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Would you even find out if an app has been sold to another company on iOS app store? It's confusing to see all of that diatribe when it doesn't even do much (if

by pxoe 1y ago

Would you even find out if an app has been sold to another company on iOS app store? It's confusing to see all of that diatribe when it doesn't even do much (if anything it almost lulls you into a false sense of security), and you just have less options to choose from to get around being locked out of using your device for apps you want.

jackstraw42 1y ago
> Would you even find out if an app has been sold to another company on iOS app store? On this particular issue, no. But I also make a habit of not leaving old apps that I don't use lingering around on my phone. And I'm pretty sure I know all of those haven't been bought out by a data predator, apart from 23andme. I just trust what Apple has done in other areas for my personal privacy and security, and I know they have insanely high and probably unreasonable standards for their app stores. and I don't install obviously predatory garbage apps. I feel like I could have only achieved this level of confidence in my mobile device with iOS. And to be clear that's just an opinion :)
- pxoe 1y ago
  Insane and unreasonable standards sounds right, but I'm not sure about privacy and security all that much. It's just naive to assume something is totally malware free, and they're not actually disincentivized from just keeping some more subtle scammy apps around if they just generate them 30% fee revenue anyway. There's a bit of magical thinking that goes into assuming just how "good" they are at it, when they literally just don't even do some of those vaguely insinuated things. (to me, if some os is unable to have both freedom of installing apps/sideloading and security (with help of malware checking and other measures that keep bad stuff away), and only able to achieve that "security" only by completely locking down what apps can be run and how apps are obtained, it seems like either a failure to accomplish actual security there, or rather just a pretense to keep a platform locked down.)
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    That's fair. Unfortunately, like with the national politics here, we have two shitty options.
    - pxoe 1y ago
      Well, like with "national politics" (what nation?), even if there may be only two options functionally, it's also just pretending that there are only two options there at all. (while almost actively ignoring any other options) Like, while it may sound annoying and nitpicky, android is not just "one option of the two", it has a bunch of versions/flavors/forks/whatever you wanna call it, that vary between manufacturers, and also alternative distributions that can be installed on devices, situations that iphone just does not have, at all or to that extent. (quite linuxy in that way if you squint real hard.) I'm struggling to worry about this whole debacle with google floating about whatever they're floating about (currently it's that vague) all that much, when android is that malleable. There are also actual Linux phones and distributions, postmarketOS, environments like Phosh and Plasma Mobile, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish, and so on. These can also end up being treated as a "third option" when it's a bunch of different options, or even treated as non-existent, but these options are out there, available, modern, with phones you could just buy. The only case where "one option" is actually just one option is with iPhones.
      - jackstraw42 1y ago
        Sorry, Google and Apple are American companies so "here" was the USA in my comment. I agree completely with you about the Android forks. That does allow for people do things right more than the way Apple does it. But it also allows people to do things wrong, and how many predatory mobile phone companies would see an opportunity to spy on customers if they won't notice? Just like none of us would buy a computer and use it without formatting and reinstalling the OS first, there are tons of people who didn't reinstall the OS and kept installing shitty malware. That's the case that I'm worried is much more prevalent among the American population than we realized. Tons of factors go into it, but I think the fact that we distilled all of our information received regularly down to something that's processed thru two operating systems before reaching human eyes and ears is something worth looking more into. Or at least I think it's a damn good reason to start over and begin with doing things the right way, given everything that we know now.
- dns_snek 1y ago
  > I know they have insanely high and probably unreasonable standards for their app store [2022] https://lifehacker.com/great-now-the-apple-app-store-has-malware-too-1849386738 https://lifehacker.com/great-now-the-apple-app-store-has-mal... [2022] https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/malicious-apps-millions-downloads-apple-google-app-stores https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/malic... [2024] Fraudulent LastPass-impersonating app allowed in App Store: https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/2024/02/warning-fraudulent-app-impersonating-lastpass-currently-available-in-apple-app-store https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/2024/02/warning-fraudulent-a... [2024] "Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39685272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39685272 [2020] Scam subscriptions: https://blog.lockdownprivacy.com/2020/11/25/how-to-make-80000.html https://blog.lockdownprivacy.com/2020/11/25/how-to-make-8000... [2015] Thousands of malware-containing apps built using infected version of XCode slip through App Store review: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34338362 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34338362
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    Quickly looked at all those links and without any more commentary from you, I guess I feel like my point stands. Those all fall under the category of shitty apps I would never install on my iPhone or Android phone. So, Apple's privacy standards and policies, and walled gardens for better or worse, kept me closer to what I was looking for regarding personal privacy and security than I could have gotten with Android. Who knows if anyone checked those same apps I use to see if the Android versions are different or contain malware, but my sense is that it's much easier to slip it in the Play Store than Apple's App Store.
    - mcny 1y ago
      One more example since you mentioned shitty apps... https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/672xcq/nytimes_how_uber_intentionally_deceived_apple_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/672xcq/nytimes_how_u... Uber did this and didn't get abruptly terminated from Apple developer program...
    - rpdillon 1y ago

by pxoe 1y ago

jackstraw42 1y ago

> Would you even find out if an app has been sold to another company on iOS app store? On this particular issue, no. But I also make a habit of not leaving old apps that I don't use lingering around on my phone. And I'm pretty sure I know all of those haven't been bought out by a data predator, apart from 23andme. I just trust what Apple has done in other areas for my personal privacy and security, and I know they have insanely high and probably unreasonable standards for their app stores. and I don't install obviously predatory garbage apps. I feel like I could have only achieved this level of confidence in my mobile device with iOS. And to be clear that's just an opinion :)

pxoe 1y ago
Insane and unreasonable standards sounds right, but I'm not sure about privacy and security all that much. It's just naive to assume something is totally malware free, and they're not actually disincentivized from just keeping some more subtle scammy apps around if they just generate them 30% fee revenue anyway. There's a bit of magical thinking that goes into assuming just how "good" they are at it, when they literally just don't even do some of those vaguely insinuated things. (to me, if some os is unable to have both freedom of installing apps/sideloading and security (with help of malware checking and other measures that keep bad stuff away), and only able to achieve that "security" only by completely locking down what apps can be run and how apps are obtained, it seems like either a failure to accomplish actual security there, or rather just a pretense to keep a platform locked down.)
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  That's fair. Unfortunately, like with the national politics here, we have two shitty options.
  - pxoe 1y ago
    Well, like with "national politics" (what nation?), even if there may be only two options functionally, it's also just pretending that there are only two options there at all. (while almost actively ignoring any other options) Like, while it may sound annoying and nitpicky, android is not just "one option of the two", it has a bunch of versions/flavors/forks/whatever you wanna call it, that vary between manufacturers, and also alternative distributions that can be installed on devices, situations that iphone just does not have, at all or to that extent. (quite linuxy in that way if you squint real hard.) I'm struggling to worry about this whole debacle with google floating about whatever they're floating about (currently it's that vague) all that much, when android is that malleable. There are also actual Linux phones and distributions, postmarketOS, environments like Phosh and Plasma Mobile, Ubuntu Touch, Sailfish, and so on. These can also end up being treated as a "third option" when it's a bunch of different options, or even treated as non-existent, but these options are out there, available, modern, with phones you could just buy. The only case where "one option" is actually just one option is with iPhones.
    - jackstraw42 1y ago
      Sorry, Google and Apple are American companies so "here" was the USA in my comment. I agree completely with you about the Android forks. That does allow for people do things right more than the way Apple does it. But it also allows people to do things wrong, and how many predatory mobile phone companies would see an opportunity to spy on customers if they won't notice? Just like none of us would buy a computer and use it without formatting and reinstalling the OS first, there are tons of people who didn't reinstall the OS and kept installing shitty malware. That's the case that I'm worried is much more prevalent among the American population than we realized. Tons of factors go into it, but I think the fact that we distilled all of our information received regularly down to something that's processed thru two operating systems before reaching human eyes and ears is something worth looking more into. Or at least I think it's a damn good reason to start over and begin with doing things the right way, given everything that we know now.
dns_snek 1y ago
> I know they have insanely high and probably unreasonable standards for their app store [2022] https://lifehacker.com/great-now-the-apple-app-store-has-malware-too-1849386738 https://lifehacker.com/great-now-the-apple-app-store-has-mal... [2022] https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/malicious-apps-millions-downloads-apple-google-app-stores https://www.darkreading.com/cyberattacks-data-breaches/malic... [2024] Fraudulent LastPass-impersonating app allowed in App Store: https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/2024/02/warning-fraudulent-app-impersonating-lastpass-currently-available-in-apple-app-store https://blog.lastpass.com/posts/2024/02/warning-fraudulent-a... [2024] "Scammed by the top result for 'Bitcoin wallet' in Apple App Store": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39685272 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39685272 [2020] Scam subscriptions: https://blog.lockdownprivacy.com/2020/11/25/how-to-make-80000.html https://blog.lockdownprivacy.com/2020/11/25/how-to-make-8000... [2015] Thousands of malware-containing apps built using infected version of XCode slip through App Store review: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34338362 https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34338362
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  Quickly looked at all those links and without any more commentary from you, I guess I feel like my point stands. Those all fall under the category of shitty apps I would never install on my iPhone or Android phone. So, Apple's privacy standards and policies, and walled gardens for better or worse, kept me closer to what I was looking for regarding personal privacy and security than I could have gotten with Android. Who knows if anyone checked those same apps I use to see if the Android versions are different or contain malware, but my sense is that it's much easier to slip it in the Play Store than Apple's App Store.
  - mcny 1y ago
    One more example since you mentioned shitty apps... https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/672xcq/nytimes_how_uber_intentionally_deceived_apple_and/ https://old.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/672xcq/nytimes_how_u... Uber did this and didn't get abruptly terminated from Apple developer program...
  - rpdillon 1y ago