Ironically, a large number of privacy minded individuals are using Google Pixels flashed with custom roms (Calyx, Graphene, Lineage, etc)
If not designed specifically for privacy, these Android forks are at the very least not stock Android, and stripped of many anti-privacy features.
This can be accomplished due to the Pixel’s (mostly) unique attribute - a bootloader that can be unlocked and relocked.
I don’t know why Google have allowed their bootloaders this freedom, but I can’t imagine that a company with a reputation for killing anything they touch would allow it to continue for much longer.
If/when the day comes that the Pixel is fully locked down, what options are there for privacy enthusiasts to continue using a smartphone, an inherently unprivate device?
Does anyone know of development going into looking at how to unlock bootloaders on any device, opening the door for custom rom flashing to continue?
Are the pinephones, fairphones, etc going to have to ramp up production?
Anything going on in the iphone department allowing for detachment from the Apple ecosystem?
What happens next, really?
So I’m hesitant to mention this, but I have been noticing similar problems trending worse and worse over the entire Android ecosystem. I love the projects that are trying to solve this, but I don’t see them gaining traction or building top notch phones with high end cameras that compete with Samsung or Apple.
So I recently decided to start trying out something else: after avoiding it like the plague, I’ve been using an iPhone 14 fairly regularly and have been pleasantly surprised by the privacy and security features. Everything seems to be implemented to give you control over what apps can do.
I’m not trying to start and Apple vs Android fight, there are many aspects I hate still, notably all their proprietary nonsense. But that aside, what’s everyone’s opinions on the privacy aspect of iPhones?
Edit: forgot to chime in on the key question: no, I don’t see Apple ever allowing custom ROMs unless it’s legally required. But I don’t see that entirely as a bad thing as long as the platform is appropriately secured and privacy friendly, which is why I’m asking this question and hoping those who know better can explain more.
Apple is a big tech company and no big tech company should be trusted (too much). While I think in terms of their user’s privacy they are better than Google, Google at least is pretty vocal about them spying on their users with their actions.
On an iPhone you’ll never get completely rid of trackers and stuff even with a jailbreaked device. Imo the best option you have (if you want a phone that respects your privacy) is an Android phone with a degoogled custom ROM that focuses on privacy. Something like Graphene OS, Calyx OS and /e/OS.
Last time In checked Apple privacy practices, their were collecting same kind of stuff than Google.
The major difference is that Apple acts as a proxy between the user and advertiser, where Google let other companies also track the user.
NONE of them can be deemed as privacy-friendly.
Apple recently started allowing encryption of iCloud backups which is nice. Def don’t use iCloud without setting that up.