I have been an Android user for 13 years now. After using almost every Google service possible I am going down the privacy rabbit hole lately. Gmail -> Proton Mail, Chrome -> Firefox, Keep -> Notesnook, Google Search -> Kagi, …
I am currently using a Galaxy S23 with as few Google apps as possible (and focussing mainly on open-source apps). I am familiar with rooting (I was a CyanogenMod user back in the days), but today I want to use the phone without tinkering and problem solving. I also like to use a smartwatch and banking apps, so GrapheneOS is a no-go unfortunately.
So it is “Stock” Android (or Samsung’s Android ) vs. iOS for me. Is it better (in terms of privacy) to use an iPhone or stick with an Android phone with an system wide ad-/tracking Blocker (I use Adguard)? It seems there are more privacy-friendly/open-source apps on Android.
iPhone has the better reputation for privacy/security, however it is proprietary software and so no one can really tell for sure what kind of data that Apple might collect on you.
The same is true for stock Android devices. Unless you are using a custom ROM without Google Play Services, there is more proprietary software than open source running on Android devices.
Graphene OS > iOS > Stock Android
yes, but graphene os only support pixel device for now…
Was in the same Situation. Tried calyxos and lineage os with microg but there were always issues. I wanted a phone that works, so I bought an iPhone. I know that is not at all the best way to have privacy, but it works. I try to use as much open source and selfhosting as possible to minimize the data Apple gets. https://github.com/dkhamsing/open-source-ios-apps
You could try grapheneos. It is praised a lot. I can’t comment on it as I don’t own a pixel.
I now have a pixel with grapheneOS but unfortunately it is the same problem with the location in some apps.
Stock IOS is probably more privacy friendly than android. Googles entire business is to make money off your data. Stock android uses google play services that have access to pretty much everything on your phone. Apple will bend to politicians on scanning your files and shit, but at least they (probably) aren’t selling your data. As much as google at the very least.
But like many comments here, if you actually care about privacy, stock anything isn’t the way to go. I use calyxos and find it to be a good balance between privacy and usability. No android auto, but banking apps work and from what I’ve read you can use garmin smartwatches or other similar watches that use their own app and smart watches that have been added to gadgetbridge https://f-droid.org/packages/nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge/
Some people don’t like microg, but I believe you can use calyxos without it. (Not sure if that will break banking apps though).
Personally for me, I don’t want to store my personal files in anybody else’s cloud besides mine. I don’t want Google to have them, I don’t want Apple to have them. I use Syncthing to sync files between my devices. My understanding is it is a much better implementation on Android than Apple (basically non existent due to rules for apps on iOS is my understanding)
another +1 for syncthing
i ditched dropbox for it 6+ years ago and i have never had a single issue with it. super fast and never gets in your way
If it’s Stock vs iOS, do you really care about privacy? Google is a data mining ad company, that’s why their stuff is free. “If you’re no paying for the product, you are the product”. So Apple right? LOL no. Paying is no protection against being sold too. It’s closed, you’re never know, so they might as well make more money from you.
The only way is having any confidence in things is open source.
So I don’t think iOS vs Stock matters. Android is more open, but all those root level closed Google services completely compromise the phone. They owned the phone.
iOS is fully proprietary, so while some might argue that it is more private, it is almost impossible to know. What we do know is that it isn’t private, and apple has a track record against privacy.
I think comparing the two platforms from a privacy perspective is pointless. You’re not going to be private either way. Might as well focus on other factors.
I chose Apple on that matter. Not that it’s the perfect choice, but it’s for now a “good” compromise. At least they “seem” to be concerned about their customers’ data (encrypted messages, data not sold to advertisers…)
Exactly “seem” they make vision of it only and good marketing.https://sneak.berlin/20201112/your-computer-isnt-yours I would always prefer android for reasons that i can delete a lot stuff using android debug bridge while on ios i can’t do anything,more over not talking about root rights to completely delete spyware or block them using firewall.
For purely just privacy I would say custom rom android > iphone > stock android > samsung android.
I think any Android version is better in terms of privacy than iphone. iOS is property and a lot closer and less customizable than android. If you are really concerned about privacy, my suggestion is not to use iphone.
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Generally Apple apps e2e encrypt your data and can not be read/mined by them. There are caveats such as Siri (anonymized voice clips uploaded for example) or (iirc) Apple News. Things like notes, fitness/health, or iMessage are your data.
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It is a business risk for Apple to mine data on data they have explicitly confirmed in this ToS to be e2e encrypted and private.
If we’re going that far, none of the Broadcom/Qualcomm/Exynos/Snapdragon chips have open source firmware. Additionally google services are all closed source and proprietary.
Backdoors exist but all phones have backdoors in them and should be assumed they are exploited by state actors.
From a privacy standpoint, on stock mobile OS, Apple is the lead. I certainly won’t disagree that there are custom roms without google services that are superior though.
My banking app works just fine on GrapheneOS, and it’s required no tinkering to get it working the way I want. I can’t speak for smart watches unfortunately, but I’d still recommend a Pixel with GrapheneOS if you really care about privacy. If you really don’t want to go with GrapheneOS, I’d still recommend Android. Apple may be marketing towards privacy friendly, but Android still has better FOSS options, which is better than blindly trusting Apple.
I wish I could buy a second hand pixel phone anywhere here. (Central EU) They might be popular in the US, maybe a couple of them are sold in western Europe, but in this region they are imppssible to find.
Stick with Android, you have much more control over the phone even when running stock compared to iOS Besides using Adguard you can also disable the apps you don’t want (some of which are used purely for tracking) using universal Android debloater and also turn of all kinds of tracking in the system
You can make stock Android much more private. Universal debloat tool + Invisible Pro - remove unnecessary apps, restrict internet access to only the apps you want to have internet access, add a tracker blocker list.
