The transition will take place in September. Tim Cook will stay on as Chairman, at least for now.
1 Like
I’m wondering if this will change the way Apple treats privacy. Tim Cook seemed to be the main voice that amplified Apple as a privacy focused company, a direct contrast to its Big Tech peers. I haven’t found anything yet on John Ternus’s views regarding user privacy.
Of course for many on here, even Apple’s current privacy promises often felt like privacy theater compared to FLOSS solutions. But it’s difficult to argue that Apple hasn’t been the “best of the worst” and thus often the go-to harm reduction recommendation for non-techies who feel overwhelmed by the likes of Linux and GrapheneOS.
Will Tim Cook’s departure change your views of Apple?
1 Like
Privacy is one of their selling points (as faulty as it might sometimes be). It would not be in their interest to move away from it especially in 2026.
1 Like
I’m glad you included this caveat, because it is important. I’m curious to see if this new leadership changes anything too.
I used to be a hardcore Apple fan, but that changed after Steve Jobs died.
It’s commonly believed by some that from a consumer’s perspective, Apple is worse now under Tim Cook, and had Jobs still been alive it would have been better. I share some of those beliefs.
However, after becoming more aware of enshittification and other critiques of capitalism, as well as Job’s managerial style, I am not confident that under his leadership Apple would have fared that much better for the consumer. I would have probably stopped being a hardcore fan had Job lived.
I still like Apple to some degree, but I am no longer blinded by its marketing. I used to watch WWDC every year, but they stopped being exciting a long time ago.
Let’s see what the new CEO brings, but I’m not expecting big positive changes.
1 Like
A good profile in him
https://appleinsider.com/articles/26/04/20/the-person-who-could-be-apple-ceo-who-is-john-ternus
Also interesting, he hasn’t much Linkedin activity. I wouldn’t draw any conclusions, after all he might not even need it as he has worked for Apple for so long.
I’m also really hoping for better software and more polished releases from the get go. iOS and macOS 26 have been terribly buggy.
I just remembered that there is an annoying software issue that has been around for a decade and that Apple has yet to fix, despite it being publicly reported many times.
No Progress Bar
When Apple discontinued iTunes for macOS and replaced it with the Music app and managing your devices via Finder, many people noticed that when you import files into your Apple device, there is no progress bar showing you how far along the import is.
As someone who imports gigabytes of files into an iPad frequently, this is extremely frustrating. It became easier to do the import via a PC because I could actually see how far along I was.
The fact that Apple has a reputation for great UI and UX makes it hard to believe that they would miss something like this. But the fact that they haven’t fixed it after so many years qualifies it as enshittification.
I don’t believe Apple wants people to import their own media to their devices. They want people to buy media from them and download/stream it directly from their apps. Hence, they have an incentive to make the UX worse for those who prefer to import media.
Apple TV
This is also why I will never buy an Apple TV. Apple TV doesn’t support reading media from a USB key or external hard drive because it deliberately doesn’t have a USB port. Apple wants you to get all your content from them. That’s enshittification too.
I hope that John Ternus addresses these issues, but I suspect he won’t.
Goodbye Tim Apple 