Apple warns iPhone users: “This browser is really private”

Nearly three decades after the first ‘browser war’ between Internet Explorer and Netscape, the current number two is trying to put the undisputed market leader under pressure. According to the news website SFGATE, Apple recently started promoting its own web browser Safari on one of its most prominent billboards in San Francisco, California. On the poster, the Cupertino technology giant praises the privacy features of the app. Spanish-language Apple advertising posters were also spotted in Madrid this month.

With the slogan “a browser that is truly private”, Apple is taking on major competitor Alphabet, the parent company of Google, which has the world’s most popular browser with Chrome. More than half of the world’s population now uses Chrome to visit websites, which is a thorn in Apple’s side. With a market share of less than 20 percent, Safari is the second most used browser. With the new advertising campaign, Apple is trying to encourage the nearly one and a half billion iPhone owners to opt for its own app.

“Google revealed earlier this year that the company collects your data when you use Chrome, including in so-called incognito mode,” said Jake Moore, cybersecurity consultant at antivirus and security company ESET, in the business magazine Forbes. “Such personal data is therefore particularly valuable for companies. The terms and conditions you have to accept for using an app are often very extensive and difficult to understand, while companies are given permission to collect all kinds of data whenever they want.”