Apple should go ahead and release a nutrition label for iMessages, Mail etc. They'll look much better than those for WhatsApp, gMail, etc. Then Zuck will complain that it's not fair because they load so much digital sugar and fat into theirs.
I like how iOS 14 gives us the ability to allow apps access to specific, selected photographs.
I'd love to have similar granular control over individual contacts from the address book for apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.
As it is, using WhatsApp actually violates European data privacy laws by more or less requiring the upload of the entire address book.
There is no real way to avoid using WA in a practical work context, either.
If I could select which contacts are synced, I could limit this to those users who have contacted me via WhatsApp and thus already shared their own data with WhatsApp's/Facebook's servers.
Actually Apple is already upfront with the privacy stuff. It’s been a noticeable addition for a while now.
...and what are Facebook/Whatsapp doing that makes them scared of something as trivial as a privacy label. A great deal of mental gymnastics are on display here - Facebook is a company that will force change or simply ban you from their service if they find out you are using a pseudonym.
I like how iOS 14 gives us the ability to allow apps access to specific, selected photographs.
I'd love to have similar granular control over individual contacts from the address book for apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.
As it is, using WhatsApp actually violates European data privacy laws by more or less requiring the upload of the entire address book.
There is no real way to avoid using WA in a practical work context, either.
If I could select which contacts are synced, I could limit this to those users who have contacted me via WhatsApp and thus already shared their own data with WhatsApp's/Facebook's servers.
It would be a nice feature to have.
Samsung has its 'Dual Messenger' for this and allows you to select which contacts are made available to WhatsApp.
Huawei has its App Twin feature which might allow the same actions.
It's a convenient feature so perhaps Apple will add it at some point.
Apple should go ahead and release a nutrition label for iMessages, Mail etc. They'll look much better than those for WhatsApp, gMail, etc. Then Zuck will complain that it's not fair because they load so much digital sugar and fat into theirs.
"we believe it's important people can compare these 'privacy nutrition' labels from apps they download with apps that come pre-installed, like iMessage."
"We think labels should be consistent across first and third party apps,"
isn't unreasonable
WhatsApp says, what about iMessage? But this leads to a nutrition label for every single built-in feature of iOS! That's extremely unreasonable.
Why?
Apple wants to hold developers to account by its users, why not hold itself to account with the same users?
Why? There are literally thousands of features and APIs in iOS that access a user's data. Needing to create a label for each is ridiculous.
The point of these labels is to inform users before they download an app. It's a little late to do that with built-in apps because users already have the device in their hands with the software installed. Trying to argue that Apple should create these labels after the fact pretty much defeats the purpose of the label.
Any user that is worried about what Apple does with their data, should've looked into it before they bought Apple's device.
But lots of apps are optional. You don't have to use e.g. Notes, and to compare it to other note taking app customers should know how its data is stored, and if it is used in anyway. Especially when it syncs via iCloud.
I'm not saying do it for every feature and API, I'm not sure how you'd even do that, but on an app-by-app basis seems fine. For the record, I'd expect Apple's privacy cards to look pretty good in comparison to the competition, so I don't know why they'd hide from that. And for customer experience it sure beats the iTunes terms and conditions, which we all read in detail every time there's an update.
"we believe it's important people can compare these 'privacy nutrition' labels from apps they download with apps that come pre-installed, like iMessage."
"We think labels should be consistent across first and third party apps,"
isn't unreasonable
WhatsApp says, what about iMessage? But this leads to a nutrition label for every single built-in feature of iOS! That's extremely unreasonable.
Why?
Apple wants to hold developers to account by its users, why not hold itself to account with the same users?
Why? There are literally thousands of features and APIs in iOS that access a user's data. Needing to create a label for each is ridiculous.
The point of these labels is to inform users before they download an app. It's a little late to do that with built-in apps because users already have the device in their hands with the software installed. Trying to argue that Apple should create these labels after the fact pretty much defeats the purpose of the label.
Any user that is worried about what Apple does with their data, should've looked into it before they bought Apple's device.
Why are you even talking about API's needing labels? You're creating a false narrative of thousands of labels when Apple barely has more than a couple of dozen apps. You're wrong about the point of the labels. The point is to inform users... period. It's not just there to inform before downloading an app. It's a reference on apps which can be checked multiple times or shown to others. Regardless, people should be able to review what all apps are collecting whether they are pre-installed or not.
Thankfully, Apple agrees. They are going to include their first party apps in the label requirement.
Comments
I'd love to have similar granular control over individual contacts from the address book for apps like WhatsApp and Telegram.
As it is, using WhatsApp actually violates European data privacy laws by more or less requiring the upload of the entire address book.
There is no real way to avoid using WA in a practical work context, either.
If I could select which contacts are synced, I could limit this to those users who have contacted me via WhatsApp and thus already shared their own data with WhatsApp's/Facebook's servers.
...and what are Facebook/Whatsapp doing that makes them scared of something as trivial as a privacy label. A great deal of mental gymnastics are on display here - Facebook is a company that will force change or simply ban you from their service if they find out you are using a pseudonym.
Samsung has its 'Dual Messenger' for this and allows you to select which contacts are made available to WhatsApp.
Huawei has its App Twin feature which might allow the same actions.
It's a convenient feature so perhaps Apple will add it at some point.
https://www.macrumors.com/2020/12/09/apple-responds-to-whatsapp-app-store-privacy/
"It's anti-competitive"
I'm not saying do it for every feature and API, I'm not sure how you'd even do that, but on an app-by-app basis seems fine. For the record, I'd expect Apple's privacy cards to look pretty good in comparison to the competition, so I don't know why they'd hide from that. And for customer experience it sure beats the iTunes terms and conditions, which we all read in detail every time there's an update.
You're wrong about the point of the labels. The point is to inform users... period. It's not just there to inform before downloading an app. It's a reference on apps which can be checked multiple times or shown to others. Regardless, people should be able to review what all apps are collecting whether they are pre-installed or not.
Thankfully, Apple agrees. They are going to include their first party apps in the label requirement.