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Booger says

Whatever phone you buy, delete the facebook app asap!

If you buy an iPhone it won't even come with a FB app or any Google apps either. Apple's "sandboxing" seems pretty secure. That's the concept of very carefully separating each app from the others. Apps can't read each others' data. Finger taps on the screen only go to the application that is frontmost. Also, if you delete an app, all of its associated data is removed because all of its associated data is stored in a designated directory not shared with anything else.

HeadSet says

Interesting. I noticed that my wife's iPhone pushes storing photos "on the cloud" instead of something like a local sD card or phone memory. Anyone know if some use agreement give Apple rights to photos stored on their servers?

I believe you will find that the user agreement is quite favorable to customer privacy. I'm not sure about the current system of cloud encryption, so government warrants are probably the only real privacy concern.

Full (and continuous) backup to the cloud is really handy if your phone breaks, is lost, or is stolen. Head on down to the AT&T store and get a new SIM card for the old account (if old phone lost or stolen). Then buy a new phone and restore from the cloud. You'll have your contacts, messages, notes, and email very quickly. Photos and videos can take hours, but they'll all be there as well.

My smart phone is a snob and keeps reminding me how stupid I am. I am ready for a dumb phone.

SunnyvaleCA says

Booger says

Whatever phone you buy, delete the facebook app asap!

If you buy an iPhone it won't even come with a FB app or any Google apps either. Apple's "sandboxing" seems pretty secure. That's the concept of very carefully separating each app from the others. Apps can't read each others' data. Finger taps on the screen only go to the application that is frontmost. Also, if you delete an app, all of its associated data is removed because all of its associated data is stored in a designated directory not shared with anything else.

Phones are completely insecure. Do not store data you want to protect on it.

Another issue with security is keeping your phone up-to-date with security patches. This is pretty much automatic with the iPhone. Every once in a while you get a message on the screen asking: Update now / Update when sleeping tonight / ask me later. You hit the option for updating while sleeping, remember to put the phone on the charger if it is low, and then have to type in your 6-digit passcode in the morning because face recognition is prevented from working the first time after a reboot.

Apple fully supports phones for quite a long time. That means you will get security updates for quite a long time. Currently (March 2022) the iPhone 6S is supported by the latest iOS 15.4. That phone shipped in the fall of 2015.

Security updates for Android are a different matter — or at least it used to be. Hopefully, it's gotten better. With dozens of new phones shipping yearly from several different manufacturers, the matrix of support can be a nightmare. Updates have to be coordinated with Google and with the manufacturer, and the manufacturer would really just prefer to sell you a new phone.

When choosing a phone, I figure that I'll use it quite a bit, so prioritize functionality over cost. That said, I'm pathologically cost conscious. When shopping the iPhone lineup 2 years ago, I chose the new iPhone (non-pro) over the previous year's phone or even older phones. While the new release was the most expensive, I figured I would run it for 4 years instead of 3 or fewer years and thus recoup the higher costs with a longer life. Plus, I'd have the better phone for most of those years.

That said, the iPhone SE 3 (released recently) is basically an "ancient" iPhone 8 but with new CPU. It has the same CPU as the $1300 iPhone 13 Pro Max. There's every reason to believe that Apple will fully support it for 6+ years. Biggest sacrifices are small screen, old camera technology, and fingerprint authentication instead of face recognition.

Ceffer says

My smart phone is a snob and keeps reminding me how stupid I am. I am ready for a dumb phone.

Are you sure you want to risk it? Could really dent the old ego when even a dumb phone proves to be your intellectual superior.

SunnyvaleCA says

If you buy an iPhone it won't even come with a FB app or any Google apps either. Apple's "sandboxing" seems pretty secure. That's the concept of very carefully separating each app from the others. Apps can't read each others' data. Finger taps on the screen only go to the application that is frontmost. Also, if you delete an app, all of its associated data is removed because all of its associated data is stored in a designated directory not shared with anything else.

The only phone I know of that does this properly is the Pixel. For that reason it's the only one supported by Graphene OS.