this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2025
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From a strictly privacy standpoint is an iPhone a better option for non-techy folks?
stock for stock, they are not much better, no.
I'd say that depends on exactly what you're trying to protect. They're both large American companies with control over your data and your data and metadata will end up in their respective clouds. Push notifications will be handled by Google services if you use Android, but there's an equivalent mechanism for iOS just that it uses their servers. They handle some details differently, but I don't think any of those options deserve the word privacy.
There are some user friendly Android based alternatives out there, since it's based on open source. Personally I'm running a device with /e/OS, which you can either install yourself or buy a phone with it pre-installed. There are also some other user friendly options out there such as the Volla Phone.
But yeah, iOS is probably a better bet than stock Android, as Apple has a history of being abusive towards their customers in other ways than by selling their data. But crucially both Google and Apple are American companies, so you should avoid depending on their cloud services to whatever degree possible. There's no such thing as safe data if it is stored by an American company.
Looking just at location... Apple is actually better at location tracking precision than Google, and you can't turn it off (even powering off your phone doesn't shut it off). Disabling location services doesn't prevent the data collection by Apple, it only blocks apps from using it.
Apple is probably better at not sharing your data with others than Goolge, but that's a position of faith, not fact. If you trust Apple and are diligent about blocking location access to 3rd party apps, it's better. But you should expect that if you're giving location access to a free app (like Google maps, a weather app, a ride share app, a streaming app, etc.), you can bet they are selling your location data.
The last time I read the Apple privacy policy it sounded like they pretty much collect everything and let themselves share this data with whoever they feel like.
There was a lot of calming language, but it didn't sound convincing to me.
That being said, if you like the Apple ecosystem and UX, it's a solid option.
I personally believe their statements about privacy are nothing more than PR.
The only reason they dont share it with other apps, is because from a capitalist standing point, why the hell would you share information you want to sell?
Them being the only one having access to a billion peoples location data is why they are the richest company.
They very much do dell, and they very much share that data with the government they also pay a shitton of money in donations for ball rooms.
FWIW, from my last reading of their privacy policy, they openly stated that they do share PII with other companies who they consider to be their partners.
They claim that they don't share PII with third parties "for their marketing purposes".
That being said, you're at the mercy of their definition of "partner" and interpretation of "for [the third party's] marketing purposes".
I should honestly just re-read their privacy policy (and the same for Google and Meta).
AFAIK google doesnt share your data that much outside of being very permissive to law enforcement, their main thing is advertisement, kinda of a indirect sell, as in it is your data that brings value to their advertising since thats how they do their extremely invasive targeted advertising
This is the correct comment. Google sells access to user data, not the data itself.
From an actual privacy standpoint, what is the difference?
Not much I suppose. At least in case of Google, it's governed by a single policy.
You're just changing the bucket which the data is dumped into and the interface used. It's an unfortunate reality that you need to research and be willing to take charge of your devices to proactively prevent spying.
GrapheneOS, /e/ OS, and other community ecosystems are mandatory to have complete data security. Google and Apple will never directly grant you the permission to turn all the data taps off.
But if a Graphene device takes a non-malicious approach to data management out of the box, can't you just buy one of those instead of doing research and taking charge of your device to proactively prevent spying? Why not just let a trustworthy organization like the Graphene project manage it for you, instead of an untrustworthy one like Apple?
"A graphene device" doesn't exist. GrapheneOS must be installed after purchasing a compatible device (Currently the Pixel line, but soon to be expanded to another manufacturer).
You can buy a phone that arrives running GrapheneOS. This might not be advisable, because it adds another point of trust in the refurbisher who actually does the flashing, but you don't need to have the skills or do the research to install it yourself to get access to a device that runs it.
Yes, but that is incredibly risky and I would argue a worse proposition for one's personal data than buying an Android device or iPhone direct from manufacturer. You don't know if any of the underlying system software components are compromised from a reseller. If you bought a used Pixel, reformatted the storage, and installed GrapheneOS fresh, you can be confident that the OS is untampered.
I would go as far as to say buying a preinstalled device would never be a good idea for any individual looking to use GrapheneOS. The tutorial for the installation is confined to a single webpage. People should learn to read the instructions and use the validation tools on GrapheneOS's site.
i’d say so. i was a professional Android dev for years, and security and privacy are definitely one of the reasons i prefer iOS. i don’t have time to play with my phone so much for my personal device. Apple is the lesser of 2 evils since their business model doesn’t depend on this kind of tracking (even if they do it as well albeit to a lesser extent)
Their service line was growing much faster than hardware, it is a big part of their business. So their business model does depend on data collection.
You’re talking about services? That’s like Apple Music, TV, iCloud storage, etc. That’s different from Google scanning your emails to extract purchase information from order confirmations, logging all search activity, collecting data from third party websites that have Google code embedded in them, etc.
I am just curious, have you ever read Apple's privacy policy?
What makes you think they don't log your searches?
Apple doesn’t have a search engine
So have you or have you not read the Apple privacy policy?
Where did I say Apple has a search engine? I said Apple tracks and logs your searches.
If you think there is something to cite in the privacy policy, go ahead and cite it. It’s not my job to make your argument for you.
In reality, I think you’re being deliberately obtuse because you want to defend Google’s business practices for some reason. You’re conflating the way Google collects sensitive user information for the purpose of advertising in every single one of its products, including from non-Google apps and webpages with some technicality around verbiage in a privacy policy, which you have not even cited yourself.
Google, Apple, Meta it's all the same to me. I don't do fandom for oligarch conglomerates. I am not from North America.
All right, all right! It's all a big conspiracy to protect Alphabet and discredit poor little Tim Apple.
You got me partner. It's all technicality in their privacy policy!
Let me install some software on your devices and I'll show you how to track searches without operating a search engine.
Yes, but Graphene is even better. The downside is that Graphene doesn’t currently support non-Google devices.
That's my problem with it. I don't want to support Google, so I avoid their OS. However the alternative requires that I support them and buy their phone.
I'm looking forward to seeing which other manufacturer they're aiming for.