[walterbell]

The recent addition of VPN support, including Tailscale, has made Apple TV even more compelling. VLC exists for Apple TV.

For purchased movies, Apple TV does not impose silly geo-restrictions, unlike Vudu and MoviesAnywhere.

[duskwuff]

Ooh, I forgot to mention VLC! Their Apple TV app is great -- if you've got a SMB file server, it can browse the server and play videos in basically any format.

[walterbell]

In addition to SMB, it even supports SFTP (password auth only).

[ok_dad]

I’ll also vote for Apple TV. It also acts as a hub for simple home automation if you just want a few light bulbs or something, or you want to store security camera footage directly to iCloud.

[sneak]

That requires iCloud, which is a privacy nightmare even if you opt in to their sometimes-kinda e2ee option (which nobody does). In the default config it is even worse.

If you want privacy don’t use iCloud.

[lloeki]

Please enlighten me as to how:

- iCloud is a privacy nightmare

- iCloud e2ee with ADP is sometimes-kinda e2ee

[sneak]

iCloud by default allows Apple to read and see all of your photos, files, and iMessages, as the iMessage sync keys and message history are backed up in non-e2ee fashion. Everything you send and receive via iMessage is visible to Apple and they turn over 70,000+ user accounts of data per year to the USG without a search warrant.

To operate in China, Apple has to run parts of iCloud on CCP-controlled hardware. Presumably this is to preserve the same government surveillance access that Apple explicitly preserved in the USA at the behest of the FBI (as reported by Reuters).

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1ZK1CO/

iCloud syncs the list of recently emailed contacts to Apple, so Apple has your social graph and important contacts even if you don’t use Apple email, iCloud contacts, or iMessage/FaceTime. There is no UI to disable this, it must be done via provisioning profile.

As for ADP - Apple stores file and image plaintext hashes non-e2ee, which allows Apple to see which set of people has unique files, and when. If I make an original meme or document and send it to you, even via AirDrop directly, if we both use iCloud and ADP then Apple knows that we have associated, and when. If you share it to a third person, Apple knows that too. Also, if anyone you iMessage with doesn’t have ADP enabled, your full iMessage conversation history with them remains readable to Apple (and USG et al).

https://support.apple.com/en-us/102651

> Some metadata and usage information stored in iCloud remains under standard data protection, even when Advanced Data Protection is enabled. For example, dates and times when a file or object was modified are used to sort your information, and checksums of file and photo data are used to help Apple de-duplicate and optimize your iCloud and device storage — all without having access to the files and photos themselves. Representative examples are provided in the table below.

Also, iOS in general is a privacy cesspool. You can’t install apps without identifying yourself to Apple, and doing so sends your IP (coarse location), Apple ID (phone number), and device hardware serials to Apple. You can’t ever change or disable this. Even if you don’t use iCloud, the hardware serials are sent to Apple and it maintains a persistent serial-linked connection to Apple for APNS at all times. This cannot be disabled. Additionally the connections happen early in the boot process so they will bypass any user-installable VPNs (provisioning profiles can use old outdated VPN protocols and I think can load before these connections, but approximately nobody uses VPNs in this fashion).

The moment you install a SIM card in an iPhone, the device serial and SIM card phone number are known to Apple and linked, as it will immediately try to register for iMessage without prompting you. This happens even if you don’t use iCloud, and thus is independent of ADP.

This means that wiping the device and swapping SIM cards is useless from a privacy standpoint, as the subsequent phone numbers will be linked by virtue of the device serial (and will also be linked to your IP, bypassing any UI-configured VPN).

[sneak]

Oh, because Apple has the plaintext file hashes even under ADP, if those files exist anywhere else in any user account in iCloud (that doesn’t have ADP enabled) then Apple has the plaintext file contents too, so it’s effectively non-e2ee for those files.

[ok_dad]

Gotta trust someone if you want to use things like cloud file storage. Everything you said is true but sensationalized, someone could be accessing my files but I trust that there are controls in place not to allow that. If I cannot trust Apple, then why should I trust Google or even an AWS EC2 configured by myself to host my files? Anything could be backdoored and any service could read your data, either trust no one and live offline or choose to give your trust to the most trustable service. I chose Apple for now.