Apple has always boasted how the privacy of their customers is of utmost importance to them, which is why some have questioned the company’s decision to accept billions of dollars from Google so that Google can remain the default search engine on Safari, and this is something that Apple’s CEO Tim Cook has since addressed.Speaking during an interview with Axios on HBO (via The Verge), Cook claimed that one of the reasons was because Google’s search engine is the “best”. He also stated how Safari has various controls built into it that will continue to keep the privacy of its users secure. “I think their [Google’s] search engine is the best. Look at what we’ve done with the controls we’ve built in. We have private web browsing. We have an intelligent tracker prevention. What we’ve tried to do is come up with ways to help our users through their course of the day. It’s not a perfect thing. I’d be the very first person to say that. But it goes a long way to helping.”
It is true that Safari does have features built into it that prevents ad trackers from tracking users across multiple websites. This has actually angered the advertising industry who claims that such a feature has cost them millions. Apple isn’t alone in this either as other companies such as Mozilla have also built in similar protection features into its Firefox browser.
While there are other more privacy-focused browsers out there, such as DuckDuckGo, it’s hard to deny that when it comes to search, it’s hard to beat Google right now.
Filed in . Read more about Google, iOS, Privacy, Safari and Security.