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Ask HN: Do you think Apple is using iMessage info for advertising?

1 points by wand3r ↗ HN
I have had a few situations where I have discussed niche things via iMessage exclusively and then received similar adverts. Most recent example is a conversation making fun of Air Fryers and toasters. The following day I received an advert in instagram for a portable pizza oven which I have never seen before.

There was another example as well. I understand this is anecdotal and possibly coincidence but it has happened twice. Its not as though I used Facebook or Gmail and I never Googled the product.

What do you think?

4 comments

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MBCook
iMessage is end to end encrypted. Apple can’t read them. And no one uses Apple ads (outside the App Store) so if you see ads online they would have had to buy that data, if it did exist, which Apple wouldn’t sell.
wand3r
I understand that but this article[1] claims leaving iCloud messages on somehow allows them to have the key and thus access them. I have checked and I do in fact have iMessage backup checked. So it is likely they could in fact access them correct?

[1]https://www.forbes.com/sites/zakdoffman/2021/05/15/how-to-st...

MBCook
I believe that referred to the backup data of iMessages stored in iCloud.

I think Apple fixed that last year with enhanced security, but it may be opt-in.