Oil and Water = iPhone and Android

close up photography of smartphone icons

Will the information here today change your life in a fundamental way? Not likely. Is it interesting and possibly a factoid you can bring up in small talk at a Christmas party? Sure!

Even the least techy people among us are likely aware that iPhone and Android are different systems. A friend recently asked me to do something on her iPhone while she was driving and I had to really concentrate to remember how to use it. We left Apple and all of the “i” devices about a decade ago to become Android (Google) users. The systems do the same things but in their own special ways.

However, Android is used on more devices so you have a range of options such as Samsung, Google Pixel, etc. Whereas with Apple, you can only use the iPhone. But I digress with my pro-Android bias!

Don’t Tell Me You Love Me

Competitors such as these companies aren’t interested in making all things easier for the customer. They are more excited about wrangling more of us and keeping us in their bubbles so we empty our bank accounts on their gear. To that end, security experts are now warning people who text sensitive information from an Android to an iPhone, or vice versa, to be aware that their messages can be visible because they’re not encrypted.

Most messaging between devices is encrypted or camouflaged from being intercepted and read. However, Apple and Android won’t do that service for each other. So, if you text something from an Android to an iPhone, that message is encrypted until it reaches the telecommunications operator where it’s decrypted. At that point, it can be captured and read by anyone. It’s encrypted again and sent out. This happens at lightning speed.

This is in contrast to Android to Android or iPhone to iPhone communication where the information stays encrypted, end to end.

How Does This Affect My Life?

In all these years of owning a smartphone, it’s something I’ve never heard before. Chances are you’re not sending classified information to anyone and who really cares if someone intercepts your message of, “please pick up milk on your way home.” But the FBI is recommending Android and iPhone users who do send sensitive info avoid texting each other. This comes after a cyberattack on US government devices, allegedly by a group of hackers backed by the Chinese government. Experts in Canada, including the RCMP, think our government could be next.

What do we mere ordinary mortals do with this information? Make sure we always add the latest updates to our devices and apps. The conglomerates are always working on security patches and other important things. Be aware that someone could potentially be reading what we text to another operating system – although it is unlikely. Still, it’s possible.

It’s a good idea to simply not expect privacy or confidentiality. We’re on CCTV surveillance virtually everywhere we go. Our phones track us. AirMiles and PC Optimum trade points for learning our shopping habits. It goes on and on. I thought this encryption nugget was information worth sharing, if for nothing more than to remind us that these companies don’t have our best interests at heart or they’d collaborate on a system that kept our information private. This info shouldn’t make us paranoid. But it probably should make us skeptical.

2 thoughts on “Oil and Water = iPhone and Android”

  1. That’s very valuable information!I know,knowledge is power,yet I am still tethered to the “original sin” of Apple, and likely will stay. The price of this habit is shocking, but it’s one of the last vices of influence I maintain. It’s just so Coke/Pepsi.

  2. Interesting. SMS messages have never been a secured platform dating way back before Iphone or Android devices so am I surprised, no! However I wonder if your using an IOS version of a Android App on your Iphone talking to the same App on an Android device whether or not this concern is still true.

    I wish the technology children would grow up and get over themselves. They love to bitch when legislation comes in to protect end users.

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