It has long been known that the iPhone or Android smartphones send user data back to Google or Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),... But now a new study has shown that the former receives 20 times more data from Android than the latter from its platform. iOS.
According to the report ArsTechnicaresearcher Douglas Leith of Trinity College Ireland conducted a side-by-side comparison that suggests that Google's Android collects much more information than Apple's iOS. Douglas said telemetry data transmissions that are sent to tech giants collect information, such as whether a user is logged in or whether they have configured privacy settings to opt out of certain data collection options. Both iOS and Android also send data to companies when a user completes simple tasks such as inserting a SIM card, viewing smartphone screen settings, and more.
The study also found that even when a device is idle, these devices connect to its destination server on average every 4,5 minutes or so. Collecting data and sending it to these companies is not strictly limited to operating systems, but is also commonplace for pre-installed apps and services on smartphones. These apps also established connections even if they weren't in use or opened.
While iOS automatically sent data to Apple from Siri, Safari, and iCloud, Android collected data from Chrome, YouTube, Google Docs, Safetyhub, Google Messenger, the device's watch, and the Google search bar. Interestingly, a Google spokesman disputed these findings and said the research was based on incorrect methods of measuring the data collected by each OS. The spokesperson added that data collection is an essential part of any internet-connected device.
