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by why_only_15 2648 days ago
Apple doesn't really spy on users imo. Internally, the privacy team is quite powerful and forces lots of safeguards about how exactly data can be used.
3 comments

As an outsider, I have absolutely no way to verify what you're saying is true. I'd like to think that they're not spying on me, but I have no evidence about anything they do because Apple is not transparent about anything they do.
Same with Google. Google has privacy teams as well which are

> quite powerful and forces lots of safeguards about how exactly data can be used.

Apple recommends apps based on other apps I've downloaded. So does Google. Apple recommends music based on other music I've played. So does Google. Apple recommends books and movies as well based on similar data. So does Google. Apple keeps track of every placed your Apple devices have been. So does Google. Apple doesn't share this data. Neither does Google.

You seem to be simplifying things a bit too much. Apple doesn’t keep track of where your device has been. Your iPhone knows but it’s not being sent to Apple. Google has been shown to know this data even when you disable as many location services as you can.
Apple knows which is how they can display every devices location on icloud.com including "last known location" which means the location was previously sent to Apple.
That requires you to opt-in to the “Find My iPhone” or “Find My Friends” feature which are explicitly designed to locate the phone.

If you don’t enable those things (which are not automatically enabled) then Apple does not know the location of your phone.

> Apple doesn’t keep track of where your device has been.

The iPhone certainly does keep track of where it has been. There was even a scandal about it a few years back. It may not upload it to Apple's servers yet, but that's only a matter of shifting strategy and a software update away.

Until one day you agree to an update....
Their incentives with regards to data are aligned differently - Apple make most of their revenue from selling hardware to their users, Google make most of their revenue from selling ads to someone different from their users.
Yeah, something I feel people (particularly who aren't in my normal tech-industry sphere) I hear discussing data privacy seem to think is that the data itself is being sold/shared with third parties. To be fair though, the concept of any sense of privacy from a service built on seemingly invading your privacy is a complex one to digest
Check Settings.app > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations

It says encrypted and cant be read by Apple, who knows, this data creeps me alone.