Google’s Android collects 20x more data than Apple’s iOS, research reveals

Tech companies have been talking more about privacy in recent years, and Apple proudly says that it protects user data more than anyone else. However, new research by Douglas Leith from Trinity College suggests that Google collects up to 20 times more data from Android users than Apple’s data from iOS users, reports 9to5mac.

As reported by Ars Technica, the researchers analyzed the amount of telemetry data transmitted directly to the companies responsible for the iOS and Android operating systems. It checked not only data sent to Apple or Google through pre-installed apps but also during idle periods.

“Both iOS and Android transmit telemetry data to their motherships even when a user hasn’t logged in or has explicitly configured privacy settings to opt-out of such collection. Both OSes also send data to Apple and Google when a user does simple things such as inserting a SIM card or browsing the handset settings”, researcher Douglas Leith from Trinity College in Ireland said

While iOS automatically collects data from Siri, Safari, and iCloud to send to Apple, Android gets data from Chrome, YouTube, Google Docs, Safetyhub, Google Messenger, Clock, and search user logged into a Google account. Interestingly enough, iOS sends about 42KB of data to Apple right after booting up the device. Android, on the other hand, sends 1MB of data to Google.

A Google spokesperson told Ars Technica that the company disagrees with this research. Both iOS and Android devices must send and receive data to the companies behind them, which helps them keep their software up to date and check that everything is working as expected. Meanwhile, Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Read More: Android malware caught hiding as a System Update to spy on users.

Source: 9to5mac