Apple issues ‘massive’ warning about Google Chrome to all 1.46 billion iPhone users

Apple has issued a massive warning to all of its 1.46 billion iPhone users that appears centered around Google Chrome.

The tech giant took out billboards across the globe to promote its Safari search app, touting it as ‘a browser that is actually private.’

Although the advertisement did not mention Google Chrome by name, it is the top downloaded search browser for smartphones – surpassing Safari by more than two million.

While the billboard is a stab at Google, the company did reveal earlier this year that it collects data from anyone who uses Chrome.

The ad has been spotted in cities like San Francisco, London and Paris to far-reaching countries including Singapore and Australia, where people saw them on billboards, public transit and public buildings.

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‘Interesting to know it’s not only in Singapore,’ one person responded to a post from someone who saw the ad in Australia.

‘On the contrary, imho [in my honest opinion] it’s a good idea. It’s a fresh way to advertise.

‘Some people will be curious. Especially those who are not in the Apple ecosystem and might not know what Safari is.’

Another person commented on San Francisco’s billboard, writing: ‘Seeing how Google settles a lawsuit for its incognito not being so incognito, there’s literally no doubt that this is playing off of that.’

Apple’s ads appear to be warning people not to use Google which has encountered repeated controversy over its Chrome browser retaining cookie and search information.

‘Google revealed earlier this year that it collects your data if you use Google Chrome, even if you use Incognito Mode,’ Jake Moore, a global security advisor for cybersecurity company ESET told Forbes.

‘Personal data is so 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 their will.’

However, a Google spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the company strives to keep people’s ‘data safe by default and ensuring 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, which is why we’ve built easy to use privacy and security settings directly into Chrome.’

 The company’s Google Chrome 125 update had nine security vulnerabilities after it warned that an error 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 privately visiting websites.

Google finally settled the suit in April that required it to delete billions of data records that showed users’ private browsing activities and the company will have to let people using incognito to block third-party cookies.

‘The settlement requires Google to delete and remediate, in unprecedented scope and scale, the data it improperly collected in the past,’ David Boies, the attorney in the lawsuit, told ABC News.