Google product management director Mark Risher, who oversees Google’s secure sign in tool, shared his thoughts on Apple’s new “Sign In with Apple” feature in an interview with The Verge.
The new sign in option, which will debut this fall, alongside Apple’s new iOS 13 operating system, offers a more private alternative for signing into apps and websites than those offered by Google, Facebook, and Twitter. The new option collects no data to share with the apps and website it is used on, and also offers an option to keep your real email address safe from being recorded.
First off, Risher claims his company’s login tool isn’t as info hungry as it’s made out to be, and that the data isn’t used for advertising or targeting. “There was a bunch of innuendo wrapped around the release that suggested that only one of them is pure and the rest of them are kind of corrupt, and obviously I don’t like that,” he said.
Risher suggested that Apple’s login feature is actually more invasive. “This current product, I haven’t seen how it will be built, but it sounds like they will log that moment as well and then also, every email that’s ever sent by that company, which sounds a lot more invasive. But we’ll see how the details work out.”
He said the innuendo from Apple that Google’s tool is less privacy focused “was a little annoying” because Google is “trying to really hold [itself] to a high standard.”
“I honestly do think this technology will be better for the internet and will make people much, much safer. Even if they’re clicking our competitors button when they’re logging into sites, that’s still way better than typing in a bespoke username and password, or more commonly, a recycled username and password.”
The full interview is available on The Verge’s website, and is recommended reading.