Comment by ocdtrekkie
5 years ago
I agree app stores need to face antitrust scrutiny... but websites having crazy types of permissions isn't the answer.
Web apps by default talk to an outside server, native apps by default do not. Native apps will always be the more private by default option.
> Web apps by default talk to an outside server, native apps by default do not.
Huh? There is no permission prompt for native apps to be able to access the internet. By default they can (and definitely do!) talk to outside servers for analytics etc. It’s just that you can’t see them they way you do on the web.
Actually, most app sandboxes have to request network access as a permission. Unfortunately most mobile OSes don't let you deny it at present. However, you have a lot of options for using network devices or inspection software to intervene and block requests on local machines. Meanwhile, once data is on a remote server, you have no control of it.
Furthermore, native apps can be retained and often installed after they're no longer supported by their developer. Web apps vanish into the night, and leave you with nothing.
> However, you have a lot of options for using network devices or inspection software to intervene and block requests on local machines.
Do you? What would the average user install on their iPhone to allow such intervention? What’s the native equivalent of incognito mode?
I won’t argue with you in the retention point but that’s not really related to the privacy discussion at hand.