Is Mac Privacy Better Choice?

[BrovtalGemini]

Compared to Windows 11, is Mac OS a Superior Privacy Choice?

Which of Mac or Windows guarantees reasonable privacy?


Given of Apple's privacy policies, I'm thinking about moving from Windows to Mac. For example, it's interesting that iCloud (apart from mail and calendar) now has end-to- end encryption (E2EE) and Lockdown mode introduced.

Comparatively to more strict choices like Linux or degoized phones, Mac seems to offer sufficient privacy and security safeguards while keeping user-friendliness.

But I question whether marketing is influencing my view and whether Mac really provides notable privacy benefits above Windows.

Hearing your analysis of this would be much appreciated.

[RobertJasiek]

Security and privacy depend heavily on how the user configures and uses his operating system. For Windows, see, e.g., my pages

home.snafu.de/jasiek/windows_security_concept.html

home.snafu.de/jasiek/Windows10Telemetry.html

Linux can be configuring similarly securely as Windows but also requires much configuration work. I do not know whether or inhowfar MacOS allows configuration by the user.

Without user configuration but with default naive use, every OS is much less secure and more prone to privacy violation.

Recent Windows in its default installation has a lot of telemetry, which surely by far is not as bad as that of Google, Meta and X, and at least, as far as we know today, is also not a real security concern. I have not heard about telemetry in MacOS but I know about iCloud terms. Read them! The grant Apple the "right" to use, modify and share with in anybody in the world all your global and local files. Therefore, if you have any concern about privacy, never use MacOS together with iCloud but always decline the iCloud terms. On iPadOS, I need to decline them 1, 2 or 3 times per day clicking "Now Now" because Apple does not know a "Never" button. Furthermore, iPadOS denies being updated via WLAN unless one yields and accepts the iCloud terms. I do not know if MacOS can be equally annoying, but eventually Apple might do on MacOS what it has been doing on iPadOS. This is the Apple way: users must do things in the way Apple wants - not in the way users want. If you choose MacOS, expect having to compromise somewhere instead of getting maximum privacy.

Apple PR proclaims privacy a human right. This is the PR myth. The reality differs. Do not change from Windows to MacOS because of expecting better security or privacy! Rather expect different compromises! In Windows, the compromise is having to inform oneself and spend time on configuration. In MacOS, the compromise is limitations imposed on you by Apple.

Naive users without any willingness to configure anything might jump to MacOS and enjoy the permanent default of hopefully no ads and no too obvious telemetry. Users like you asking about privacy at all might be disappointed because they would notice limitations sooner or later.

The noticable privacy benefit of MacOS over Windows might be one of naive perception: the out of the box experience might be better. If, however, you take security and privacy seriously, dive deeply, inform yourself meticulously and configure well whichever OS you are using!