Apple Throws macOS Under the Bus

The comment was made by Apple’s software engineering chief Craig Federighi during his testimony at the trial Fortnite maker Epic Games brought against Apple over the App Store.

Asked by Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers why Apple permits multiple app stores on the Mac, but not on the iPhone and iPad, Federighi responded by pointing out that the Mac platform is more prone to malware as a result of that decision.

He added that 130 types of macOS malware have hit at least 300,000 Mac computers in the world between May 2020 and May 2021. By comparison, the iOS platform “has succeeded so far in staying ahead” of the malware situation. He also added that “it’s well understood in the security community that Android has a malware problem.”

The Verge has transcribed the best quotes from his testimony.

On iOS, by comparison, Apple uses techniques like sandboxing and stronger platform security rooted in hardware to restrict what apps are permitted to do.

Touting the Security of the iOS Platform

Federighi went on to point out that the iOS platform has established “a dramatically higher bar for customer protection,” adding that “the Mac is not meeting that bar today.”

That’s certainly a peculiar comment to make for a high-ranking Apple executive who reports directly to Tim Cook. Could it be that Federighi deliberately threw macOS under the bus in orderer to tout the security of the App Store and the iOS platform?

We’ll never know though it certainly sounds like it.

Apple has always defended the App Store’s exclusivity by arguing that allowing multiple stores on the iPhone would reduce platform security and compromise the privacy of its customers. “iOS users are just accustomed to getting apps all the time,” he said.

Federighi’s Car Metaphor

In describing the macOS platform, he resorted to the following car metaphor:

And this, on whether macOS is safe:

Contrasting this with iOS, Federighi said that opening up the iOS platform to third-party stores would mean that users could be directed to “download misrepresented software from untrusted sources where they’d be subject to malware.”