Understand why Google tracks 300 million iPhone users

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Only about 30% of iPhone owners use Chrome, which is a real problem for Google.

Suddenly it all becomes clear: Apple's influential ad, which appeared a few weeks ago with a not-so-subtle warning to avoid Google Chrome, is part of a larger, more serious picture that has 300 million iPhone users caught in the middle.

Google wants iPhone users to trade in Apple apps for its own apps, and to bring those users into its data machine every day. If you switch your default browser to Chrome, you're going to be tracked in some way. That's how it works.

Google has reportedly set a goal of increasing the share of iPhone searches using its own apps to 50% from the current 30%. Applying some very simplistic math, this translates to roughly 700 million of the 1.4 billion iPhones regularly using Google's own apps (primarily Chrome for search, rather than Safari).

If you install Chrome on your iPhone, you'll see that you'll be prompted to make it the default. For Google to make this happen, nearly 300 million more iPhone users would need to adopt Chrome instead of Safari. The Safari vs. Chrome ads and Apple's messaging are interesting for a variety of reasons. The relationship between the two giants of the mobile ecosystem is messy: Apple's warnings about Chrome and Google pushing Apple into RCS, the Gemini on/off affair in iOS 18. But above all because this is about a browser that Google is paying Apple billions of dollars for the default search location in Safari.

So is Safari really better than Chrome when it comes to tracking? The short answer is, yes. Google's business model is based on tracking and collecting user data to create and sell advertising, and while Apple obviously benefits from its revenue split with Google as much as anyone else, Safari is more privacy-friendly than Chrome, especially when it comes to user fingerprinting and third-party tracking.

When you use Google Search within Safari, those queries and search results are sent to Google's machines. But despite Google's delay in removing third-party cookies, iPhone users are well protected from cross-site tracking. Tracking protection is a common setting on iOS, and if you opt out of tracking, it applies to Chrome too. But if you use Chrome, you're inside Google's machines, so Google can see what you do without needing a third-party cookie.

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Google makes a ton of money from search, and with iPhone users earning more and spending more, this spot is extremely lucrative. But the push toward AI is changing search, even as the U.S. Department of Justice continues to investigate Google's alleged monopolistic search practices, including its iPhone deals.

The reason we know that Apple was attacking Chrome with these ads, despite not mentioning Chrome or Google by name, is because there are only two mobile browsers importing Chrome and Safari, which together make up over 90% of the market, but only about 30% of iPhone owners use Chrome, which is a serious problem for Google.

If Google were to lose or shut down Apple Safari, it would have to quickly change its approach. The company would have to replace 70% of the revenue it currently gets from iPhone search. This could very well be a tug-of-war between Apple and Google.

Apple doesn't even want the current 30% of iPhone users choosing Chrome over Safari, let alone half of the company's core iPhone base, so this Safari privacy message makes perfect sense, despite the irony that Safari is (for now) built into Google Search.

The challenge for Apple is that this is all messy: Users prefer Google Search over alternatives — Apple's own reported analysis filed in the Justice Department case backs this up — and as the iPhone maker saw with Google Maps, getting users to switch away from the Google app isn't easy or popular, which could lead to some weird twists and turns.

But Apple has used the privacy card to its advantage before, and these Safari ads are just the beginning, and will only increase if Google and Apple scale back their web search arrangements and compete more openly for iPhone users' searches.

For now, most Apple users have the balance right: Google's industry-leading search within Apple's Safari shell is better than Chrome's, at least as a default setting. That could be about to change. A browser war is underway between the two industry heavyweights, and your iPhone is their battlefield.

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://forbes.com.br/forbes-tech/2024/07/entenda-por-que-o-google-vai-rastrear-300-milhoes-de-usuarios-de-iphone/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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