So, are Apple operating systems actually considerably better in terms of privacy? I’ve been considering making the switch for both privacy and security reasons, but I’m not really sure it’s worth the cost and hassle. I’m currently on an iPhone (recently switched because I had a Pixel 7 with… issues, but that’s longer story) and I’m trying to decide if it’s worth it to fully switch over to the Apple ecosystem.
EDIT: LONG POST, my opinion are backed on years of interest in the topics as well as first hand experience.
I’ll go Windows x Android first:
Windows is a privacy nightmare. You can try and fight it but you can and will break things along the way. So I’ll basically advise you to use anything else.
Android in the other hand has some options to flash custom ROMs and thus you can change what’s running. But you’re stuck with /e/ OS if you want real privacy without giving up on almost everything Google, banking apps, etc. There are other Android forks but most of them focus on security, features, gimmicks, etc. So at least there you have a good amount of control. You can use Android with KDE Connect for actually good cross device features in my personal opinion.
macOS iOS:
These are fully controlled by Apple. Sure, Apple goes hard against 3RD PARTY tracking, but does not tell you you need to switch off 1st party tracking within multiple settings pages (own experience). There have been some reports about macOS sending hashes of photos from a local account with no iCloud login, but that was fixed quickly, even though I’ve been skeptical. But this video by Techlore actually explains things really good.
MY conclusion?
I’d say the most private would be Android x Linux with KDE Connect.
2nd place is iOS with proper settings x Linux with KDE Connect. (For real, this tool gets you cool cross device sync.)
3rd place would be iOS x macOS both on privacy friendly settings if you, like me, rely on proprietary stuff. Xcode and iOS development can only be done on macOS and thus I’ll stick to this combo. Fedora will always have a special place in my heart and on my SSD though.
So which level of these you want to pick definitely come down to how much you rely on what software and what you can afford. I hope I could help.
Besides /e/ os, I would also recommend graphene and calyxos.
Calyxos works similar to /e/os in that it uses microg to get things working, but calyxos is more up-to-date and secure.
Graphene os uses sandboxed Google play, which sounds bad, but the play services is confined to its sandbox, basically graphene os will simply feed it garbage telemetry unless it is absolutely necessary for the system to function.
/e/ os supports more devices (not just pixel like the other two), have their own SSO cloud service based on Nextcloud, and they support device that is outside of the support period of manufacturer (this also hurts security, as firmware cannot be updated without the OEM supporting the phone). But there is always a trade-off between security and longevity, given that most OEM only support a phone for couple of years now.
Appreciate the detailed response! I’ll have to look into KDE Connect, never heard of it. I mentioned this in another comment, but I just installed Nobara last night. I may end up sticking with the iOS/Linux combo for a bit depending on how things go. The only real problem I have is that I game on PC, so Linux and MacOS are both sort of poor choices for that. At least they (especially Linux) are getting better, though.
Just know kde connect also works in gnome, there is a extension called GSConnect.
I don’t need it personally, but I heard it is really good.