Thing is, I don't trust Apple, just as I don't trust other companies (Google included, which is why I don't have Google proprietary stuff on my Android devices)

Thing is, I don't trust Apple, just as I don't trust other companies (Google included, which is why I don't have Google proprietary stuff on my Android devices). I trust them to the extent that their current business plan does not centre around 'monetising' profile data but that's about it. I fully expect they did in fact design their systems to make it possible to eventually 'monetise' such data. Do I have proof for this, other than the fact that they've shown to be less than fully truthful about their data retention policies? No, I do not, but I do know that it is more rule than exception for commercial entities to eventually renege on their promises of personal privacy, probably because that huge 'big data' carrot on that stick is just too juicy to be ignored. Given Apple's enormous cash reserve they pose the additional threat of being able to outright buy large industrial players in lucrative fields which would allow them to use the collected data to target their customers without needing to 'sell to advertisers'.