Apple and Privacy

Phones are an ever present part of modern life – from their use as navigation tools to payment methods the use of phones as simply ‘the’ tool of the day to day is increasing. This increasing reliance is forcing the slow adaptors and the late uptakers of the mobile world at a rapid pace. This can of course lead to a lot of anxiety – several things that used to be done in long processes that were guarded by professionals are now undertaken in the supposed privacy, under your own discretion whenever you want. Things like banking, identification, health records, contact information etc are all now arranged around the mobile phone. Accessible using your phone login pin or even face ID you can log in and access your information on the go, at home or just about anywhere.

Obviously, this is massively convenient, but how can we trust that our data – our personal information is safe?  In the news there are frequent hacking attacks on personal data of people, and there is no stopping them. They can access the data in massive corporations that are storing health information – accessing the insurance records and health information of millions of individuals, how on earth could you trust your own device and data ? A lot of people are not completely aware of how these technologies work – let alone how to manage their own privacy and protect their data. What then is the key that allows these people to trust that their data will not be freely available as soon as they use these things? That answer is Apple.

Apple have maintained their identity as a brand that means privacy for data. Their reputation for refusing to offer recovery of personal data from phones that have been wiped, its own operating system that is not freely able to interact with other sytems is part of Apples reputation for privacy.

Their current advancements in the perception of health data is that it is a sensitive topic that is able to be exploited by the society that is creating a commercial value for that data. Thus accessing it and who gets access to it is very sensitive information.

Apple are able to use their reputation as a secure system to represent themselves as a brand that is safe to use in the current environment. Their technology, both their health apps and hardware devices like phones are safer than others according to their brand image and this strategy is going to be helpful for those dealing with the problem of data privacy in the current environment.