Do you need to stop using this app on your iPhone?
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Apple warns iPhone users to stop using Google Chrome. “Unlike Chrome,” it says, “Safari truly helps protect your privacy.” Apple’s warning now includes secretive fingerprinting. And Chrome’s not the only Google app you need to stop using.
Apple says “Safari works to prevent advertisers and websites from using the unique combination of characteristics of your device to create a ‘fingerprint’ to track you. To combat fingerprinting, Safari presents a simplified version of the system configuration so more devices look identical to trackers, making it harder to single yours out.”
Digital fingerprinting has made an alarming comeback this year, with Google reversing its ban on this secretive, obfuscated technology that cannot be disabled. Given tracking cookies offer opt-outs, it’s bad news for users that fingerprinting do not.
Fingerprinting takes a raft of unrelated data points from your phone and combines these into a trackable identity. Apple isn’t alone in introducing new technology to block this by falsifying those signals. Mozilla has updated Firefox in a similar way. You can check whether your device can be fingerprinted or is masking your identity here.
Apple says Safari also offers AI-based tracking prevention, genuinely private browsing and defenses against location harvesting. It says Chrome fails to protect users on all those counts. Somewhat cutely, Apple adds that “Safari works seamlessly with Google Docs, Google Sheets and Google Slides.”
App privacy
Apple iOS / @UKZak
But Apple’s tight-knit Google integration may still catch you out — even if you use Safari. When you search the web in Safari, you’re probably using Google as the default search engine. At the bottom of each page, Google now includes a highlighted link to its own Google App, with a one-click redirect that is all-too-easy to tap accidentally.
Be warned, the data harvested by the Google App and linked to your identity is worse than Chrome. Apple’s warning applies just the same — using the Google App carries the same privacy risks per Apple’s warning, If you want to follow Apple’s advice and browse privately, do not tap the blue “Try app” button to leave Safari.
Chrome continues to dominate the browser market. It is quite clear that more than 3 billion users are comfortable with tracking given frequent warnings. If you decide to use Chrome knowing all this, that’s a transparent choice to make. If you choose to use the Google App on your iPhone istead, just be aware of its data harvesting before you do.
