This post is going to be a bit personal (and maybe a little bit out of context, it’s not just Google software I want to remove) but I’m tired of not knowing what to do about it. I want and have wanted to get rid of a bunch of proprietary software in my life, including but not limited to Google’s software, for quite a while now, and I even got a Pixel 7A with hopes of installing GrapheneOS. But there are a few problems. First, my parents are understandably concerned and need me to use Google Maps’ location sharing whenever I go to school. All my classmates use Instagram and we have that as our only messaging platform. I currently use DFInstagram, but I feel that it is not free from spyware. Finally, I also own a DJI Mini 3 Pro, and the associated DJI Fly app just refuses to work under GrapheneOS (I tested). Is there anything I can do to replace or limit the access of these aforementioned proprietary apps?
Apple tracks you every bit as much as Google, with even fewer options to mitigate it.
Here’s one recent article.
The bottom line is, with Apple you can’t control anything, and they mask the process for limiting data collection using dark patterns.
Also, you can’t turn off Siri data collection. What you can turn off with Siri is it responding to voice commands - with the control panel being another dark pattern.
On my Pixel running Graphene, Lineage, or DivestOS, there’s no assistant to collect such data.
On my Samsung, the assistant has been disabled using ADB (since the phone can’t be rooted or flashed).
Apple is arguably worse, because you have no way to mitigate these issues.
that aalto paper is about how users are unable to correctly disable data collection, not how it’s not possible.
I agree with you and those researchers that it’s a huge problem. in a lot of ways we use the internet really abstractly now and there’s no clear process for seeing whats going on behind the scenes and plenty of software manufacturers make it harder on purpose.
but as a person who uses ios and android daily, the privacy settings on ios are lightyears ahead of android.
it’s still not as straightforward as it should be, and apple could be clearer about why some settings are important (advanced data protection in icloud protects you from having your cloud data subpoenaed but god luck knowing this!).