Tim Cook sold Apple's soul
https://www.loopwerk.io/articles/2026/tim-cook-sold-apples-soul/
Apple used to stand for something. Now Tim Cook gifts golden statues to Trump, removes apps at the administration's request, and cozies up to accused rapists at White House screenings. The company I once admired has become morally bankrupt, but leaving the ecosystem feels almost impossible.
@stuartm From a capitalist point of view - sure. But that’s not what I care about.
So you switched to Android too?
@kevinrenskers at least Google doesn't pretend to care about you! lol
I don't rely on any Google services though. I don't use Gmail, or any of the other Google apps. I use Firefox on Android and desktop, Fastmail for mail/calendars/etc. WhatsApp for messaging. It's pretty difficult to avoid all shitty companies, so I try not to rely on any one of them for too much.
@kevinrenskers @stuartm I have been exploring /e/OS on a phone and so far it works fine? My primary annoyance is that in-app purchases do not work (less money to Google, yay!).
In some ways it's a bit of a downgrade. But enough people have to accept a bit of a downgrade so that the alternatives get enough funding to improve.
Best of all, it does not have liquid glass.
@kevinrenskers I've never looked at that part too hard before. I've got similar numbers
US 34%
Singapore 17%
China 9%
Germany 9%
United Kingdom 9%
India 5%
Canada 5%
France 5%
Netherlands 4%
@kevinrenskers > Apple won’t earn another cent from me for hardware.
If one of your existing products bit the dust, would you consider replacing it second-hand through eBay? Technically, Apple wouldn’t get any money. How would you weigh that, morally?
@dgriffinjones yea, second hand is fair game I think. No money goes to Apple. But luckily everything still works perfectly fine and fast enough.
Need to reduce my spending on services.
@kevinrenskers - I just switched my daily driver from mac to linux.
I switched from Windows to Mac when the Mac mini first came out. Mine was the first one sold in Germany (out of a first-day shipment of six :-)
For Messages, consider Signal. Similar integration on mobile and desktop: text, call, and video.
My big hurdle was Photos. Digikam works for me now.
Still, some things don't work, yet. Bit once I figure it out, they will.
I've felt for years that macs have been deteriorating ever faster, with no solution in sight.
Feels good now.
@devolute cynical today, are we?
But the answer is no.
@devolute I could’ve titled it “Tim Cook sold his own soul to save Apple’s profits”. Maybe that would’ve been more precise.
But he damaged Apple’s reputation alongside his own. And I think calling Apple’s reputation its “soul” isn’t unfair.
@devolute @kevinrenskers Well I hadn’t given it much thought at all but I had assumed good things about him. Guess I did this about a lot of people (but increasingly less so, given all the fascism). Anyway, I was wrong. That’s all I meant. I was wrong.
With things so bad now, getting back to the low level of US leaders pretending to care would go a long way. I hope our evil moment propels us far beyond that low level when we do recover.
Also, sure wish there wasn’t a duopoly on smartphones.
@virkon42 I think you’re right. I’m sure that in his own mind he’s doing all this to protect Apple’s shareholders. He’s the knight sacrificing himself. And yes, it’s working! No tariffs for Apple.
But at what cost…
@kevinrenskers hey GrapheneOS has Android Auto and there is a list of banking apps around the world that work with it!
I have been feeling the same around Apple and other products as well. I feel like if I cut any more out of my life I’ll have nothing at all.
This blog posts hits home, man. I was aware of some stuff, but there is more perspective in there.
I switched my desktop OS to Linux already, @nextcloud & @homeassistant are my next projects on the list. Not using any Meta or X or Google stuff.
My iPad lays dormant in some box, not using it at all.
For the iPhone, I am not sure. It’s my absolute daily driver. I have hardened it in terms of privacy & data collection.
@Holtisan Same here! We're all-in on Apple: MacBooks, iPhones, iPads, iMessage, shared calendars, Apple Music, password sharing, etc.
So it's not just me leaving the Apple ecosystem, it's also me leaving the family ecosystem (because they will absolutely not switch to Linux and/or Android).
I haven't updated to Liquid Glass though 😅
Oh yeah if we hooked a turbine up to Jobs’ corpse we could power entire cities he’s spinning so hard in his grave.
Like, Apple has been abusing devs for so long now. They're literally the guys who invented the walled garden in computing. And *now* they're the bad guys cause they added GUI flair you don't like? Please be more serious than this
apple is a company, very good at selling itself as a lifestyle. but there's only one person, who's been gone for 15 years, who could keep that reality distortion field inflated.
we didn't see it directly in the US but imagine the compromises they had to make to be so in bed with the chinese government? the US isn't that far gone yet but we're getting there.
the story is very old, the diff is that people just don't like to see it on their tv. ;-)
@thibautsailly @brentsimmons I’m not arguing Apple was ever perfect. I’m arguing that Cook is making new choices that visibly damage Apple’s reputation today.
Past complicity doesn’t make present alignment beyond criticism.
@kevinrenskers This post echoes my own feelings exactly. As a longtime Apple customer and an ex-Apple employee I am utterly disgusted by Tim Cook's actions and Apple's recent treatment of developers. I refuse to give Apple another penny.
I stopped using any Apple services (iCloud, Music etc) as soon as I could after Tim Cook's donation, and I switched to an Android phone when it was time to upgrade after using nothing but iPhones since the 3GS. I know Google are as bad/worse, but I didn't expect any better from them. I thought Apple's values aligned with my own. If that was ever really the case, it's definitely not any more.
@brad Just because I don’t expect better from Google, doesn’t mean I will switch to them. Because I do think they are worse than Apple.
I really wish there were more choices :(
@kevinrenskers I'm not using any Google services apart from the Play store, and I didn't buy Google hardware. Limiting my exposure as much as possible.
One thing that really surprised me was how awkward it was to use non-Google contacts and calendars, had to buy an app to sync them to the phone! 😳 Considering everyone bangs on about how open and customisable Android is... except when it comes to syncing your own data, apparently.
@kevinashworth I’m glad it motivated you! I’m planning my own exodus and will definitely write a follow-up.
It’s hard to say “I should have done so sooner”. I’ve had these feelings about Apple for a few years now, and literally stopped building iOS apps for a living because of this. But the rest is harder, as I said in the article 😅
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