A study has concluded that Apple’s privacy practices aren’t particularly effective, because default apps on the iPhone and Mac have limited privacy settings and confusing configuration options.
The research was conducted by Amel Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist of Aalto University in Finland. The pair noted that while many studies had examined privacy issues with third-party apps for Apple devices, very little literature investigates the issue in first-party apps – like Safari and Siri.
The aims of the study [PDF] were to investigate how much data Apple’s own apps collect and where it’s sent, and to see if users could figure out how to navigate the landscape of Apple’s privacy settings.
The lengths to which Apple goes to secure its ecosystem – as described in its Platform Security Guide [PDF] – has earned it kudos from the information security world. Cupertino uses its hard-earned reputation as a selling point and as a bludgeon against Google.
Bourdoucen and Janne Lindqvist don’t dispute Apple’s technical prowess, but argue that it is undermined by confusing user interfaces.
“Our work shows that users may disable default apps, only to discover later that the settings do not match their initial preference,” the paper states.
“Our results demonstrate users are not correctly able to configure the desired privacy settings of default apps. In addition,…
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