At the moment I am thinking about getting a new phone in the foreseeable future. I was long time using android, but switched to iOS 5 years ago because of the longer update period. Now also some android devices offer a longer update support of about 5 years. Now I am thinking about switching back to android.

But i am wondering: is there any big difference from a privacy perspective between iOS and android? I know you can go for custom roms on android that are focused on privacy which i also used in the past, but i am not planning on doing this in the future. So it would come down to stock android vs stock iOS. Any advice there or is all lost anyway?

  • jet@hackertalks.com
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    1 year ago

    Just for FDroid and the open source programs alone I would stick with android. Watching YouTube without ads, my own browser with an adblocker…

    Stock Android versus stock iOS, stock iOS is more hardened, more secure. But it’s a more restrictive walled garden. So it depends what your criteria of privacy is. If you have an iCloud account, and you enable end to end encryption, and you trust Apple then it’s better than stock Android.

    • rhabarba@feddit.de
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      1 year ago

      Watching YouTube without ads, my own browser with an adblocker…

      Both are well possible on an iPhone.

      • jet@hackertalks.com
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        1 year ago

        Do tell…

        My understanding is iOS requires all browsers to use web kit.

        And there is no open source repository on iOS, so how are you watching YouTube without ads?

        • pjol@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          how are you watching YouTube without ads?

          My controversial way (probably will be downvoted) is with Premium to support content creators i enjoy.

          But to answer your question; My understanding is Brave Browser (despite WebKit) and AdGuard with Safari also removes ads.

          • biscuits@lemmy.sdfeu.org
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            1 year ago

            Well, I’d say to support content creators directly if they provide such option rather than through YouTube ads or YouTube Premium. I think that even donating 1$ one time is more that channel would have earned from like thousand of your views.

            • NightAuthor@beehaw.org
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              1 year ago

              CPM on tech, finance, and health (a lot of what I watch) is often $5-10. And apparently google pays creators even more than that rate for premium viewers.

              Even so, direct payment is likely to be more profitable to creators than just watching ads or having premium.

              But even as a technical person, I’ve never really been interested in finding ways to block ads on my PC, MacBook, iPhone, Android (when I had one), and Roku/AppleTV. And potentially having to keep up with the apparently changing landscape of YouTube adblocker a for each. Sounds like a pain in the ass. I’d rather just pay for family premium, and easily share the benefits with my mom, sister, & wife without having to offer technical support for their ad blocking.

              • biscuits@lemmy.sdfeu.org
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                1 year ago

                Yeah, in my case it’s really easy, just like the other commenter said. Some time ago I’ve been configuring new laptop for my mom. I just installed Firefox with uBlock Origin with default settings and I don’t think she has ever seen YouTube ads.

              • LinkOpensChest.wav@lemmy.one
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                1 year ago

                I just use uBlock Origin in Firefox, and I never see ads. There’s nothing to keep up with – it’s been uBlock Origin for a long time now

        • Version@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          Safari on iOS supports extensions out of the box. You can just install adguard or something else and won‘t have any ads.

          There are also third party browsers, which yes, use WebKit, but also can block ads.

        • rhabarba@feddit.de
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          1 year ago

          My understanding is iOS requires all browsers to use web kit.

          Yes, but… - anyway, what exactly would a different rendering engine improve for your experience?

          how are you watching YouTube without ads?

          Vinegar exists.