> While we do back up iMessage and SMS messages for your convenience using iCloud Backup, you can turn it off whenever you want.<p>Wouldn't they be able to hold that privacy promise much better if they actually allowed people to keep iCloud backup on let's say for pictures, but still be able to disable iMessage messages? I think many people would like to use iCloud but without it backing up personal conversations, too.<p>Also, iMessage's end-to-end encryption was rather flawed last Matthew Green checked, compared to other end-to-end messaging apps.<p><a href="https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2016/03/21/attack-of-week-apple-imessage/" rel="nofollow">https://blog.cryptographyengineering.com/2016/03/21/attack-o...</a><p>As for their use of differential privacy, when they introduced that it was essentially a hidden way of gather <i>more</i> of your data than before, not less, but while still being able to say "hey, we may gather more data than ever on you starting with the new iOS, but it's <i>pretty</i> private, so it's cool, don't worry about it".<p>All of that said, I know Apple is still miles ahead of Google on privacy. If anything, over the last 1-2 years, Google has become increasingly bolder and more shameless about tracking users without them realizing (except in the EU, where they are <i>forced</i> to make it a little easier for users to understand how they are being tracked, and even that happened because of the anti-trust lawsuit).<p>Here's just one example of Google's increasingly privacy-hostile behavior:<p><a href="https://www.extremetech.com/internet/238093-google-quietly-changed-its-privacy-policy-no-longer-promises-to-anonymize-your-personal-information-when-selling-ads" rel="nofollow">https://www.extremetech.com/internet/238093-google-quietly-c...</a>