Not that this will make a noticeable dent to Apple’s bottom line, but the on-device scanning and the on-device check for nudity have dented Apple’s credibility

Not that this will make a noticeable dent to Apple’s bottom line, but the on-device scanning and the on-device check for nudity have dented Apple’s credibility among the small subset of (influential) people who care a lot more about privacy and freedoms than a for-profit corporation can. I see people talking online about switching to Android or “going back to Android” just because of this. That sounds weird to me from the privacy perspective. Some are taking an approach with better control by switching to GrapheneOS or CalyxOS, which is probably great (for those who can manage these). I’ve also seen some people talking about staying on iOS 14.x, which, for the first time in iOS history, will continue getting security updates even after iOS 15 is released (current users of iOS 14 will have a choice of which version they’d want to use). But since there were already leaks of a version of the CSAM scanning on iOS 14, I don’t think staying on it will help avoid this whenever Apple flips the switch on. It will be turned on in the current OSes supported by Apple. Overall, Apple has a lot of thinking to do. One can only dream that its usual adamant and arrogant self doesn’t make the decisions later.