derekmorr

This would be a great time to look at OpenStreetMap. It doesn't have the same map quality and coverage as Google Maps or Apple Maps, but anyone can contribute and improve it. By taking control of your mapping and using maps run by a non-profit, you can avoid enshittificaiton.

If you're looking for a user friendly app, Organic Maps is a good option. 

And if your area isn't well-mapped in OSM, start contributing!

Just use Signal. It’s free, open source, independently audited, cross-platform, and has better security and privacy than iMessage.

This article from Dr. Matthew Green, a cryptographer at Johns Hopkins, has a good overview of the problem. He's the researcher that was able to break iMessage encryption back in 2016. See his discussion of "key substitution attacks."

On the one hand, it addresses a long-standing design flaw in iMessage -- it was impossible to verify the identify of the other party. You just had to blindly trust the Apple provided the right encryption key to you, and you weren't subject to a man-in-the-middle attack. This is opposed to Signal and WhatsApp which support verification. Basically, these systems create a "fingerprint" of the encryption keys used in your conversation -- both parties can verify this fingerprint to ensure they both see the same keys.

Historically, iMessage did not have this -- so you could not know if you were really talking directly to someone or if your conversation was being relayed through an eavesdropper, or if Apple had secretly added an eavesdropper to your conversation. Now, this will be possible.

Edit: WhatsApp is actually innovating here. Most users do not manually verify safety numbers, so WhatsApp is rolling out an automatic key verification system which has a public log of all public keys in the system. See this announcement for a high-level overview. There is also an extended deep-dive discussion on the Security Cryptography Whatever podcast.

JP234 said:

It begins. Prepare for malware on your iOS devices.

As opposed to the scams we have now?https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/06/06/apple-app-store-scams-fraud/ ;

Madbum said:

Epic doesn’t have to sell in Apples App Store. The store did t exist before Apple spent billions over last 15 years developing it.

But Apple won't let competing app stores on iOS. That is what Epic claims is illegal.