Apple Prides itself On Its Privacy; All about Apple's Privacy
Apple Prides itself On Its Privacy; All about Apple’s Privacy
Cupertino puts privacy first in a lot of its products. But the company still gathers a bunch of your information. Over the last decade, Apple has positioned itself as a company that prioritizes privacy. It has clashed with law enforcement over encrypting people’s phones, messages, and FaceTime calls, as well as with Facebook over its creepy ad-tracking practices. However, Apple’s business model is changing as well. Cupertino has made its money for years by selling expensive hardware—iPhones, iPads, and
Macs. However, it has recently pushed to increase profits by expanding its services, such as Apple Music, iCloud, and Apple TV subscriptions. And its advertising business is rapidly expanding.As a result, Apple users are beginning to see more advertisements within some of Apple’s apps. Apple, like all businesses, has always collected some data about its customers, but its increasing push into services and advertising opens the door to more potential data collection. What Apple Knows About You by Default
The information Apple collects about you is detailed in its privacy policy, which is
approximately 4,000 words long. (This is comparable to other Big Tech firms.) This policy
outlines in broad strokes what Apple collects about you, which may include information you provide as well as data from third parties.
Apple also has multiple privacy guides for each of its products and apps, which detail how they collect and use data. Apple’s advertising and research programmes, as well as Apple Books and sports, are covered by approximately 80 of these privacy policies. The guides are available online and in apps. While some information is repeated, the total word count is around 70,000—roughly a novel’s worth of legalese.
Apple collects information about you when you begin using its products. This can include
information required to sign up for its services or purchase products, such as your name, email address, the Apple ID you create, and your payment information. Almost every business you buy from collects this type of information.
According to Apple’s privacy policies, it may also collect data on how you use your devices. This includes the apps you use, searches within Apple’s apps, such as the App Store, as well as analytics and crash data. Other information Apple can collect about you—often with your
permission first—includes your location, health, and fitness information. “You are not required to
provide the requested personal information. “However, if you choose not to do so, we will be unable to provide you with our products or services or respond to any requests you may have,” Apple’s privacy policy states. In short, if you want to use some of Apple’s own apps, you may need to give them some data.Two class actions have been filed against Apple as a result of the
research. Separately, Apple was fined by France’s data regulator for its advertising practices. According to Apple spokesperson Shane Bauer, the company is “disappointed” with the French decision and intends to appeal. “Apple Search Ads goes further than any other digital advertising platform we are aware of by
providing users with a clear choice as to whether or not they would like personalized ads,” Bauer says. “Additionally, Apple Search Ads never tracks users across 3rd party apps and websites, and only uses first-party data to personalize ads.”
