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My iPhone, My Enemy
I have been around computers since I was nine, so I know what early adoption of system updates can lead to. There was one update I am aware of that would permanently disable any device that received it. I have no idea how the manufacturer compensated their victims in that case. So on every new device part of my nesting routine is to make sure that automatic updates are turned off. Let them destroy someone else’s device, I need mine running.
So then I received a notification on my iPhone that I should leave the phone on overnight for an important update, the defective COVID-19 exposure detection app rejected by the UK because Apple and Google could not reliably distinguish between a signal three feet away and one 30 feet away with maybe a wall or two between, has now been integrated into iOS but, the message assured, use of the app would be entirely opt-in. So if I update my iPhone the defective app proposed to Europe to decide who is shoved pell-mell into forced quarantine will become a part of my configuration.
But I will have complete control over whether the function is activated.
Right.
Like I had complete control over whether the app was uploaded when that became available.
And when I didn’t, this.
And just to be sure that I got the message, they remotely changed my settings to automatically install iOS updates.
So helpful of them.
My phone has spent a lot less time powered and online, lately. And I am taking no more iOS updates. So anyone who urgently requires my attention should use email or FaceTime. While I shop for an unsmart flip phone with no Bluetooth that I can easily upload my address book to. Recommendations welcome.
When Apple gave millions to the Communist insurrection via instruments like BLM and Antifa, excuses were made. They just did not understand. Did not investigate whom they were giving logistical support to in the terrorization and destruction of our cities. In summation, they just weren’t very smart.
Or they are being gleefully sinister.
Published in Technology
They are now located in Miami and American owned, but with a strong hold on the Latin American market.
I stopped updating the OS on my iPhone 7 some time ago, when I learned that the one app to which I bought an annual subscription and which I use regularly to track mileage and time spent on walks, bike rides, and so forth, would be incompatible with whatever the next update was. So far, I have been able to avoid them by putting them off till later . . . and then never downloading them. So far so good, but I am concerned that such halcyon days are numbered.
Wasn’t that the sworn enemy of CONTROL?
It’s a good assumption that anything actually good like that, will be bought up. Not necessarily with nefarious intent, but possibly with nefarious results.
It’s like socialism. So many choices are not good for you.
It seems like 90% of the NCIS episodes we watch involve bad guys using burner phones . . .
Yes! Just today, I found out my latest IOS update turned on my Apple Music garbage, which I had turned completely off because I don’t use my phone for music.
It’s also pretty typical that, for example, if you turn off Automatic Updates, and then later accept a particular update or something, or maybe even some App from the Apple Store, it will turn on Automatic Updates again, without telling you.
I don’t know about recommendations, but I have a Kyocera flip-phone DuraXV LTE. It does have Bluetooth. Not sure about WiFi. My last one just up and died, had this one about a year. My only problem with it is that I have trouble keeping it in the right place to talk. If I turn on the speakerphone then no problem.
The wife has a Samsung flip-phone -Gusto is what it says. Had it so long Verizon doesn’t even bother telling us its time for another. Again, bluetooth is available but it has to be set up. I don’t think it does wifi.
Have you considered a throwaway? (I assume they can still be had.)
Throwaways appear to all be Android these days. I found a 3G “Feature Phone”, the industry code word for not very smart, nor Android, nor iOS, from BLU. I’ll give that a try to start.
Even 3G is obsolete in some markets. You may not get service at all, or you might get “roaming” service through a different carrier, which can limit the number of talking minutes you have, etc. Even if you’re paying for “unlimited,” since the fine print will always say that it doesn’t apply if you’re “roaming.”
We just jumped to TMobile and ungraded to the IPhone11Max from the 6s, not because we wanted the fancy camera, but because we figured we could get 4-5 years out of it before upgrades kill it. So far, I like Face ID better than fingerprint ID. I am so used to it working silently and automatically, that I am stunned when I have to type in the Pin. Seems Face ID doesn’t work well when you have on a mask. I like the connectivity between my IPad, Mac, and Phone. I know to check settings after upgrades. Yes, Siri listening creeps people out but I was in the military for 20 years where we had stickers on the phones warning us that we were to assume every call was monitored.
Permanent airplane mode
The only service that works around here is Verizon. And even Verizon doesn’t work outside the towns. (Hills, valleys, trees.) So I have a network extender which gives me cellular service within, say 150 feet of home. It connects to Verizon via internet. It does 3G and I believe Verizon still sells the thing. Not 100% positive, that was just a quick internet check.
I’m no longer updating my iPhone for a couple of reasons. First, I’ve had updates which changed features I liked, rendering them them unusable. Second, there is a push to forceably install COVID tracing software without our consent. I already have something like that on my phone (installed surrepticiously), and it says it’s opt-in. But is it really?
I don’t trust Apple any more than I trust the Biden administration to do the right thing. The latter is based on observation, the former is based on instinct . . .