[jmaker]

Can someone explain what the real difference is to a consumer user between an iPhone and a Pixel or a Samsung device? Across all services, push notifications, and device backups.

Both promise security, Apple promises some degree of privacy. Google stores your encryption keys, and so does Apple unless you opt in for ADP.

Is it similar to Facebook Messenger (encrypted in transit and at rest but Meta can read it) and Telegram (keys owned by Telegram unless you start a private chat)?

There are things Pixels do that iPhones don’t, e.g., you get notified when a local cell tower picks your IMEI. I mean it’s meaningless since they all do it, but you can also enable a higher level of security to avoid 2G. Not sure it’s meaningful but it’s a nice to have.

[isoprophlex]

Some of these companies don't make money from you, the end user, but by selling ads and data to more effectively deliver said ads.

Differences in capabilities, experience and implementation are all downstream from that. In other words, everyone pays lip service to privacy and security, but it's very difficult to believe that parties like Meta or Google are actually being honest with you. The incentives just aren't there.

With Apple, you get to fork over your wallet, but at least you seem the be primarily the user they've got to provide services to.

With Google/Meta, you're a sucker to bleed dry.

[jmaker]

I think there’s also a topology chasm at play. Apple controls most of its hardware stack, with Qualcomm modems and Samsung displays, but the SoC is now Apple’s own. Google relies on rotating third parties to assemble the Pixels, hence poor QC. Samsung makes its own Exynos modems which they don’t dog-food and like Apple rely on Qualcomm instead, while Google still depends on Exynos.

Then there’s a big disparity across all Android hardware vendors. Google must cater to that more or less federated topology of Android devices. It’s much harder.

Yet I don’t see any technical blocker for an opt-in for an Apple-grade ADP in Pixels and Galaxies.

It’s all quite weird. Even with Google Passwords, how do I know that it’s E2EE if I can unlock it from a browser with just a device PIN? Lots of loopholes.

[isoprophlex]

Addendum: this just in. Apple has much more to lose if they pull something like this; for meta, news like this... barely registers? At least I'm not surprised at all

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jan/31/us-author...

[tpolzer]

Apple, Samsung and Google all earn money from ads on your phone, just with different monetization pathways.

[JKCalhoun]

My understanding though is that the monetization pathways for Samsung and Google are 3rd party—Apple keeps your data to itself.

[tpolzer]

Apple sends your searches to Google for money. I would call search queries data?

[jmaker]

I wonder how exactly Apple Intelligence works with ChatGPT and soon with Gemini. If I remember correctly, there’s no privacy there? If so, where’s the privacy boundary in Apple Intelligence?

Google pushes Gemini everywhere and wants to keep on to your interactions, with human reviews. While I applaud the transparency, having Gemini scrape my screen makes me uneasy. My frog’s not warm enough for that, yet.

And Gemini in Sheets and Docs is just a toy. Microsoft 365 Copilot is a step ahead but is wrong more often than not, at least from my interactions with them. Both very disappointing. No way to justify access to my personal or my company’s or clients’ information.

Apple promises something they call Secure Compute or so, don’t remember the exact name, which appears to be encrypted and randomized in their cloud compute, which is off-device. With iPhone being the most powerful to date (per GeekBench), Tensor Pixels will have to offload most of the edge compute to GCP, and Snapdragon Samsungs while being powerful (I have no idea but would assume) must follow the Pixel Android approach.

So AI features will exfiltrate even more personal information, occasionally, accidentally, or purposefully, and the user would have consented to that and the human reviews just to get access to the smart features.

[traceroute66]

> Apple sends your searches to Google for money. I would call search queries data?

Yawn. Changing your default search engine takes 5 seconds.

[jmaker]

That’s true, though I wish Apple gave me the freedom to define a new search engine, beyond the small provided selection.

[fsflover]

How many people do you think actually do it?

[jmaker]

I think AdSense is still an Alphabet subsidiary?

[bossyTeacher]

> Can someone explain what the real difference is to a consumer user between an iPhone and a Pixel or a Samsung device? Across all services, push notifications, and device backups.

By default, Apple offers you at no charge: email aliases, private relay, Ask No Track barrier. These are just the ones I can think of right now. I am sure there are more. A big thing with Apple is not that they offer different privacy services but they make it EASY and SEAMLESS to use. No other company comes close.

[jmaker]

Aren’t they part of iCloud+ only? Ask no-track can arguably compromise your privacy by fingerprinting.

I agree that the privacy controls on Apple systems are well-organized.

Still, it’s more important to have confidence that the privacy services are not smoke and mirrors with carefully carved-out loopholes. It’s one thing to provide something and hold the competitor as the litmus test, the other to sustainably live up to your promises, like the now pejorative “do no evil” slogan, with retroactive ramifications. There’s really little users can effectively validate about Apple’s privacy promises.

[jcgl]

Email relay at least is available to me, a non-iCloud user.

[traceroute66]

> Apple promises some degree of privacy.

Apple also makes it easier to achieve that privacy:

    - They put all the privacy controls in one place in Settings so you can audit
    - App developers are mandated to publish what they collect when publishing apps to the App Store.

[jmaker]

> - They put all the privacy controls in one place in Settings so you can audit

That’s true. On Pixel Android, there’s several unrelated places in the various settings for the device and for the Google account to take care of and see that they do not collide. And for every function there’s always some sort of small print like “it’s all private to you unless you choose to share” - but to use any of the features/services you have to “share” like with Google Photos and Calendar and Tasks, you lose track of what you share with whom in the end. So essentially not only the metadata is collected but also the content and nothing’s private as a result, at least that’s what I got to understand. And even if you ask Google to delete your personal information, it will retain it for a while for compliance purposes.

As for

> - App developers are mandated to publish what they collect when publishing apps to the App Store.

I believe that’s still moot and rather a voluntary disclosure that no one vets. I’ve seen apps with no collection stated on App Store but deviating privacy policies, or app functions that contradicted their own privacy policy.

From what I heard and read, I understood that as a well-meant idea but still a misconception on the consumer part due to lack of enforcement by Apple.

[traceroute66]

> From what I heard and read, I understood that as a well-meant idea but still a misconception on the consumer part due to lack of enforcement by Apple.

I'm not familiar with the detail so I cannot comment directly on what you are saying. I don't have the time to go read up on it right now.

But what I would say is that many aspects will be indirectly enforced by Apple (and can be audited/enforced by the user) through the privacy controls (location services, microphone, camera etc.). Clearly that does not cover everything, but it covers a large chunk.

Apple have also made it impossible to for example get a device-level ID, you can only get an app-level pseudo-device-id. So there are various code-level enforcements too.

[jmaker]

Is it different with Google Play?