Research Claiming Android Collects 20x More User Data Than iOS 'Off By An Order of Magnitude,' Says Google

[mazz0]

When google say 'off by an order of magnitude', do they mean its actually 30x more data recorded... ??

"Order of magnitude" usually refers to the number of digits used to represent the number in base ten, so it would be 2 or 200. ?

Off by an order of magnitude... so in reality it’s 200x and not 20x? ?

Damn it, that's the joke I was going to make!

 

[The Cappy]

Remember these are computer science people, so "order of magnitude" generally means a factor of 2, not 10. So Google's best case scenario is that they're claiming it's only collecting 10x more data.

 

[checker2010]

Well...
Googles business plan is to collect data about it's users and use it for ads or just selling it.
Apples business plan is to collect as much money as possible from its users by overpricing it's products.

The most recent iPhone I purchased was 400 quid. Definitely not overpriced.

 

[steve09090]

Funny how you neglect to mention the paper's conclusion that Apple collects more types of information than Google does, including location, local IP Address and nearby WiFi device's MAC Addresses.

But it doesn't collect the data that can identify the user.

 

[Captain Trips]

When google say 'off by an order of magnitude', do they mean its actually 30x more data recorded... ??

Actually, I think one order of magnitude is 10x more, so it would be 200x (20x times 10) more data recorded.

I could very well be off when I say an order of magnitude would be 10x more, though - the Wikipedia article on orders of magnitude makes this out to be more complex than I first thought...

[DIT: Should have read more of the conversation - @ninecows already mentioned that an order of magnitude would be 200x.]

 

[Captain Trips]

Making a study using a jailbroken iPhone with an outdated operating system is really daft. How many iOS users have a jailbroken phone running iOS 13.6?

Apparently quite a few, given how many people post here about how:

• They hate the "closed garden" for iPhone and how they should be able to load whatever they want (jailbreaking being the main way to do that for now?)
• They want to load from whatever source (other than the Apple Store) they want.

I know, lots of vocal posts don't necessarily equal large numbers of people.

 

[breather]

The most recent iPhone I purchased was 400 quid. Definitely not overpriced.

Sure.
But.... Apple is know to be the company that sets the prices pretty high.

 

[thays133]

Sadly this entire research is crap. Google sends more raw bytes of data but most of it just telemetric data when it is looked at. Apple on the other hand is collecting a lot more private data.

 

[thays133]

Making a study using a jailbroken iPhone with an outdated operating system is really daft. How many iOS users have a jailbroken phone running iOS 13.6?

It does need to be a jailbroken phone as that is about the only way to separate out the data and grab what is being collected.

 

[MauiPa]

A typical "study" designed just to put out an attention-grabbing headline.

No analysis of what exactly is being collected.
No multi-device testing.
No even current-gen device testing.
Hell, how does it even qualify as a study with a sample of two(!!!) devices?!

Literally, the only conclusion from this nonsense is that a jailbroken iPhone 8 sends less data than a Google Pixel 2.

I'm not saying that Android collects less data than iOS, but the way they are trying to prove it is ridiculous.

literally the only thing that you said that is true is that using a jailbroken iPhone was flawed. Unless you are also insinuating that Android has smart logic to determine the amount of data it needs to steal from customers - that is very disturbing. the OS doesn't really care whether your phone is current or not, as long as it can run, so your insinuation that updated devices are required is flawed. Also 2 or 2,000, the OS functions the same, are there any different results expected? No, then the number of devices is irrelevant. Now, the apps loaded on the devices might matter, but they said the study was about sending data to Google and Apple, not developers

 

[MauiPa]

Sadly this entire research is crap. Google sends more raw bytes of data but most of it just telemetric data when it is looked at. Apple on the other hand is collecting a lot more private data.

says someone with no evidence to back it up.

 

[Substance90]

An "order of magnitude" less than 20x would still imply Android collects 2x more data than iOS.

 

[MauiPa]

See this is why you shouldnt have posted this article. The devices used are not relevant. Bad testing methodology only leads to false claims. While I fully believe android does send a ton more data back to Google than an iOS iPhone send back to Apple.

please explain why the devices matter? Does Android steal more data based on the model? If your phone is newer and more expensive, more value to steal? The devices absolutely do not matter, unless that disturbing premise matters. Using a Jailbroken old OS might matter, as Apple has tightened things up a newer OS probably sends less data

 

[jjudson]

Google is second (barely) only to Facebook on intrusive data capture in my opinion, but I'm sure that Google Maps has a large impact on the data being transmitted. This is why traffic data is so precise these days. There's a lot of crowd sourcing going on almost by default with Google Maps, even when installed on an iPhone, but since Google runs the Android sphere, it's probably more intensive on their platforms.

 

[russell_314]

Sadly this entire research is crap. Google sends more raw bytes of data but most of it just telemetric data when it is looked at. Apple on the other hand is collecting a lot more private data.

Source or just your opinion based on nothing?

 

[russell_314]

I don’t think anyone should be shocked that a device running an operating system from a company that is in business to collect and sell information for advertising purposes is collecting more information ?

 

[michaela001]

If a company collects huge amounts of data, it's just a matter of time they start to do something evil with it (like selling it to bad actors to try to influence your political views, or worse). Or, inevitably they will screw up and leak that data to hackers.

So no, it doesn't really matter what they claim they're using the data for. They must not collect the data they don't really, really need in the first place.

EXACTLY and we ALL know that Google is evil in its PUREST form.

 

[michaela001]

Funny how you neglect to mention the paper's conclusion that Apple collects more types of information than Google does, including location, local IP Address and nearby WiFi device's MAC Addresses.

That is NOT more. It is simply identifiable.

 

[michaela001]

Source or just your opinion based on nothing?

I agree. Please provide the source or this is just your opinion based on nothing.

 

[bilbo--baggins]

My thoughts exactly. Surprisingly honest of google to admit that it’s even worse than the researchers found.

 

[JosephAW]

Just don’t create a google account or sign into anything when you buy an android phone just like you can do using an iPhone without an iCloud account or sign into anything. Problem solved.

 

[cmullinstu]

I can't see how telemetry and data collection is bad in itself. As long as the data being collected is going through a secure channel where all the data is getting scrubbed so it stays private I see no issues with it.

The problem has been that pretty everyone wants to collect everything in order to increase profits by selling whatever data they collect. Privacy and security has never been a part of the system making it a complete mess and making us the users suffer a great deal.

I don't mind sending telemetry data to Apple. As long as it's being encrypted and scrubbed. Apple gets the data they need to improve their services, no man-in-the-middle can intercept it and none of it compromises my privacy.



The issue is how there is no way for us as end-users to know if this is being sent using secure channels, and we don't really know if anything is being scrubbed or if everything being collected can be linked directly back to us and used to identify us in ways that is compromising our privacy. We have to simply trust the companies involved and hope they are taking security and privacy seriously. And sadly in 2021 there is barely anyone in the industry that deserves this amount of trust.

I agree 100% with your thoughts, especially the last paragraph.

I’m a Software Engineer for an enterprise application and we need telemetry data to ensure our software is working as intended. We don’t sell it, nor does it leave our infrastructure. But telemetry data is extremely useful when used properly.

As a user we should be informed what data is sent/received in telemetry data without having to use something like Wireshark to try and capture the packets of data.

 

[cmullinstu]

But it doesn't collect the data that can identify the user.

If Apple is collecting local IP + MAC Address, they can easily determine the user. Assuming said user as an iCloud account, which I believe is necessary for the App Store.

 

[Yokon54]

Well...
Googles business plan is to collect data about it's users and use it for ads or just selling it.
Apples business plan is to collect as much money as possible from its users by overpricing it's products.

Many Android products are priced similarly to Apple products.

You’re looking for its.

 

[breather]

Many Android products are priced similarly to Apple products.

You’re looking for its.

its?

Did I get grammar or spelling wrong? English is not my first language.