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Switched to Android, but feel dirty.
- Thread starter shenfrey
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I totally agree and many get overly obsessed, once you have any form of digital life it's a slippery slope.
I do think Android devices make it a little easier or should I say faster to be Ad profiled and may be a bigger concern for some who say live in the US. The wife and I still get hit with occasional spam attacks from the US after leaving more than 5 years.
The simple truth is many get mixed up with Apples policy for their own services and data on their servers and an IOS device is not inherently safe from Ad profiling and is simply dependent on personal usage.
Just keep the app drawer open all the time and you'll feel right at home 
Just keep the app drawer open all the time and you'll feel right at home
‘‘Tis True!
I was starting to grow tired of the iPhone – it seemed that Google’s Pixel line of phones looked a lot more interesting to use and I had heard good things so I decided to make the jump from the iPhone into the Google landscape.
It was fun, at first. Google Play music is pretty amazing that you can upload all your music online and download to phone whenever you want it. But I started to feel a little vulnerable – I felt as if I left the safety of the Apple iOS and now left myself wide open for id theft or my personal information to be exposed. Let me state: nothing has happened but I honestly do not have piece of mind using a Google/Android device.
My previous iPhones worked seamlessly with my vehicles Blutooth and dashboard info inside my car. My Pixel 2XL, while it works, I have had numerous issues with dropped calls, music cutting out and skipping or just things completely freezing up. And keep in mind, I am using all stock on the Pixel – no custom launchers, stock music and podcast apps, etc. For ppl that are techy or like messing around with their phones then these are great. But in my early 40’s I couldn’t be bothered with that stuff – I want the thing to work and work seamlessly.
I thought the grass was greener but for what I need it def is not. Therefore, I am making the switch this afternoon back to iOS and going with iPhone 8.
It was fun, at first. Google Play music is pretty amazing that you can upload all your music online and download to phone whenever you want it. But I started to feel a little vulnerable – I felt as if I left the safety of the Apple iOS and now left myself wide open for id theft or my personal information to be exposed. Let me state: nothing has happened but I honestly do not have piece of mind using a Google/Android device.
My previous iPhones worked seamlessly with my vehicles Blutooth and dashboard info inside my car. My Pixel 2XL, while it works, I have had numerous issues with dropped calls, music cutting out and skipping or just things completely freezing up. And keep in mind, I am using all stock on the Pixel – no custom launchers, stock music and podcast apps, etc. For ppl that are techy or like messing around with their phones then these are great. But in my early 40’s I couldn’t be bothered with that stuff – I want the thing to work and work seamlessly.
I thought the grass was greener but for what I need it def is not. Therefore, I am making the switch this afternoon back to iOS and going with iPhone 8.
When I had an Android for the first time a year and a half ago (Galaxy S8+), I felt the same way. I was constantly paranoid. A huge reason why I continue to invest in Apple and pay the Apple tax is because of the security and privacy the company offers.
Other reasons I switched back to iPhone were because Android apps are largely inferior to iOS apps (and some of my favorite iOS apps don't have an Android counterpart) and I missed the iOS widget page. Android users boast about the widgets on their phones, but I found all the widgets were designed horribly and had less functionality than iOS widgets. I also really missed having a dedicated widget page. Furthermore, the technical support that Apple offers far surpasses anything that any Android manufacturer offers, including Google. Also (so many reasons), the lack of iMessage was a pretty huge dealbreaker.
Everything about iOS just feels so much more refined and functional. I'm tempted to get a Pixel 3 XL when it's time to upgrade, but the mass complaints about the phone makes me very hesitant, and being back in the the Android/Google ecosystem would probably make me unhappy. I'd probably be back to iOS within 14 days.
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Regarding security:if you have a Pixel and you use the Play Store with Play Protect, you're golden.
Inferior apps is obviously subjective because outside of iMessage (which is obviously important), there really isn't an Apple app that's better than the Google equivalent. Keep is as good or better than notes. Google Calendar is better than Calendar. Photos isn't on the same level as Google Photos. All the Docs and Productivity on Google sync better and are just a better all around experience than the iWork Suite. And Siri is so far behind Apple should go buy a better assistant and save the development money. And it's crazy how badly Apple messed up the iPhone XS camera this year. Yikes. HDR blow out everywhere.
I've never had a problem with Google Support, but I suppose if you don't know how to use your iPhone you should go to the Apple Store and have a high school kid straighten you out.
No argument on the level of refinement but there's no one complaint about the Pixel 3/3XL that should make it a dealbreaker. It's still the best all-around Android phone and the best rounded camera. Plus, the processing this thing does is just nuts.
Inferior apps is obviously subjective because outside of iMessage (which is obviously important), there really isn't an Apple app that's better than the Google equivalent. Keep is as good or better than notes. Google Calendar is better than Calendar. Photos isn't on the same level as Google Photos. All the Docs and Productivity on Google sync better and are just a better all around experience than the iWork Suite. And Siri is so far behind Apple should go buy a better assistant and save the development money. And it's crazy how badly Apple messed up the iPhone XS camera this year. Yikes. HDR blow out everywhere.
I've never had a problem with Google Support, but I suppose if you don't know how to use your iPhone you should go to the Apple Store and have a high school kid straighten you out.
No argument on the level of refinement but there's no one complaint about the Pixel 3/3XL that should make it a dealbreaker. It's still the best all-around Android phone and the best rounded camera. Plus, the processing this thing does is just nuts.
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What additional security or privacy ?
Whilst I agree Apple are very vocal on their stance re data saved on their servers on some of your account info and bits. But that has nothing to do with many of the things you possibly do with your phone.
Apples admirable umbrella of privacy is not all encompassing, its very limited and restricted, it does not even cover all native apps let alone 3rd party ones
I think you should be more concerned on your service provider privacy policy than worrying about stopping the law from looking at your phone.
To suggest that others security or privacy polices about account details or even credit card details are less secure is completely unfounded.
The IRL difference between an iPhone and say an Android privacy is it probably takes someone like Google a little longer to map and cross reference your habits, but you may be surprised how short that difference in duration is
Remember Apple technical support is only 90 days for your phone many others are free for longer
Whilst Apple support is 2nd to none, its excellence is completely reliant on your local, 100's of millions do not have the convenience of an Apple store. Once you are down the route of mail in service there is little difference between major OEM's
Your preferences and choices are personal to you re apps, IMessage and support but they simply do not translate for many
What additional security or privacy ?
Whilst I agree Apple are very vocal on their stance re data saved on their servers on some of your account info and bits. But that has nothing to do with many of the things you possibly do with your phone.
Apples admirable umbrella of privacy is not all encompassing, its very limited and restricted, it does not even cover all native apps let alone 3rd party ones
I think you should be more concerned on your service provider privacy policy than worrying about stopping the law from looking at your phone.
To suggest that others security or privacy polices about account details or even credit card details are less secure is completely unfounded.
The IRL difference between an iPhone and say an Android privacy is it probably takes someone like Google a little longer to map and cross reference your habits, but you may be surprised how short that difference in duration is
Remember Apple technical support is only 90 days for your phone many others are free for longer
Whilst Apple support is 2nd to none, its excellence is completely reliant on your local, 100's of millions do not have the convenience of an Apple store. Once you are down the route of mail in service there is little difference between major OEM's
Your preferences and choices are personal to you re apps, IMessage and support but they simply do not translate for many
Even if you use Google things on an iPhone, they are getting way less information than if you use an Android phone.
Only for a short while, they will cross reference you eventually
If your referring to personal data from having a Google account then yes, obviously, but there is no suggestion or evidence that Google sell or use this on ie Same as Apple
Now devious data mining developers same same on both OS's
Only for a short while, they will cross reference you eventually
If your referring to personal data from having a Google account then yes, obviously, but there is no suggestion or evidence that Google sell or use this on ie Same as Apple
Now devious data mining developers same same on both OS's
I am talking about how Google actually gets more data from an Android phone than an iPhone because Google can pretty much constantly track everything on an Android phone and not on an iPhone.
If you use gmail as your primary email utility, you have given Google enough, regardless of which phone you're using.
I don't understand. You felt uneasy using Android and worried about security for admittedly no known reason, and then you go on to talk about how seamlessly Apple works in your car. I don't see a correlation.
What was it about Android that made you feel vulnerable?
FWIW, I have had my credit card info compromised using iTunes.
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Please explain how you know this?
Unless you actively deny a bunch of the requests from Google Apps, the effect of having them on your iPhone is the same. In fact, some of the more spy-like features on Android are disabled by default.
And like, try using Google Maps without location data on. Its not great. It's not Apple Maps bad but it's still pretty terrible.
Think we will file this one under YMMV
especially with app permissions loosely applied
There was a study that sat two phones next to each other and tracked the amount of times there was a call for information (location being the one I found interesting) and even sitting there the Android phone called in about 900 times in 24 hours, 35% being for location.
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Think we will file this one under YMMV
https://digitalcontentnext.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/DCN-Google-Data-Collection-Paper.pdf
Think we will file this under “actual study”.
Yes read this paper and its notes quite clearly in his sample data it was less and there is no reference to constantly if I recall correctly and it is he who alerted us to how much IPhones are pinged and how they get you by cross reference in other ways
Less or more is splitting hairs they are logging you one way or another as we have seen on recent MR front page stores several IOS apps were logging location data so you just do not need Google to do it for you on an iPhone
I linked it. The link is right there.
Wow. How equivocating of you. If you care about privacy, you’re not getting an Android phone. That is basically what everyone says who looks into it. Yet you call it splitting hairs that they get six times the data from an Android phone because ... reasons.
Six times in his sample set he notes which implies it could be more or worse
We have no measure of the value of the data collected 1 incriminating or embarrassing one etc is all that is needed
You may read it that way I and I'm sure many others read it another way iPhone pings away to Google and others however you slice it, it's not 0
I never argued it didn’t. I just argued it did it less. And you can choose to not have anything Google on your iPhone which limits it further. Can you do the same on your Android phone?
Read through some of the bullet points and I have a few points of discussion that requires you to have more knowledge than reading just an article.
1. Do people completely turn off ALL their settings? My Google dump about the same as my Apple dump, and I have everything turned off for both. Just FYI.
"Upon reactivation, the devices were configured with the suggested default settings".
This implies the tester left the default settings. So by default, the results of this test are slightly skewed and not completely accurate. He is describing the default behavior, and not modifying the settings to fit his security expectations. Google explains this in the terms of use that many people don't read.
2. "This communication is driven purely by advertiser/publisher services"
For anyone familiar with the ad world, there is no surprise to this. Literally everyone on the internet uses Google Analytics. It does not necessarily mean that Google is using your data directly. This might be a red herring and would probably be a violation of Google agreements with their customers if Google was using customer analytics directly.
3. "Overall, our findings indicate that Google has the ability to connect the anonymous data collected through passive means with the personal information of the user."
This is not rocket science. This is still anonymous data in the sense that you are now user ABC123 instead of "John Smith at 123 Address". There may be indirect correlation that will somehow map you to John Smith, but nonetheless, it's by technical definition "anonymous".
I would say yes to the same extent you can on an iPhone but for different reasons or approach
The main difference is you do not have to use the native/bundled apps like an iPhone you have greater freedom to pick and try and avoid as much as possible if you so wish and so gives greater control on app permissions
However both will be stuck with some inner works or forced apps that you cant avoid, so same same IMO
I think it's all clutching at straws if someone knows you go to bigwiily.com 2 or 12 times its all a bit mute
So you can remove Chrome from Android? Interesting. And wrong. You cannot remove Chrome from Android.
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And then we have the next excuse. Anonymous Data gathering is still data collecting.