APPLE HAS PRESERVED ITS PRIVACY-FIRST FOCUS

At least for the time being, Google Maps remains a more appealing choice of mapping application for many people. Digital Trends has called it “still years ahead of the competition and definitely our top pick”, despite acknowledging the six years of plentiful improvements made to Apple Maps. Still, if you are privacy-conscious, Apple Maps might be the more enticing option, with the greatly differing business models of Apple and Google even extending to the mapping applications. Many features of Google Maps rely on Google continuing to collect data about its users. However, as Techcrunch notes, even with Apple Maps, “Apple is working very hard here to not know anything about its users.” While Apple does gather data from iphones about where these devices’ users are going, this data is gathered only in segments to which no personal information is assigned, with Apple also never receiving information about either the start or end point of any given trip. By contrast, there are fewer fetters on how Google collects data about its users – and this could give you cause for discomfort.

The company has already been criticised for the way in which it tracks users’ location histories. Apple’s senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, told Techcrunch: “Honestly, we don’t think it buys us anything [to collect more data].

We’re not losing any features or capabilities by doing this.”