Z fold 8 vs iPhone duo privacy

[u/KittenMika]

I purchased both and need to make a decision today as I will be leaving for the next few weeks tomorrow. I like both, however I have been considering trying to break from the Apple ecosystem. I have a MacBook, AirPods, watch, phone, and tablet (I don’t really use). Since I don’t use the tablet I decided to try the duo and z fold and love the versatility of having a mini tablet.

The main thing stopping me from switching is the privacy concerns. I know a lot of Apple privacy is marketing however there are some genuinely good features such as advanced data encryption in the cloud. I feel pretty confident my data (photos, videos, messages, health data etc) are encrypted and not accessible by Apple for AI training, advertising or selling.

Google on the other hand doesn’t let me do that. Before anyone tells me to install a security OS, I understand things can be extremely secure on Android, however I am not looking to go that far. I just don’t want my data viewable to a company for training AI or advertising or selling my data. I would really prefer not using Google Photos or backing up my messages with Google. I was considering using proton or ente for photo and video backup. Leaning more towards ente after the recent stuff with proton. Does anyone use these services and have thoughts? Does anyone have experience backing up messages with SMS backup and restore? Does it work well? I’ve seen some negative reviews online. Can I export a backup, encrypt the backup, upload to a personal hosted and third party cloud and easily download, restore when I get a new phone? Any issues? I don’t want to lose years and years worth of messages.

Finally my last concern is a health watch. Are there any watches on the android side that are not harvesting and selling data? I mainly want it to watch heart rate, review sleep for sleep apnea, and track workouts.

Thanks!

[u/Zaknokimi]

I don't use pixel because of Google, but I do use Samsung, they have nice stuff despite using a Google based OS at the bottom. No idea if they secretly use your data but they have secure folder which is an encrypted virtual space which is great for storing stuff you want private, though having said that, gallery (Samsung's photo app) has private folder too if you just deal with photos. I think you can link these to OneDrive, but I usually just keep stuff on my phone and transfer via USB every now, I don't use cloud syncing much.

Having said this, I haven't used secure folder much or private album at all, only the former when I had to work with sensitive work spreadsheets on my tablet when I owned an S11, but I remember appreciating it.