Apple called Android a ‘massive tracking device’ before doubling down on privacy

Ben Schoon | Nov 2 2023 - 8:30 am PT

Apple has made plenty of sly digs at Android over the years, but an internal presentation that has now surfaced sees the company proclaiming that Android is “a massive tracking device.”

Coming out of the ongoing Google antitrust trial, an internal Apple presentation has surfaced (via The Verge) in which the company called Android a “massive tracking device.”

The presentation in question was regarding a push within Apple to start “Competing on Privacy.” The slides, made in January 2013, dove into how Apple’s competitors (Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft primarily) handled privacy matters and user data. A “privacy timeline” includes some 2000s and 2010s events that made headlines regarding privacy, such as Google’s Street View cars recording private Wi-Fi networks and Instagram’s aim to use user photos in its ads, as well as Google’s privacy policy move to combining user data across services. Apple went on to compare how its products handle privacy differently from Google and others. We’ve embedded some of the slides below.

The presentation culminates in the full-page statement below, where Apple says that “Android is a massive tracking device.” The slideshow is partially redacted and abridged, which leaves out the context of this statement, but it’s certainly a bold way to talk about a competitor.

Of course, all mobile devices do a whole lot of tracking, whether it’s Android or iOS.

However, it’s hard to argue that Apple hasn’t taken this sentiment from a decade ago and run with it. In iOS 14.5, Apple doubled down on privacy by introducing a system permission for tracking for advertising and such, which led to massive declines in tracking on iPhone. Android still does not have a similar feature, though the company has reportedly looked into it.