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iPhones are less of a privacy nightmare. One of the biggest incentives for creating apps is to scrape all kind of data from the users. Look at how many apps re

iPhones are less of a privacy nightmare. One of the biggest incentives for creating apps is to scrape all kind of data from the users. Look at how many apps require permission to see you contacts. And how many actually need your contacts to function. That's why I'm still a bit surprised that many seem to be surprised by findings like this one here.

josephg 2y ago
I wish there was an option for “give bogus contacts” which showed the app a list of contacts - but it was all randomly generated junk. Make it so the app can’t tell if the contacts it gets are real or fake. I read a fiction book years ago where there were cameras everywhere. To get privacy, instead of hiding their identities the protagonist paid companies to insert bogus information into the information brokers’ network. So if they tried to figure out where they were on a certain day, 20 records would match. I think this is a much more likely vision of the future.
- 3np 2y ago
  I guess rather than closing my Google account I should have removed the 2FA and changed the password to a weak one on the HIBP list (:
wruza 2y ago
Look at how many apps require permission to see you contacts. And how many actually need your contacts to function. That is, again, not require but ask for on iphone. I have zero non-functioning apps on my iphone due to denied access to contacts. Even a chinese bluetooth light controller doesn't dare (while refusing to work on android for the same reason). You can hate apple/iphone ecosystem all you want, but let's not sneak false claims into how they actually work.
- hk__2 2y ago
  > I have zero non-functioning apps on my iphone due to denied access to contacts. You don’t have WhatsApp then.
  - nechuchelo 2y ago
    I do and deny it access to contacts. Everything works fine.
  - jen20 2y ago
    iOS grants just the contacts you select - including “none” to apps. WhatsApp works fine in that regime.
hk__2 2y ago
> Look at how many apps require permission to see you contacts. It is so annoying that it’s either "give access to ALL my contacts and ALL their information (yes, even the notes I took on their favorite things for next Christmas)" or "don’t give access". I wish we could limit the number of contacts and the level of information we give.
- normie3000 2y ago
  Photo access has improved a lot in this regard recently.
- subscribed 2y ago
  Check if GrapheneOS suits your needs. It has "contact scopes", ie you cna literally allow the app to see single contact only. Same with storage scopes: one directory and that's it.
- CharlesW 2y ago
  > It is so annoying that it’s either "give access to ALL my contacts and ALL their information… […] I wish we could limit the number of contacts and the level of information we give. iOS added fine-grained (at the contact level) access to contacts data last year. https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-control-which-contacts-apps-can-access-in-ios-18 https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-control-which-contacts-a...
  - MBCook 2y ago
    They did the same for photos years ago. Many apps have not updated and perhaps never will.
    - CharlesW 2y ago
      They don't need to be, since it's enforced at the OS level. Users can limit permissions to individual contacts regardless of whether iOS apps have been updated to explicitly handle that use case.

josephg 2y ago

I wish there was an option for “give bogus contacts” which showed the app a list of contacts - but it was all randomly generated junk. Make it so the app can’t tell if the contacts it gets are real or fake. I read a fiction book years ago where there were cameras everywhere. To get privacy, instead of hiding their identities the protagonist paid companies to insert bogus information into the information brokers’ network. So if they tried to figure out where they were on a certain day, 20 records would match. I think this is a much more likely vision of the future.

3np 2y ago
I guess rather than closing my Google account I should have removed the 2FA and changed the password to a weak one on the HIBP list (:

wruza 2y ago

Look at how many apps require permission to see you contacts. And how many actually need your contacts to function. That is, again, not require but ask for on iphone. I have zero non-functioning apps on my iphone due to denied access to contacts. Even a chinese bluetooth light controller doesn't dare (while refusing to work on android for the same reason). You can hate apple/iphone ecosystem all you want, but let's not sneak false claims into how they actually work.

hk__2 2y ago
> I have zero non-functioning apps on my iphone due to denied access to contacts. You don’t have WhatsApp then.
- nechuchelo 2y ago
  I do and deny it access to contacts. Everything works fine.
- jen20 2y ago
  iOS grants just the contacts you select - including “none” to apps. WhatsApp works fine in that regime.

hk__2 2y ago

> Look at how many apps require permission to see you contacts. It is so annoying that it’s either "give access to ALL my contacts and ALL their information (yes, even the notes I took on their favorite things for next Christmas)" or "don’t give access". I wish we could limit the number of contacts and the level of information we give.

normie3000 2y ago
Photo access has improved a lot in this regard recently.
subscribed 2y ago
Check if GrapheneOS suits your needs. It has "contact scopes", ie you cna literally allow the app to see single contact only. Same with storage scopes: one directory and that's it.
CharlesW 2y ago
> It is so annoying that it’s either "give access to ALL my contacts and ALL their information… […] I wish we could limit the number of contacts and the level of information we give. iOS added fine-grained (at the contact level) access to contacts data last year. https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-control-which-contacts-apps-can-access-in-ios-18 https://lifehacker.com/tech/you-can-control-which-contacts-a...
- MBCook 2y ago
  They did the same for photos years ago. Many apps have not updated and perhaps never will.
  - CharlesW 2y ago
    They don't need to be, since it's enforced at the OS level. Users can limit permissions to individual contacts regardless of whether iOS apps have been updated to explicitly handle that use case.