With people spending more and more time on their phones and computers, security is becoming a significant issue. Of course, nobody wants viruses or malware. But, when we go online to have some fun for an hour or two, for instance, play online slots, we want to enjoy it without thinking about whether our login data is safe or compromised. And we expect our mobile phones to be safe.
Is Apple safer than its competition? In short, yes. But why does Apple care so much about security? That is the topic we cover in this article.
Closed vs open environment
Apple doesn’t let developers have root access to their phones, meaning Apple dictates what can and can’t you use to alter the phone. They control the whole hardware and software ecosystem. Android allows developers to do pretty much want they want to change any aspect of the system.
By letting people do anything, people can obviously both do good and bad things. Limiting what people can do restricts creativity, but you keep more control of the environment’s security. Apple is effectively a closed environment, whereas Android is open. With Apple IOS, there is less opportunity to manipulate it – you can’t write an app for IOS and get it published if you deviate from the interfaces that Apple allows you to use.
Privacy is security
Apple sells phones, not ads. Its app store is more locked and stricter about the type of information the apps can collect and gives you much more control over what they can find. This control results in far fewer malicious apps going through people’s phones with Apple, even though there is no such thing as perfect security.
On the other hand, Google has a lot of data about you and your activities. Keep in mind that their core business is not selling phones; it is selling ads. And to better target you with suitable ads, they need information about you. That means your privacy is not in their interest. Today, people want to keep their privacy, and privacy implies security. So Apple gives it to them.
Most importantly, it keeps customers coming back
Apple has made everything so secure to ensure that their clients don’t have to worry about viruses. With every update you do on either an iOS device or computer, new virus definitions always find their way into that update, making them that much safer. So there’s no need to add antivirus software because Apple has already taken care of that for you. Apple’s policy is that you shouldn’t have to pay for extra software just to secure your phone or computer.
The benefit for them? It keeps customers coming back. When you create a virtually impossible product to impregnate with malicious code, people will tend to buy it. Again and again. Also, it allows them to keep prices that are not very modest. We all want security (among other things) on our mobile phones, and we can all agree that we’re ready to pay for it. Apple knows it and acts accordingly.
