Apple has issued a massive warning to all of its 1.46 billion iPhone users that appears to focus on Google Chrome.
The tech giant has placed billboards around the world to promote its Safari search app, promoting it as “a browser that’s truly private.”
Although the ad does not mention Google Chrome by name, it is the most downloaded search browser for smartphones, surpassing Safari by more than two million.
While the poster is an attack on Google, the company revealed earlier this year that it collects data from anyone who uses Chrome.
Apple urged users to switch to Safari amid security concerns around Google Chrome
Apple promoted the security of its own Safari browser, which has nearly a billion users worldwide, on billboards around the world to discourage people from using the alternative Chrome, which has about 3.4 billion users.
The ad has been seen in cities like San Francisco, London and Paris to countries as far away as Singapore and Australia, where people saw them in billboards, public transport and public buildings.
“Interesting to know this isn’t just happening in Singapore,” one person responded to a post from someone who saw the ad in Australia.
‘On the contrary, in my humble opinion (in my honest opinion) it is a good idea. It is a new way of advertising.
‘Some people will be curious. “Especially those who are not in the Apple ecosystem and may not know what Safari is.”
Another person commented on the San Francisco poster, writing: “Seeing how Google settles a lawsuit because their incognito isn’t that incognito, there’s literally no question that this is based on that.”
Apple’s ads appear to warn people not to use Google, which has faced repeated controversies over retaining cookies and search information in its Chrome browser.
“Google revealed earlier this year that it collects your data if you use Google Chrome, even if you use incognito mode,” said Jake Moore, global security advisor at cybersecurity firm ESET. Forbes.
‘Personal data is very valuable to companies and when terms and conditions are so difficult to understand, it can be easy for users to simply allow companies to collect data at will.’
However, a Google spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the company strives to keep people’s data “secure by default” and ensure that users can control when and how their data is used in Chrome to personalize their web browsing experience.
We believe users should always be in control, so we’ve built easy-to-use privacy and security settings right into Chrome.
The ad was promoted in cities including San Francisco, London and Paris and in wider countries including Singapore (pictured) and Australia.
Apple told users it “respects (their) privacy” on a billboard promoting its Safari browser in Paris, France
The company’s Google Chrome 125 update had nine security vulnerabilities after warning that a bug would allow a remote attacker to add their own code using an HTML page to destabilize a person’s browser.
A 2020 class action lawsuit also claimed that Google was improperly tracking users’ web browsing habits when they thought they were visiting websites privately.
Google finally settled a lawsuit in April demanding it delete billions of data records showing users’ private browsing activities, and the company will have to allow people using incognito mode to block third-party cookies.
“The settlement requires Google to delete and remediate, on an unprecedented scope and scale, the data it improperly collected in the past,” said David Boies, the attorney in the lawsuit. ABC News.
