A researcher tested the security of Android and iOS on a particular point of the two systems. At the end of their experience, one of them clearly emerges victorious from the confrontation.
It’s no secret: iOS, Apple’s mobile operating system, is much more locked down than Google’s Android. It is not for nothing that Europe had to force the hand of the first to open the door a little. Since the entry into force of Digital Markets Act (DMA) on April 6, the manufacturer allows for example the installation of alternative application stores on iPhone. The Cupertino company did this despite itself while regularly reminding people of the security concerns that the maneuver could involve.
It is also under this pretext that Apple chose to remove web applications from its mobiles in Europe, which led to the opening of an investigation by the European Commission. Besides, what exactly do we mean by “security” when we talk about an app? That it is not malware in disguise obviously, but not only that. We must also study the way in which it will communicate with the outside world, that is to say send data without you necessarily being aware, how often and to whom. A cybersecurity researcher rightly contrasted iOS and Android on this point.
Which of iOS or Android is more secure on this point? This researcher has an answer
The protocol of the experiment is as follows: on an iPhone and an Android mobile previously restored to their factory configurationthe man installed the 100 most popular apps from the App store and Play Store in Germany. He had to replace a few due to lack of availability on both platforms, but they are generally the same. Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, Temu…Then he left the 2 devices without touching them for 5 days in a row by recording the times when one of the apps contacted an external serverwhile noting the location of the latter.
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The iPhone averaged 3,308 such requests per dayagainst 2,323 for Android. So Android is the winner at this level? Not so fast. Popular apps on iOS launch more “calls”, yes, but in 60% of cases, the server concerned belongs to Apple. On Android, only 24% of queries are intended for Google. So, when iOS contacts a Russian server about once a daywe arrive at 13 times on Android. Worse for China: no iOS app, even of Chinese origin, “pings” a server in the country. On the Android side, however, they do 5 times a day.
What we must remember is that iOS will send less information to countries whose policy of respecting private data can be questioned. But This does not mean that everything is perfect at Apple. For example, some people will take a dim view of so many requests landing in the hands of the American company.
For the expert, the difference is mainly explained by a few applications: “Alls [celles] from the App Store had big platforms behind them and were more useful than ad-powered flashlights […] or questionable PDF viewers on Google Play“. Because yes, we still find this type of apps in the top 100 of the Play Store.
Source: Cybernews