Study claims Apple’s app aren’t as protective of privacy as the tech giant wants you to believe

New research from Aalto University — a public research university located in Espoo, Finland — claims that Apple’s apps aren’t as protective of privacy as the tech giant wants you to believe.

The researchers studied eight apps: Safari, Siri, Family Sharing, iMessage, FaceTime, Location Services, Find My and Touch ID. They collected all publicly available privacy-related information on these apps, from technical documentation to privacy policies and user manuals. They said that the app’s privacy protections were a bit on the frail side.

“Due to the way the user interface is designed, users don’t know what is going on,” says Associate Professor Janne Lindqvist, head of the computer science department at Aalto. “For example, the user is given the option to enable or not enable Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant. But enabling only refers to whether you use Siri’s voice control. Siri collects data in the background from other apps you use, regardless of your choice, unless you understand how to go into the settings and specifically change that.”

The report says that, in practice, protecting privacy on an Apple device requires persistent and expert clicking on each app individually, and that Apple’s help falls short.

“The online instructions for restricting data access are very complex and confusing, and the steps required are scattered in different places. There’s no clear direction on whether to go to the app settings, the central settings – or even both,” says Amel Bourdoucen, a doctoral researcher at Aalt

In addition, the instructions didn’t list all the necessary steps or explain how collected data is processed.

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