This is one hundred percent sensationalism. Just because the app pulls it doesn’t mean that it’s being used to track you down. It’s probably just for crash reporting etc.

A lot of these are just standard things that things like crash reporters pull. In other words, Discord probably included a crash reporter in their app, and it pulls things like memory usage, device state, os version, what orientation the device is in, etc so that when a crash happen, it can tag those to the developers. Those are all useful variables to the developers to understand what is causing the crash.

Tons of apps use crash reporters to keep their app stable. I’m sure most apps will pull the vast majority of this information. That doesn’t mean that they’re using it to track you.

Google is dead as a company now that AI is taking over the search process

That’s some copium right there. The company has been doing AI for years and they are synonymous with search. Their primary income is advertising where they’re basically unrivaled. You’re kidding yourself if you think they’re going anywhere.

As someone pursuing a career in health care I became more and more concerned because some store patient files and notes in unsecured text files/apps like notion, google docs and even excel.

This is just the beginning - the medical space is notoriously awful and also a place where you probably really care about privacy. But using secure alternatives is too annoying for most medical staff and they just see it as ankther hurdle. Actually getting people to use secure software that’s not the software they’re already used to is way harder than it should be.

People just don’t understand or don’t care. Convenience is way more important to people than anything else.

How is Apple “independent”? You’re just trading one mega corporation for another.

It’s not Chromium specifically, but it has basically the same issues.

IMO the thing is that people don’t care about their privacy. Sure, some people around here do, but your average person owns an Alexa, has a FB/Instagram account and constantly posts their location, uses the same password on many sites, uses TikTok, doesn’t block cookies, etc etc etc.

Most people don’t actually care. Some claim they do, but then can’t even be bothered to stop using Instagram etc because of the “inconvenience”… So do they really care?

Some companies (Apple, etc) push their products under a narrative around safety and security, and people will repeat that point as a way to justify a decision they already made, but if they actually cared, they would be doing other things too. But they don’t.

The number of us who do actually care about privacy and security is actually very small.

I’ve seen YouTubers also say “nothing else has any users”. I think this is generally the public sentiment and the reason people stick around. I would say that even if there’s no alternative, just leave but… Unfortunately people feel like they “need” Twitter.

And people say social media isn’t addicting.

It’s closer to the hardware. Generally harder to update. It’s less frequently updated. And it’s less fault tolerant.

Idk, sure, it’s technically software. But it’s pretty clearly at least a distinct subsection that deserves it’s own moniker.

with newer, faster, better tech being available year after year

Let’s be real here - this hasn’t been the case for smartphones like 5 years at this point. Barely anything has changed in that time frame besides like a “telephoto” lens and foldables.

People are just sold on the idea that things are changing.

Your battery doesn’t drop from 80 to zero instantly. If you’re going to be “playing a game” or “watching a video” for over an hour and your battery is already at like 40 percent, you can just swap it before you start. If you’re burning through a full battery and can’t be interrupted…

The reboot takes like 20. Swapping the battery with a full door does literally take 15. So yeah, maybe like 45 seconds? Is that really such an inconvenience?

And sure, a spare battery is a box. But a charging brick is a bigger box. And it needs a cable.

Apple: Your honor, everyone has an iScrew and a MagicHeat and an iOpener and a MagicPryer. And if they don’t, we even offer a full bundle for only $300! These are very common tools.

I would much prefer having smaller/fewer things to carry and not having to keep my phone tethered to an extra box over having to wait like 15 seconds. How is 15 seconds without a phone a problem?

People who don’t even use tiktok are scared of it? Goodness gracious.

I mean… If you’re scared of something, why would you use it?

What do you mean? Didn’t you see how well the DeSantis presidential campaign announcement went?

Also here because Sync is dead. Desperately awaiting your Sync for Lemmy release. Was considering making a Sync-like Lemmy app if you didn’t…

I’m in the same boat. Been trying a few different Instagram alternatives for a few years but the user bases are all too small. Pixelfed and Vero seem decent but too much of a ghost town to feel it’s worth continuing to post.