Right now, Apple is the only option that isn’t going to sell your data to advertisers and worse.
While I do agree with this, we cannot rely on it for the future. Like Encrypt I believe it being pure PR, a way to distinguish themselves from Microsoft which really went dark side completely. But I don't know many people who changed from Windows to Mac because of the new policy introduced with Windows 10 (I didn't trust them before. But that's when it got official). We did here. All the others I know ranted about it, said, yes, it's time to think about a change, but stayed in their comfort zone of MS Windows because Apple is so expensive (all in all, you get roughly the same, in my opinion and where I live, for the same amount).
And we have to admit, even at the moment it's not more than pure faith on our side, that our data is save with Apple. So I don't use Siri, and have very few things in the Apple cloud. Still they have a lot of data about me I can't be sure for what it will be used in the future. So my faith, sometimes, is a bit strained.
If I will ever use windows again, it would be restricted fully to 3d work (which is an option I keep in mind. The new mac pro, as great as it seems, is sadly a bit over my budget at least at the time. I had hoped for a cheaper entry level machine).
(For the record: I never had a facebook account (when it was the new thing to have, I actually read the conditions), never used twitter, instagram or whatsapp (for that I recommend and use Threema, sometimes even with customers). I don't have a youtube account and shy away from any other social media. For business reasons, though, I have a seldom used Google account I only log in when I absolutely have to. My preferred search engine is duckduckgo.com (again, as said in another post, for research I sometimes have to use Google because of more content listed there. And I do use a Credit Card as seldom as possible).
And yes, I know, even so those firms still have a lot of information about me because of scripts in websites i visited, an IP that doesn't change as often as I would like, and so on, and so on).
I don't believe we are being offered secure computing, it is restricted choice to increase profits in the guise of security.
There have been a number of security/privacy breaches with apps in the iOS app store, for example and I dare say not limited to the Facebook own VPN that was sending data home to Facebook, and Facebook have also been guilty of mis-using their developer certs, not to mention the recent Zoom issues.
App Stores are not the answer in fact app stores, code signing, certs etc are all attempts to layer security on top of what is an insecure architecture, both processors and the internet are fundamentally insecure, neither were ever designed for the usage we are putting them too.
The problem is not the usage, but the character traits of mankind and the pure criminal energy some people developed, combined with the policy of some states like China and Russia and power fantasies of politicians in the so-called "free" western world (as much as I remember, there wasn't one free country where they didn't have some politicians who wanted to forbid (!) encrypted mails as long as the state doesn't have a possibility for decryption* (it's quite an old idea)). The makers of the internet and the WWW were (and are) idealistic people, like the father of the www, Tim Berners-Lee, who seems disappointed with what happened to his invention. They saw the big potential behind the net, so many possibilities which never really came true (even so it has a lot of positive aspects, especially as it did change fundamentally the way we are able to gather information (and fake news)).
Okay, the sheer stupidity of many users plays an important role, too, the way they react to spam, or do open links blindly... and so on, and so on (I just read an article about how much (fake) Viagra our customs already catched this year, often with none or too much of the active ingredient and possible harmful other substances. Spam mails still work, pishing works, fake net shops, dating accounts etc. still work).
So, no, at the moment it's not really possible to create a fully save system, especially one that saves the user from his own stupidity. And of course it's marketing on Apple's side, albeit one, that only works to a certain degree as long as they deliver. MacOS and IOS are not fully save but more so than their counterparts.
All those security breaks Encrypt mentions are reasons for further measures from Apple to try to stop such misuses. They have to, because it's part of what they sell. That they make it a bit more difficult for developers has a downside for them, too, as some people simply will never change to Apple's environment, because of the smaller app options available. There is so much stuff around for windows only, and with those Apple policies, it will be worse. They know exactly how many potential customers they lose because of that, while security, at least at the moment, is probably not as effective a selling argument as it should be.
More effective, even automatic checks, can save us form some harm (not all, of course). So I'm always a bit of two minds about stuff like this notarization. It's a hindrance for developers, but it really works as a measure for more security. Apple does try to close all those backdoors.
Their plans to use own processors are a further step in this direction of more security. They can't be 100 % successful about it, but they do work on safer machines.
While Linux is more secure ...
It isn't. It's just less of a target. And, of course, the users are technically more versed then the average user of Windows, MacOS, Android or IOS. The chance is a little slimmer that they do some of the more obvious stupid things.
Please, correct me, if I'm wrong, but as much as I know, there is no gatekeeper, sandboxing or inbuilt antivirus (be it as weak as in the macos).
There are several distributions, which is for me one of the hindrances in actually using Linux. There are apps around that only run on some, other apps that would need others. Whatever, security-wise I'm not so sure if all Linux distributors are trustworthy. Some are company driven and do get some of your data. There is talk about spyware in certain distributions (never looked deeper into this).
And then there is the software you use on it. You can't say for sure if there is some hidden backdoor, spyware or whatever hidden. You plain don't know and don't have an easy way to be 100 % sure (you actually would have to check continually what data is sent and received to where).
All in all, I do agree with Pod that MacOS at the moment is the most secure system around. But on the other hand, new malware for the mac is coming daily, as it is seen more and more like an interesting target for criminals. The malware created for MacOS is growing by the hundreds daily (but still a small amount compared to the hundredthousends of malware apps created for Windows).
Until the processor is designed with security in mind, until the OS is designed with security in mind, I don't think we can have secure computing, and all I see Apple offering is an opportunity to line their own pockets whilst claiming it is for security.
Of course I could be wrong, and just need to put the tinfoil hat in the bin
I really believe that their new processors will be designed with security in mind, as are the MacOSes. Like I already said, they have monetary reasons, but it has to work.
Sadly, you can keep your tinfoil hat on.
First, they can only do so much without losing customers. Second, their policy can change anytime. Third, there is no technical safeguard against pishing, fake shops and so on; too much of the security is dependent on the user. Fourth, they are out for getting your money. For example with their taxing tricks they did show already where their allegiances lay.
So it's important that we keep our distrust to a certain degree.
And now I have to go looking for some tinfoil.
*corrected to decription in an edit ...