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I was wondering if other MFO's users were have problems with different devices that use Apple ?

Shares of Facebook parent company Meta (FB) sank to a 52-week low on Thursday, following a disappointing Q4 earnings report and news that the social networking giant is struggling to contain the damage from Apple’s (AAPL) iOS privacy changes called App Tracking Transparency (ATT).
Friends phone & kindle are driving her & Me nuts. It seems Amazon whats to use Google as a way to take you .
Thanks for any replies, Derf

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Comments

  • edited February 2022
    Unclear question. I’ll try to answer. In a nutshell Apple (to their credit) recently made it much harder for websites & apps to plant “cookies” on your Apple device that allowed them to track all your internet usage. They than sold the personal data collected to advertisers who could thereby target you for advertising. For example, if they knew you visited this board a lot, an advertiser might target you with ads for the WSJ or other financial publication. Just a guess, but the “special” subscription rates offered to you might be higher than those offered others who didn’t often visit financial sites.

    Now the bottom line … With these user protections in place Facebook and many other internet domains stand to gather less user information and therefore have less of your personal information to sell advertisers. Facebook takes a financial hit. IMHO you gain.

    PS - I use many Apple devices and have a Kindle and buy things at Amazon. I’ve experienced no difficulty with any of these.
  • edited February 2022
    @Derf- I don't understand your suggestion of a connection between Apple, Amazon, and Google. While we don't use a smartphone or Kindle, we do use Apple desktops exclusively, Firefox browsers, and do purchase from Amazon very frequently.

    On those platforms we've had no problems of any kind. As a matter of principle for at least fifteen years I've done everything possible to avoid use of any service offered by Google, as it was evident to me many years ago where this whole tracking/privacy/advertising thing was headed.

    With respect to Amazon, certainly there's a great deal of search operation within Amazon itself when you're looking for various products. I have no idea if Amazon does all of that itself, or possibly uses Google or some other search provider to help power it's internal searches. In any case, I've never experienced any suggestion of a connection to me as an Amazon customer and Google.

    As a general comment on the whole tracking/privacy/advertising issue, we have never joined any "social" organization such as Meta (nee "Facebook") which on the face of it has absolutely no reason for existence other than to abuse user privacy for financial profit. Immense profit, at that.

  • edited February 2022
    Yes, maybe there was just a slip-up in the original question? I use a T-Mobile flip-phone. T-Mobile replaced the phone. It used to be that calling my wife and my son was impossible, because the calls refused to go through. The lovely phone would make the attempt to get through to the other party, but in an instant, my call to either one of them would auto-disconnect.

    After receiving and activating the replacement phone, I can call wifey, but the same damn thing is still happening when I try to call my son--- whose provider is THE SAME COMPANY. And he uses an Apple phone. A "smart" phone. ("Smart." Ya, right.)
  • I use almost exclusively Apple products. I have had no performance issues since 1986 when I bought a Mac+. Currently I am using an 11-yr old MacBook Pro that is slowing down when web surfing but the new model(s) have no issues. Yes, I finally upgraded.
  • edited February 2022
    “As a general comment on the whole tracking/privacy/advertising issue, we have never joined any "social" organization such as Meta (nee "Facebook") which on the face of it has absolutely no reason for existence other than to abuse user privacy for financial profit. Immense profit, at that.”

    I second that! I get my news from the few surviving professional journalistic organizations. And I don’t mean cable or the “Happy Talk” & “Weird Weather” (somewhere) that has become the network news (but does not “become” it!)

  • @Mark- Yeah, my first was a Mac+ too. Upgraded that to an SE30. Still have that one- fired it up about a year ago and it still works! Using a fleet of Mini's now, with some G5s for old CAD files that can't cross over.

    OJ
  • My first computer ever was an SE 20, purchased with an Apple dot-matrix printer, for a grand total of $3000. Other than a Mac clone, I’ve never owned anything but Apple products. I wish I could say I bought Apple stock back then and never sold.
  • Thanks for replies, I believe @hank was in the right area. I think my friend hit a yes button instead of no. We're heading to young person who knows a whole lot more than both of us put together !
    Stay Tuned, Derf
  • @Old_Joe : This is the message that pops up : Amazon wants to access your Google account. Then it lists 5 different things that it wants to access !
    Flip phone user here, Derf
  • edited February 2022
    Not Old Joe. Had similar problem. Foggy recollection. But it had something to do with Amazon wanting a secure address to which they could send a message needed for 2-factor authentication. . Amazon takes great steps to prevent someone else from accessing your account. My problem cropped up when they detected I was logging in from a hotel in another state. Had a h*** of a time clearing up the marrer. Got caught in between Amazon and my e-mail provider - both of them worried about security. But there was no foul play involved in my case. Just an extra layer of security.

    ADDED - Just remembered how I resolved that. Shut off the wifi on my iphone and just used the cellular signal. That didn’t seem “suspicious” to one or both parties and was able to get logged back in.

    I remember a day long ago when we didn’t have to know how to communicate with artificial intelligence. (:
  • hank said:

    “As a general comment on the whole tracking/privacy/advertising issue, we have never joined any "social" organization such as Meta (nee "Facebook") which on the face of it has absolutely no reason for existence other than to abuse user privacy for financial profit. Immense profit, at that.”

    I second that! I get my news from the few surviving professional journalistic organizations. And I don’t mean cable or the “Happy Talk” & “Weird Weather” (somewhere) that has become the network news (but does not “become” it!)

    Although I DO use FB, I'm with ya, all the way. The ID and security business can sometimes turn absurd. I wanted to use my fb account while on vacation in Canada.

    ...Some BOT (presumably) figured out that it could not really be ME, in a different country..... I created a 2nd, alternative account. Then some stinky-ass BOT discovered the same person, ostensibly, with two accounts, at the same address. I was locked out of both.

    So, I created a FB account with a totally silly name I created out of thin air. With a false hometown and address, and for email, I offered my "junk" email account, which I never look at, unless some outfit insists on being provided with an email address. (I also have a spam phone number that I saved and use, when I'm able to do so, too. It's some fake, unethical scumbags from India, claiming to be Microsoft Repair. So, I let them deal with each other.)

    News these days? Paywall in front of the major newspapers, or you must allow the ads. Nope. Just... Nope. So, it's PBS and Aljazeera for me, currently. I do grow tired of Judy Woodruff, who likes to EMOTE so very much. The questions of interviewees are most often of the softball variety. Al Jazeera covers more of the world, too.
  • ...BTW: phone is not fixed. THREE new SIM cards tried. Third time was the charm. TWICE, it worked, trying to call my son. Not after that. But of course, they tried everything to make it difficult and frustrating and attempted to sell me up with an upgrade.

    (T-Mobile and a flip-phone made by Alcatel, which T-Mobile has stopped selling.) Such a way of doing business!!! "The customer was provided with a phone we discovered is faulty. We tried to fix it, but couldn't, because we are just middlemen. So we don't have to take responsibility for anything. Back the customer into a corner via deliberate choice of words. Present the issue as one in which there is no alternative but to upgrade and have the customer pay the extortion-fee to upgrade, after the customer was already sold a faulty phone--- by which the customer is obligated to pay us every month, anyhow. So, create some pretexts. Re-frame the problem in order to divest this moneymaking operation from its responsibility to its customers. and hope the customer is not CRASH--- who is retired. Who has nothing but time. And who knows how to think critically, and call their bluff when they back away from the REAL problem."
  • Problem (?) resolved. Use a different browser to get her Gmail. Thus Amazon can't use her tablet to track her & other questionable things.
    Thanks for your time, Derf
  • Derf said:

    Problem (?) resolved. Use a different browser to get her Gmail. Thus Amazon can't use her tablet to track her & other questionable things.
    Thanks for your time, Derf

    Glad YOURS worked out. Really. That's good.:)

  • edited February 2022
    @Derf- Glad to hear that you've fixed whatever it was. Don't "upgrade" if you have a choice. Don't change anything if what you've got is working. Old saying in communications: "If it works, don't f--- with it!"
  • @hank- I've been using artificial intelligence to communicate my entire life! :)
  • edited February 2022
    Old_Joe said:

    @hank- I've been using artificial intelligence to communicate my entire life! :)

    What’s impressive (and commendable) is that you actually read others’ posts in their entirety! (Either that or, possibly, you start at the bottom and read “up” from there?)

  • Our family are long time users of Mac computers, iPads, and iPhones and they work seamlessly together. At work we use a combination of Windows and Linux computers since they work better in a networking environment. We don’t use social media and prefer to write and talk to our friends directly. So the recent changes of Apple privacy changes on both iOS and OS do not impact us and we actually like it better from unwanted tracking from other apps.
  • No problems with my MacBook Pro!
  • edited February 2022
    Long-time Apple user - no issues.

    The only problem is for Meta (FB), among others, because Apple now gives users the clear option of not being tracked by third party apps, which cuts into those third party's advertising revenue.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/03/technology/apple-privacy-changes-meta.html
  • edited February 2022
    Yep. Just hit me. For 20 years I’ve relied on DejaOffice on ipad to maintain all my records (contacts, colander & much more) It’s been easy to email backup files every few days to my icloud mail account which is strictly employed for nothing else. Good backup & a way to synchronize all my devices.

    Today, after installing the latest IOS 13 the emailed backup files won’t load onto the Deja app. Seems to be something inherent in the new IOS. So those backups are useless. There’s a second way to do this: Create a “Dropbox” account and backup and retrieve Deja files on that. So far. So good. But a lot of hassle.

    My ipads also back up their entire content to Apple’s cloud automatically. So Deja files should be there. But using that method would require replacing everything on the ipad, rather than just the Deja files. I suppose Apple would prefer I use their own in house apps for record keeping. But I like Deja and it would be a mamouth undertaking to transfer all those files to Apple’s own system.

    @Old_Joe is right about not fixing what ain’t broken. But if I followed that advice all the time my devices would all be running the same software they were using 20 years ago and probably wouldn’t even support most of today’s applications.
  • @hank I’m a little confused by your post - iPads have only been around since 2010 and the most current version of iOS is 15. Have you reached out to the developer of DejaOffice to let them know of your issues?
  • edited February 2022
    Thanks @MrRuffles. You aren’t confused. I was. I’ve lost track of the years. Checking the App store, the DejaOffice program was purchased in July 2011. It updates frequently of course. So have used it more like 11 or 12 years.

    It’s hard to imagine life before ipads and iphones. I remember buying something produced by Dell maybe 20 years ago that fit in a shirt pocket and stored contact information. No phone function. Used to actually “wow” some people when I’d whip it out to look up a phone number, flight information or other stuff.

    And my 5th generation ipad is running IOS 15.2.1 With automatic updates which load overnight I pay no attention. Probably should. No. Not planning to reach out to anyone at this time. I ran a test this morning and was able to save the files to DropBox and than retrieve them on a different device. And, as I suspect you know, all the contents of ipads (including files) can be backed up to Apple’s cloud. But if necessary, I will reach out.

    I see 2 possibilities here (1) It’s a software glitch that will clear up in time or (2) Apple notified developers of the change months back - because I first noticed the “Drop Box” backup option in the Deja App only a month or two ago. They may have added it in anticipation of the change, There’s also the possibility that using an email other than icloud would work. But that’s a last resort because most of them scan your email. I’d rather trust Apple with my trove of data.

    PS - There appears to be a “contact us” option inside the Deja app. If I run into any issues I’ll contact them. This has been an extremely reliable app.
  • Not a user of DejaOffice, but on search, Dropbox backup/restore feature was added in December 2020. https://www.dejaoffice.com/iphoneapp/notes.html
  • edited February 2022
    +1 (I tend to not notice much …)

    From Yogi’s attachment: “ - Added support for backup and restore via Dropbox. You can access this feature by going to DejaOffice Settings-> Backup & Restore, then choosing "Use Dropbox" when prompted. Restoring a backup file no longer requires a DejaOffice restart”
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