We don’t imagine many people actually read Apple’s terms & conditions before creating an Apple ID, but if you wanted to do so, it would take you a half-hour, according to an infographic from Statista.
The company says Apple’s agreement comprises 7,314 words. At an average reading speed of 240 words per minute, that would take 30 minutes to read.
Statista says that Apple is the fourth worst for this, in a ranking of tech company user agreements. Worst of all is Microsoft, with a 15,260 word agreement that is so long it would qualify as a novella if it were fiction. The company says it would take more than an hour to read.
Second-worst was Spotify, at 8,600 words needing 35 minutes, and TikTok at 7,459 words requiring 31 minutes.
Of the tech companies listed, Instagram had the shortest agreement, at 2,451 words, which could be read in nine minutes.
Where Apple is concerned, Statista doesn’t specify which agreement it is referring to, but when you create an Apple ID you are presented first with a link to this privacy page, which links to Apple’s privacy microsite, which in turn includes a tab for the full privacy policy. The company also has a separate iCloud agreement, whose wording varies by country. Additional conditions apply for other services, like Apple’s subscription services.
When it comes to wording, most user agreements are written in legaleze, though Apple’s are relatively readable as these things go. This is the section on location tracking, for example:
Apple and its partners and licensors may provide certain features or services that rely upon device-based location information using GPS (or similar technology, where available) and crowdsourced Wi-Fi access points and cell tower locations. To provide such features or services, where available, Apple and its partners and licensors must collect, use, transmit, process and maintain your location data, including but not limited to the geographic location of your device and information related to your Account and any devices registered thereunder, including but not limited to your Apple ID, device ID and name, and device type.
You may withdraw consent to Apple and its partners’ and licensors’ collection, use, transmission, processing and maintenance of location and Account data at any time by not using the location-based features and turning off Find My (including the predecessor apps Find My iPhone and Find My Friends, collectively referred to as “Find My”), or Location Services in Settings (as applicable) on your device. When using third party services that use or provide location data as part of the Service, you are subject to and should review such third party’s terms and privacy policy on use of location data by such third party services. Any location data provided by the Service is not intended to be relied upon in situations where precise location information is needed or where erroneous, inaccurate, time-delayed or incomplete location data may lead to death, personal injury, property or environmental damage. Apple shall use reasonable skill and due care in providing the Service, but neither Apple nor any of its service and/or content providers guarantees the availability, accuracy, completeness, reliability, or timeliness of location data or any other data displayed by the Service. LOCATION-BASED SERVICES ARE NOT INTENDED OR SUITABLE FOR USE AS AN EMERGENCY LOCATOR SYSTEM.
Statista says that 97% of 18-34 year olds accept conditions without reading them. What I want to know is, who are the other 3%? They can’t all be lawyers, right?
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