Apple has a great PR (propaganda) department that has convinced many people they respect your privacy. In truth, they do not. They're "better" than Google, but only slightly. And only so slightly that realistically it doesn't matter.
"Apple is taking the unprecedented step of removing its highest level data security tool from customers in the UK, after the government demanded access to user data."
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgj54eq4vejo
It happened in the UK; it will not be long before it happens in the US.
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Also, USA: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-36084244
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Also, France, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Japan: https://www.apple.com/legal/transparency/pdf/requests-2024-H...
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Also, Russia: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-02-04/apple-fil...
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Also, China: https://www.article19.org/resources/apple-cares-about-digita...
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Also in general: https://proton.me/blog/iphone-privacy
Also, the US Government has already demanded that Apple weaken device encryption.
Apple fought it in court, and the government dropped their demand rather than set a privacy precedent they wanted to avoid.
I'm not even much of a fan of Apple but I really don't think you can hold it against them when they loudly protest but ultimately comply with legal demands.
They did exactly what they should have. Their choices were build a backdoor or disable the advanced data protection feature in the UK. They also made it incredibly public.
The best way to prevent the Feds from getting access to customer data is to not collect it in the first place.
Apple is subject to the same laws Oura is. The competition is too.
All it takes is a political sea change for E2EE to go away.
Apple already has to hand over a wealth of information when asked by the feds.
Previously, they refused US government demands for a backdoor that would allow them to unlock locked devices.
Does that mean that instead of UK government accessing the data (through a backdoor), UK government can now access to data (because it's not encrypted at all)?
After Apple's announcement that they would remove encryption from UK users rather than weaken it, the bad press and public pressure forced the UK government to back down.
> UK backs down in Apple privacy row, US says
That makes it very nearly meaningless.
We've never had so many threats to our privacy and liberties heaved upon us, and the rate is accelerating.
> Cook conveyed to lawmakers that device-level age assurance proposals should not require the collection of sensitive data like birth certificate or social security number, and that parents should be trusted to provide the age of a child when creating a child's account. Any data used for determining age should not be kept by app stores or developers, according to Apple.
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/12/10/tim-cook-age-verificati...
https://www.mintpressnews.com/apple-israel-unit-8200-hiring/...