At the moment I am thinking about getting a new phone in the foreseeable future. I was long time using android, but switched to iOS 5 years ago because of the longer update period. Now also some android devices offer a longer update support of about 5 years. Now I am thinking about switching back to android.
But i am wondering: is there any big difference from a privacy perspective between iOS and android? I know you can go for custom roms on android that are focused on privacy which i also used in the past, but i am not planning on doing this in the future. So it would come down to stock android vs stock iOS. Any advice there or is all lost anyway?
I own an iPhone because Google is evil but….
Make no mistake, Apple has developed their own advertising id and they’re starting to use it to track you just like Google.
In theory it’s more private, but in practice it’s hard to say for sure.
A few massive differences:
You opt-in to targeted tracking with Apple. It’s impossible to opt-out with Google. Apple also enforces per-app opt-in for tracking.
Apple use your data, but they don’t sell it on
Apple features protect you from 3rd party tracking at a software level (Private Relay) and hardware level (MAC randomisation)
People really like to crap on apple for reasons justified and not. But when it comes to privacy there’s a pretty clear difference in the track records for Google and Apple. Here are some articles that might be worth a read in helping you decide. Really what it boils down to is what matters most to you. Apple may have the better privacy record, but it also locks you into a garden with very high walls. Google/android architecture may be a lot more versatile and provide more hardware options and customizability, but they will harvest and sell every scrap of data they can get their hands on.
https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/25/apple-collect-less-data-than-other-companies/
https://www.tomsguide.com/face-off/iphone-vs-android
https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/ios-vs-android/
https://www.techradar.com/news/google-photos-vs-icloud