and money transfer apps. You must recognise that it's not a practical solution for most people.

> Running a custom ROM locks you out of almost all decent phone hardware on the market since most have locked bootloaders

GrapheneOS only works on Pixel devices. Pixel devices are fine. We have reached a point where just about every mid-tier device is fine, really. I run my devices until they are FUBAR or can't be updated due to EOL. EOL for Android (and GrapheneOS) is ~7 years from the release date now.

> it locks you out of a ton of apps people rely on such as banking and money transfer apps.

These can be installed and isolated using work or user profiles in GrapheneOS. Also as https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42538853 points out, a lot of work has been put into making Graphene work with banking apps[1].

> You must recognise that it's not a practical solution for most people.

Of course I do. We can act on two levels. We (as a society) can work for regulation and we (computery people) can take direct action by developing and using software and hardware that works in the user's interest. One does not exclude the other.

[1] https://privsec.dev/posts/android/banking-applications-compa...

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#524

Post by ghjfrdghibt »

sgammon wrote: post #517

Apple: Does backflips to protect your data Apple's competition: Steals your data outright Most of this thread: How could Apple act this way

You're kidding yourself if you think apple is in the business of protecting your data beyond marketing itself as such. Just like all it's competition it's in the business of using your data like them.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#525

Post by [deleted] »

Krasnol wrote: post #452
Aachen wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So Signal messages aren't secure because they're transmitted and so their "obfuscation" isn't enough to protect your data? Have you read what the author cited (and then admitted to not understanding) what Apple says they actually do to the data before transmission? I could see an argument in the metadata (though there are multiple assumptions involved there, not least that they don't truly do OHTTP but instead conspi…

The obvious difference is that by sending your photos with Signal, you are doing it willingly. You let it encrypt and decrypt willingly. You decide who gets it. Here, Apple does that for you.

[deleted]

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#526

Post by lapcat »

Aachen wrote: post #427

> I don't understand most of the technical details of Apple's blog post. I did understand the cited bits, and sorry to say but this could have been an optimistic post ("look at this cool new thing!") I dislike Apple's anti-hacker (in the HN sense of the word) practices as much as the next person and don't own any Apple device for that and other reasons, but saying "it doesn't matter how you solved the privacy problem…

> sorry to say but this could have been an optimistic post

> don't own any Apple device

So you don't have any skin in the game, but you're criticizing someone who does?

My blog post is written from the perspective of an Apple user whose trust has been violated. It's nice that you think—from a safe distance—the technology is neat, and maybe it is, but that's irrelevant to the main issue, which is the lack of user consent.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#527

Post by nottorp »

uoaei wrote: post #204
Gabriel54 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I appreciate the explanation. However, I think you do not address the main problem, which is that my data is being sent off my device by default and without any (reasonable) notice. Many users may agree to such a feature (as you say, it may be very secure), but to assume that everyone ought to be opted in by default is the issue.

I guess it depends on what you're calling "your data" -- without being able to reconstruct an image from a noised vector, can we say that that vector in any way represents "your data"? The way the process works, Apple makes their own data that leaves your device, but the photo never does.

It's the same as the CSAM initiative. It doesn't matter what they say they send, you cannot trust them to send what they say they send or trust them not to change it in the future.

Anything that leaves my devices should do so with my opt-IN permission.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#528

Post by hmottestad »

chikere232 wrote: post #522

As trivia, on mac os, the photoanalysisd service will run in the background and look through your photos, even if you never open Apple Photos. It can't be disabled unless you disable SIP (system integrity protection) which requires a complicated dance of reboots and warnings. It will reenable if you turn SIP back on. It seems Apple are very passionate about analysing your photos for some reason, regardless if you you…

Isn’t that running locally on your Mac though?

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#529

Post by latexr »

Gigachad wrote: post #480
latexr wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your second paragraph is exactly the point made in the article as the reason why it should be an informed choice and not something on by default.

If you don’t trust Apple to do what they say they do, you should throw your phone in the bin because it has total control here and could still be sending your data even if you opt out.

Bugs have nothing to do with trust. You can believe completely that someone’s intentions are pure and still get screwed by their mistake.

Re: Apple Photos phones home on iOS 18 and macOS 15

#530

Post by mikae1 »

doublebind wrote: post #491
mikae1 wrote: post #462

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you accept Android as an option, then GrapheneOS probably check a lot of your boxes on an OS level. GrapheneOS developers sit between you and Google and make sure that shit like this isn't introduced without the user's knowledge. They actively strip out crap that goes against users interests and add features that empower us. I find that the popular apps for basic operation from F-Droid do a very good job of not sc…

That's great... for the HN reader. However, how is that supposed to work for your significant other, or your mother, or your indifferent-to-technology friend? Don't get me wrong, I also strive to keep my device's information private but, at the same time, I realize this has no practical use for most users.

We can act on two levels. We (as a society) can work for regulation and we (computery people) can take direct action by developing and using software and hardware that works in the user's interest. One does not exclude the other.

That said. You can order a Pixel with GrapheneOS pre-installed and Google Apps and services can be isolated.

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