At the moment I am thinking about getting a new phone in the foreseeable future. I was long time using android, but switched to iOS 5 years ago because of the longer update period. Now also some android devices offer a longer update support of about 5 years. Now I am thinking about switching back to android.
But i am wondering: is there any big difference from a privacy perspective between iOS and android? I know you can go for custom roms on android that are focused on privacy which i also used in the past, but i am not planning on doing this in the future. So it would come down to stock android vs stock iOS. Any advice there or is all lost anyway?
If you are a normal user that just wants a bit privacy and no excessive amount of spyware, I guess iOS is the way. Though if you do care about privacy, you can get yourself a pixel phone and flash GrapheneOS, which is far superior to stock android or iOS. It’s FOSS, it has tools that will help with your privacy, etc. Plus android has a far bigger app market than iOS. You most likely will find everything you need in FDroid.
Tho the pixel phone must have the bootloader unlocked, right?
You have to be able to unlock it (no post paid ATT/Verizon/TMO contracted phones), but you can lock the bootloader again after flashing grapheneOS