pieterrApple Platform Security (Jan 2026) [pdf]
https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-security-guide.pdf
Apple's commitment to privacy and security is really cool to see. It's also an amazing strategic play that they are uniquely in the position to take advantage of. Google and Meta can't commit to privacy because they need to show you ads, whereas Apple feels more like a hardware company to me.
modeless linked to this article earlier today:
https://james.darpinian.com/blog/apple-imessage-encryption/
My current understanding of the facts:
1. Google defaults to encrypted backups of messages, as well as e2e encryption of messages.
2. Apple defaults only to e2ee of messages, leaving a massive backdoor.
3. Closing that backdoor is possible for the consumer, by enabling ADP (advanced data protection) on your device. However, this makes no difference, since 99.9% of the people you communicate will not close the backdoor. Thus, the only way to live is to assume that all the messages you send via iMessage will always be accessible to Apple, no matter what you do.
It's not like overall I think Google is better for privacy than Apple, but this choice by Apple is really at odds with their supposed emphasis on privacy.
Four incorrect beliefs you may hold about iMessage | James Darpinian
Apple has been touting iMessage as "end-to-end encrypted" for many years. "The first widely available messaging app to provide end-to-end encryption by default", they say. Users understandably trust Apple to get this right, and believe that their messages are secure even from Apple. However, that trust is misplaced. Most people's expectations about the security of iMessage are incorrect. Here are four of them.
ADP isn’t the default, and almost nobody who isn’t a journalist/activist/potential target turns it on, because of the serious (potentially destructive) consequences.
How does Google manage this, such every normie on earth isn’t freaking out?
Nobody expects their text messages to be backed up.
They get deleted and people shrug.
I reference them every so often