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More than ever, users expect their electronic devices to keep their data private. Apple is at the forefront of the latest privacy push, as the iPhone maker has introduced various features to improve privacy and security over the years. The app privacy stickers and anti-tracking features included in iOS 14 are the best examples of what improved privacy looks like. iOS 15 adds a few notable privacy improvements as well, including a VPN-like service that will be bundled with a premium iCloud+ subscription.
The new service, called Private Relay, will make it impossible for advertisers to track iPhone and iPad users browsing the web on Safari. Private Relay is better than a regular VPN service, as companies (Apple and the third party provider) that hide and encrypt your internet traffic cannot see this traffic. Some VPN providers may have access to that personal information; That’s why Private Relay is a better alternative to protect users’ privacy. But if you value your privacy and plan to use Smart Relay when iOS 15 comes out of beta, you may have to delete a cool Google app from your iPhone.
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A side effect of Apple’s enormous interest in privacy is Google having to develop similar privacy protection features to Android. This is even more problematic for the Mountain View-based company, as Google makes most of its money from advertising. It’s personalized ads that bring in the most money, and you can’t serve personalized ads efficiently if you have to match Apple’s privacy features to effect.
Google makes some of the most popular apps and services, and most of them are freely available to users. It is completely free because Google makes money from personal data, which is monetized via ads. And Google apps are available across almost every platform, from Android to Windows to iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.
Google also makes the world’s most popular browser, and Chrome gets better with every update. However, Chrome is at the center of a controversial privacy change that includes switching from third-party cookies to a new FLoC (unified learning clusters) system. FLoC has been widely criticized, with nonprofit organizations such as EFF and other web browser developers (Brave, Vivaldi, Microsoft, and Mozilla) expressing concerns about it.
Mozilla is the latest company to research Chrome’s FLoC technology, which is currently in beta, after it published a technical analysis warning that FLoC may not be perfect. The technology could allow advertisers to fingerprint users and continue tracking them online despite Google’s best efforts.
Mozilla further explained the risks of FLoC fingerprinting to Forbes, saying that existing fingerprinting technologies could be combined with FloC to track users online.
When Private Relay is rolled out, it will only work on Safari, protecting iPhone and iPad users from extracting their browsing history for advertising purposes. Those users who rely on Chrome to connect to the Internet on iOS and iPadOS will not benefit from the same protection. Rolling out the FLoC may expose them to additional fingerprints. This is the point Mozilla makes in its analysis of FloC privacy and the message conveyed by this Forbes article.
The only way to prevent this might be to remove Chrome from your iPhone and iPad if you plan to pay for Private Relay protection once iOS 15 and iPadOS 15 roll out. This may be easier said than done for people who use Chrome across devices and operating systems for their internet-related work. And since Private Relay will also work in macOS 12 Monterey, iPhone and iPad users who are removing Chrome from their mobile devices may want to switch from Chrome to Safari on their Macs as well.
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