- cross-posted to:
- privacyguides@lemmy.one
- privacy@lemmy.ml
- cross-posted to:
- privacyguides@lemmy.one
- privacy@lemmy.ml
The article lists settings to change on Android 14 and iOS 17.
According to the author:
Recommended setting changes reduce the amount of data submitted to device manufacturers, cell carriers, or app developers and improve device security against common threats, such as those posed by nosy people who find the device unattended or by common malware.
By enabling all of these settings, you are significantly reducing the amount of tracking and data collection these devices perform, but keep in mind that you are not completely eliminating it.
There always needs to be a balance of security and convenience. If you make security to cumbersome then end users are just as likely to go without. I think another distinction is that privacy != security and security != privacy although they do go hand in hand.
Some examples would be disabling all iCloud services. That seems rather cumbersome for limited benefit. It will reduce your attack surface to just your single device but also introduces a single point of failure and may result in less secure methods to make data available and result in insecure or unreliable backups like backing data up to an unencrypted single drive.
I do recommend advanced data protection like he says.
Disabling the Find My network does increase privacy from shoulder surfers and people who may physically compromise the device but most people are OK with that to be able to easily find their items and know where their loved ones are.
Disabling Face ID is another thing that would protect you from physical compromise (someone can’t hold you down and force you to scan your face) but over all I would rather require a long alphanumeric+symbol passcode rather than disable Face ID. You have a much more higher risk of someone watching over your shoulder for a 6 digit passcode than you do someone kidnapping you and having free access to scan your face.
Other things are out of date, such as iCloud supporting S/MIME by default and encrypting mail at rest.
Overall I would take the advice with a grain of salt as most settings are a good idea to disable but others are a bit overzealous and without much thought in my opinion.
I agree with some of the points you’ve made, but disagree with some others. Nevertheless, thanks for sharing your thoughts.