Over the weekend, a buzzy story gained traction across several publications. It seemingly started with this New York Post article. The basic message: “Apple warns users to delete Chrome from their iPhones immediately.” If true, that would indeed be huge news. But the real details are more complicated and nuanced.
Apple’s Safari marketing warns against competing browsers
Apple has long maintained user privacy as being a core part of its values. This shows up in its branding and advertising too.
For example, last summer Apple debuted a new ad campaign for Safari that emphasized the browser’s privacy features.
Using the tagline, “Your browsing is being watched,” the campaign’s main video presented other browsers as being like surveillance cameras with wings, following you around everywhere.
“Flock” has currently racked up nearly 20 million views, and counting.
The ad not-so-subtly takes aim at market leader Chrome.
For example, here’s a Safari-Chrome comparison chart Apple provided to media:
Why the Safari ad has resurfaced now
If Apple’s “Flock” video came out nearly a year ago, why is it getting fresh attention now?
It’s resurfaced due to a recent Google announcement regarding Chrome.
Last year, only six days after the Safari video went live, Google announced some changes it was “proposing” regarding how third-party tracking happens in Chrome.
Essentially, some of the privacy concerns Apple’s ad highlighted were being addressed.
Except this past week, Google reversed course and said it’s not making the Chrome changes after all. Instead, “we’ve made the decision to maintain our current approach to offering users third-party cookie choice in Chrome, and will not be rolling out a new standalone prompt for third-party cookies.”
Why the change? Per the full post:
the adoption of privacy-enhancing technologies has accelerated, new opportunities to safeguard and secure people’s browsing experiences with AI have emerged, and the regulatory landscape around the world has evolved considerably
Basically, Google no longer thinks the changes are necessary—and it’s concerned about regulatory issues like those Apple has faced for its privacy efforts. Additionally, Google says “it remains clear that there are divergent perspectives on making changes that could impact the availability of third-party cookies”.
Google’s about-face on its proposed changes has led the Safari video to re-surface across the web, and articles like The Post’s to be written.
Apple’s Chrome warning: wrap-up
In conclusion, did Apple really warn users to delete Chrome from their iPhones? Not officially, no.
Apple continues to be a major partner with Google, including making its search engine the default in Safari. So the chances of Apple directly telling users to delete Chrome are extremely slim.
But certainly, Apple’s ad campaign last summer did suggest iPhone users who care about their privacy should use Safari instead.
And it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea for Apple to capitalize on Google’s recent reversal by putting together a new Safari ad for a moment like this.
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