[dpkonofa]

That's a little silly. The iPhone is a "cyber security focused smartphone" and Apple has billions in R&D money going into its phone. That's a nice thing to say but it doesn't really mean much unless you have some way to achieve that in a way that Apple's vast resources can't.

[ska]

> ave some way to achieve that in a way that Apple's vast resources can't.

I think "can't" here runs up against "choose not to". So far as we can tell opsec tends to be a pain in the ass in ways that are fundamental, not a problem with tools. Apple, like any other consumer focused company, doesn't lose focus of this.

[sydd]

The silly thing is that Apple advertises their phone as something cyber security focused, when it can be totally pwned in so many ways.

And you don't need Apple's resources to make something better, just a more secure phone would have much worse UX. Just some examples for a much more secure phone, where you dont need Apple's budget:

- Runs some barebones Linux with minimal packages. An SMS app is an SMS app, not something that makes HTTP requests.

- app store is very heavily vetted

- forced updates, you can't dismiss update notifications.

- minimal attack interface, no smart connection features or accessories.

[gjsman-1000]

You just pwned yourself.

- Forced Updates? The FBI takes over the update server, forcibly sends out an update that sends all messages to the FBI immediately, and there's no way to stop it. That suggestion is idiotic. Or even better, install Pegasus on all the phones, have them be quietly reporting back to home for a few weeks, with journalists having no way to prevent updating.

- You forgot Hardware Root of Trust and Secure Enclave, like on an iPhone. Otherwise, the FBI can install a tool which just guesses PINs over and over while resetting the PIN attempts counter. It is not possible to build this protection in software only. You need chip-level hardware, and only iPhones in Fall 2020 and later have the Enclave set up to block repeated PIN attempts even if Apple-signed code is loaded. No other phone is safe from their own manufacturer like that.

[EveYoung]

In that case, you would still need to trust the mostly proprietary drivers and hardware. And if you aggressively remove features, I guess the question becomes why you would even need a phone. Maybe for some use cases it would be better to simply use a laptop.

[Dah00n]

The Iphone have never been a "cyber security focused smartphone" unless you define security being in focus while it is at least a few steps down from profit, design, and usability.