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Comment by eeeeeeeeeeeee | Hacker News Reader

Disagree. Every system has problems. Look at what happened with Zoom — unrestricted access to your entire user account on MacOS, for them to do whatever they want. Normal people should not have to even think about a virus or malware scanner on their system.

I like where Apple is going and I like the iOS model. Most of all, I know that people like my parents will be better protected from malware and spyware and crypto extortion.

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> Look at what happened with Zoom — unrestricted access to your entire user account on MacOS, for them to do whatever they want.

Are you saying that if they were applying the same walled market as what they do with iOS, the Zoom issue wouldn't have happened? That seems doubtful to me.

Except this ignores the fact that there has been spyware and malware on Apple's store. Which perhaps gets removed eventually, but what about services that sell your data to the highest bidder without Apple's knowledge? Apple's offered security is relative to their definition of security. All it takes is your parents to install a malicious app that passed the app review. Deferring to Apple as some sort of security baby-sitter is just lazy and blind to the truth.

Like I said, no system is perfect. But let’s be real — which OS model is likely to better secure them and limit the damage? It’s objectively clear it’s iOS. iCloud backups make recovering from the damage much easier too. Backing up MacOS or Windows is still not easy.

Even if they installed a malicious app on iOS, the damage is still limited because of the security model of iOS.

I definitely understand the concern of centralizing everything around one provider, but I’m just pointing out that these systems win because, on the whole, they are a better experience for users. It’s why Facebook wins, and it’s why closed systems continue to crush open ones.

> It’s why Facebook wins, and it’s why closed systems continue to crush open ones.

There's a bit too much going on in your response, so...I greatly disagree on many levels and I feel this statement is a good lead as to why.

The spy/malware problem on the App Store is tiny in comparison to what you see on almost any other platform. Even if something nasty slips through review, it's access to the iOS device is very limited and gated through permission pop-ups.

Sure it's gated through permission pop-ups but I guess anecdotally my family members usually just try to tap as quickly as possible to get through prompts/pop-ups, regardless of what said prompt is asking, in order to accomplish their original goal in the app, not consider security requests.

When Apple is alerted to the problem they remove the app from all devices so I don't have the visit my parents and audit their devices or clean it up for them.

And if Apple never are alerted to the problem? Then your parents still have a malicious app on their phone that no one knew about. Security doesn't start with "I trust Apple" it starts with an understanding of risks.

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