It’s no secret that Apple and Google aren’t exactly on friendly terms. After all, the rival tech giants have been at each other’s throats since essentially the early aughts. The silent war between Apple and Google has evolved from competing apps (such as Google Maps vs. Apple Maps) to privacy protection features, which has even landed the companies in hot water with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). And now, Apple is sharpening its pitchforks with a brand-new ad aimed at turning iPhone users against the Chrome app.
RELATED: How to Protect Your iPhone From New "Sophisticated" Hacker Attack.
Apple wants its users to know that Big Brother Google is always watching. The Cupertino-based company took a page out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds with a sinister new video ad about smartphone privacy—and how Safari is the best search engine for “industry-leading privacy protection technology.”
The clip opens with a man mindlessly internet-scrolling on his phone before cutting to a woman and a pair of friends doing the same. As the music tempo speeds up (almost like a horror film), blinking security cameras come to life and use their bird-like wings to swoop in and spy on them up close. Public spaces, offices, and homes are quickly infiltrated with swarms of flying security cameras.
The video then transitions to a message from Apple: “Your browsing is being watched.”
Finally, the town is saved from these winged surveillance robots by iPhone owners who are using the Safari app for the internet. With a click of Safari, flying security cameras begin blowing up in the sky, and an on-screen text reads, “Safari. A browser that’s actually private.”
Although Google and the Chrome app aren’t explicitly called out by name, Apple's message is clear.
Right now, Google pays Apple $20 billion for their search engine to be the default page on Safari on iPhones. However, that may soon change due to an antitrust lawsuit initiated by the DOJ in 2022. But Google is already on the case should this financial agreement disintegrate.
According to The Information, Google’s plan of attack is to nearly double its number of Chrome iPhone users from 30 to 50 percent, which equates to recruiting roughly 300 million people who currently use the Google search engine on the Safari app.
While Apple wouldn’t necessarily be losing those customers per se (an iPhone isn’t being traded in for an Android), the company may lose out on advertisement dollars if more and more eyeballs are spent scrolling on Chrome versus Safari.
Either way, Apple is trying to convey that the real deficit in switching from Safari to Chrome is the lack of privacy. As Apple explained in its ad description, iPhones are equipped with “industry-leading privacy protection technology, including Intelligent Tracking Prevention.”
Forbeseloquently explained: “If you use Google Search within Safari, you are submitting to Google’s machine through those search queries and results. But iPhone users are well protected from cross-site tracking, despite Google’s delays in killing third-party cookies. Tracking protection is a universal setting on iOS, and if you have elected not to be tracked that applies to Chrome as well. But if you’re using Chrome then you’re inside Google’s machine, and it can see what you do without any need for third-party cookies.”
To be clear, the features used within the Chrome app on your phone are the same as those on your laptop, tablet, and desktop computer.
Whether or not you make the switch to team Chrome is up to you, but in the meantime, Apple is investing in a massive billboard campaign to spread the message about Safari’s privacy features.
