#Apple Chrome warning fact-check

A viral wave of headlines over the weekend claimed Apple was urging iPhone users to delete Google Chrome “immediately.” The buzz stemmed from a resurfaced New York Post article and took off across social media. No, Apple did not officially warn users to delete Chrome. There’s no advisory from Apple Support or any system-level warning in iOS. What’s being mistaken for a warning is a cleverly pointed piece of advertising by Apple—one that has resurfaced due to a timely shift in Google’s Chrome strategy. Last year, Apple launched a Safari campaign with the tagline: “Your browsing is being watched.” In the campaign’s featured video titled “Flock,” Apple used animated surveillance drones and winged security cameras to depict what it claimed was the data-tracking behavior of other browsers, namely Google Chrome. Just days after Apple’s ad aired last year, Google had proposed changes aimed at limiting third-party tracking cookies in Chrome—a gesture seemingly aligned with Apple’s privacy-forward messaging. The reversal opened the door for renewed criticism of Chrome’s tracking policies and breathed new life into Apple’s original campaign. Google Search is still the default engine in Safari, and there’s no practical or official scenario in which Apple would issue a direct warning to delete Chrome from iPhones. Read more in our articles including "Apple’s Quiet Campaign Against Chrome Gets Loud Again, Thanks to Google" and "Apple iPhone 12, 12 mini in Purple now official".