While we haven’t crossed the bridge of having to choose only between Stock Android vs iOS - and I really hope we will never ever have to cross that bridge - I’m curious, in the current state, why the general consensus among the community here seems to be favoring iOS more than stock Android?
I read somewhere in this community how Apple also collects more data than you might actually think and their Apple Ads ecosystem is also increasingly contributing to their revenue - albeit not as big as Google one. However, to me it sounds like it’s just going to be about time before it becomes one. Not to mention, how iOS in particular just did everything they can to keep you stay in their garden.
For example, the other day I had to help migrate my partner’s passwords from keychain + web browsers to Proton Pass. Good heavens… it was excruciatingly painful to do so. If iOS has a bit more “freedom” like its macOS counterpart (I’m a Mac user, just not iPhone), that would make a big difference to me, at least, from convenience perspective.
EDIT: I realized my reply may veer following replies off the main topic. If anyone knows of a thread where this could convo fits better, pls let me know
It’s been a while since I’ve delved heavily into the stock iOS vs stock Android debate (like easily 2-3 years). From what I remember, Apple is far more secure and keeps most of your data on their servers whereas Google sends the majority of the data collected to third party servers. I think the number was something like Apple only sending out about 30% of the data they collect and Google sending out something like 75%. Granted, this may have changed since I last read into this.
If you had to live in a glass house, would you rather live in the one with regular glass or the one with tinted glass? I think most would pick the tinted glass because it at least creates some element of privacy. That’s how the Apple vs Google debate was explained to me. Neither one is a friend to the privacy community but one is objectively worse than the other.
I think it was Apple who had servers in China.
Anyway, I would avoid puting wrong information in a privacy focused forum. Users Data is too valuable for Google (they can´t afford any data leak), to send it/sell it/ put it to/in 3rd parties.
Maybe this is a dumb question, but do you think there’s any point in us Pixel users complaining to Google about their latest changes? Could it actually make a difference?
Remember that Google doesnt really sell the Pixels for profit. The main profit comes from what users do in an unmodified Pixel that Google profits from: target ad experiences, analytics, selling ad spots and so on… Not supporting Alternative OSes may give Google more profit…
I think we should actually complain to lawmakers and politicians that Google is taking away our freedom to the things that we own and that Google should probably divest from Pixel and Android.
Google Anti-trust breakup should also involve Android as well…
The whole anti-trust thing is likely the reason, why this even happened in the first place. Do you really think Chromium or AOSP will be developed more open, if other big tech companies like Microsoft take over?
What motivation should Google have to keep Google Pixels as open as they used to for third-party OSes, once they have to give up on Android and some other company takes over?
This anti-trust process could have terrible consequences for custom OSes, Chromium forks and other projects depending on Google (e.g. Firefox).
In my early days of using Android, I was slow to buy in to its ecosystem, using my phone as little more than a traditional phone. I liked the promise of custom ROMs, but thought it seemed very brittle that they all were downstream of AOSP. What would happen to them if something happened to AOSP?
Desktop/server linux doesn’t have this problem. When Red Hat killed CentOS development, users had their choice of CentOS forks to switch to, not to mention the world of other server linux distros.
this isn’t the same.
they are still directly derived from the Red Hat sources.
And while Red Hat contributes to many projects, many are still indepentent, and aren’t as monolithic as AOSP
Even if Judge Mehta agrees with all of DOJ’s demand (unlikely), the DOJ is only asking that Android be divested if Google Search remains a monopoly, within 5 years I believe.
So Android isn’t going to leave Google anytime soon.
IF they lose Android, they will have every incentive to allow Pixels to leave Android for other OS to screw over the company that took control of Android (by hoping users leave and this company therefore loses market-share)
There’s a reason I prefaced my post the way I did. If you have more up to date information than what I shared, please include that so you can dispel whatever ‘wrong information’ you are claiming I am spreading.
I did quick search to fact check myself on my dated information and found this article that stated the following;
Don’t let the number fool you, though. While Apple sent almost 1,000 more queries, 60% of them went directly to Apple, where they’re safer. On Android, only 24% went to Google, with the rest going to third-party servers worldwide. For example, the iPhone averaged one Russian server daily, and the Android phone averaged 13. For Chinese servers, the iPhone didn’t contact any, while the Android connected to five per day.
Ernestas Naprys of Cybernews performed the research by taking a brand new iPhone and Android phone and installing the top 100 free apps from each platform’s app store. He also created new social media accounts and authorized them in apps that would allow it.
That’s like going to two different cities and sharing needles with local junkies, then ranking the cities based on which diseases you contract.
I suspect this situation will likely put the NitroPhone and NitroTablet at risk. Has Nitrokey talked with GrapheneOS about this?
Graphene has also been reaching out to different OEMs, and has even been considering making their own phones. Given the fact that Nitrokey has experience in manufacturing hardware and assembling computers, would helping Graphene make hardware be something Nitrokey could consider?
