The iPhone will let you install an app only if you tell Apple about it. It will let you get your location only if you also give that location to Apple. The only way to get true privacy is to give users control, which even Google-flavored Android builds provide more of than iOS.
After so many years, so many people still believe in this user control paradigm.
Giving users control works for the slim percentage of power users. Most users will end up obliterated by scammers and other unsavory characters.
Perhaps there is a way to give control to today's users (that includes my non-technical mother) and still secure them against the myriad of online threats. If anyone knows of a paper or publication that addresses this, I'd love to read it.
If you want privacy, that's the only way to get it. As Apple has demonstrated, giving the platform owner control means eroding your privacy with no recourse and still getting obliterated by scammers.
