I downloaded the new Gboard for iOS today, and have been really enjoying it so far. Along with wondering about what Google will tell advertisers now that they can read every single thing I type, I came to the realization that pretty much every major function of my iPhone has now been taken over by Google software.
I use Google products for email, search, photos, maps, and video. Gboard effectively puts Google inside every app I use that requires me to type, from texting to taking notes. The only activity that isn’t really mediated by the search giant at this point are voice calls, although in the past I have used Google Voice.
This is why, despite rumblings, we’ve not yet seen Apple allowing iOS users to set default applications.
The day Apple allows this, we’re going to see a whole lot of Google iPhones.
The smart move would be for Apple to just allow the defaults to be changed. People are already dealing with other services even without that ability. Personally, in my area, Apple services seem to work better than Googles, particularly transit directions. That said, I’ve been in many more areas where this is most definitely not the case.
I like Apple products. For the most part, they fit me and they’ve been rock solid. Some of the decisions driven by marketing though, I’ll never understand and this is one of them. It’s such a small thing to allow this now. People ave already chosen their services whether Google, Apple, or Microsoft for that matter. Apple have lost this battle. They’d be better off admitting it.
I agree with you, Google is not better than Apple and for many services (e.g. music) there are far better alternatives to Google, Apple and MS. I don’t really think an “open garden” would lead to monopoly by Google
Support for default applications would indeed be great.
I used (paid) Google Apps for Work since 2008 or so (before it was called Google Apps for Work). A few weeks ago, I migrated my mail to Fastmail and contacts to iCloud. To be honest, I haven’t really missed Google Apps since then.
The only thing that mildly annoys me is that Fastmail and iCloud don’t support U2F.
Edited 2016-05-14 05:12 UTC
Nice, can you change search engine to Duckduckgo?
Sure! In Chrome, go to chrome://settings/ and in the Search section click Manage Search Engines. Browse the list of over 100 options and click Make Default next to Duck Duck Go.
You can also add search engines that aren’t listed. Use the Add a Search Engine box at the bottom of the page. (This box is not present on Android Chrome, and DDG isn’t listed on the much shorter list of search options, but DDG has an app for that.)
Hope this helps!
Ha, I’ve replaced all of my browser’s search engines to use DuckDuckGo, even my PS4. I pretty much try to not use Google’s services as much as possible. That being said, I trust them a bit more than Apple, so I stay away from Apple devices even more so.
Oh? Does apple steal your personal information like google?
Well, technically it’s not “stealing” when they tell you they do it, even though the document which states this isn’t presented to you when you first use Google’s search page. As for what Apple does with your data? Who knows? I doubt they’re collecting as much as Google nor are they probably building a massive database with it. The fact that proactive Siri is done largely on-device rather than by Apple’s cloud servers is, at least, a promising indication of this. I’d be surprised, though, if they aren’t collecting something.
For me, it is more about Apple making sub-par software and selling it on standard hardware, but charging outrageous prices for it. I mean if the ‘pleasure’ of using OSX is your cup of tea… well go ahead and pay the Apple tax. iOS is just not as capable for what I want to do with my phone as Android. Though I despise both, I only wish that Nokia hadn’t sold out, I would still be using MeeGo.
So iPhones (which were the devices under discussion) are bog standard hardware? Could have fooled me. Nice attempt to derail things though.
Google has never told me that they take my personal data. Neither does facebook. It’s buried in Terms of service that no one reads.
Nonsense. Stop defending them over data theft that most consumers don’t understand.
I think you misunderstood me a bit. I wasn’t defending them, far from it. I was only pointing out that, in legal terms, they aren’t stealing because they do inform you of what they’re doing. The fact that it’s buried doesn’t matter, according to US law. Twisted, but there it is. It’s theft in spirit, but not legally.
“Along with wondering about what Google will tell advertisers now that they can read every single thing I type”
Do you really think it’s something valuable? They already receive it from Apple 🙂
Who recieves what from Apple? I don’t understand.
The article author says:
“Along with wondering about what Google will tell advertisers now that they can read every single thing I type”
Google states they will not do that, they will just get the data when you do a search, not every single thing you type.
You may trust Google or not, the author implies he doesn’t and he assumes they will sell everything you type to advertisers, not only searches.
With the same logic you would not trust Apple too, so Apple would have sell everything you type into an iPhone well before Google being able to do it through a custom keyboard.
Edited 2016-05-16 14:54 UTC
Google and Apple both have their own advertising platform if I recall, so why would they sell that data, it is what Google makes their money off of, and Apple wishes they could, but they don’t make as much which is why Apple devices are so expensive.
That literally makes no sense.
Google is an advertising company, over 90% of its income comes from advertising and everything it does is about increasing its ability to collect data to sell tailored advertising. Therefore collecting data is absolutely central to Google’s core business.
Apple makes a tiny, vanishinlgy small, fraction of its revenue from advertising, therefore the collection of user data has very little importance in relation to Apple’s core business.
Apple’s lack of income from advertising has exactly zero bearing on its pricing policy.
Even though Apple’s advertising income is so very, very tiny it is the most profitable tech company in existance and has by far the largest revenues. Apple would only be interested in making more money from advertising if it did not detract from or weaken its core product offering – which makes so much more money than any other tech company’s core product – and clearly feels that making privacy and data prtotection central to its products strongly strenghtens its core product offering and is thus way more important than collecting data in order to try to make more money from advertising.
They probably will allow it once they implement tracking at the OS level more robustly. They may not allow anything but their web engine though.
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Edited 2016-05-16 05:52 UTC
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This is your fundamental mistake. Either you try to diversify as much as possible, or you just hand over your data – even without the hassle of needing cross-checking, because all of it is in the hands of a single company…
Yeah, not everyone is as paranoid as you are. If you are doing nothing wrong, your data can still be used against you, if you’re not lucky. False convictions happen.
Odds are it won’t happen to you. In the same way, you probably won’t get attacked by a shark swimming in the great lakes. But who knows. Sharks can swim pretty far, some even in fresh water.
This from his latest newsletter – specifically commenting on the Google keyboard for iOS.
Edited 2016-05-16 09:25 UTC