A large part of the ongoing battle to keep a mobile device secure is to ensure that users' devices are kept up to date with patches for exploits, bug fixes, and keeping the software secure; then the latest numbers from the two main platforms show a huge chasm in the protection offered.
Apple's own numbers show that 84 percent of active iOS devices are using the latest version of the mobile operating system. The data on iOS was collected by Apple by analysing the visiting the devices to its App Store on April 18 2016.
Meanwhile Google released its annual security report last week and included details on the update rates of Android OS. Forbes' Thomas Fox-Brewster looked over the report in detail, but one number stood out to me. Thirty percent of active Android devices are running Android versions that are older than Android 4.4.4, the lowest version number that receives security updates.
This goes hand-in-hand with Google's own monthly updates of the market share for Android devices, which currently shows the latest major version number of Android (v6.x Lollipop) is running on just 4.6 percent of active Android devices visiting the Google Play Store.
While the technical reasons behind Android's far slower update rates are well-known, that should not mitigate the fact that Android devices are more vulnerable for longer periods than iOS devices when exploits are discovered. It does not matter if you identify the carriers time for certification, the manufacturer's allocated resources for updating the software, or Google's own choices in fashioning its Android ecosystem to have a vulnerable daisy-chain as an update path as the fault. Android struggles to keep devices as up to date as possible.
Apple may have a smaller portfolio of devices to update but it deals with just as many carriers around the world. Cupertino does not have an issue rolling out these updates either in terms of acquiring permission to deliver the updates or in alerting users that there is an update waiting and they need to be installing it as quickly as possible.
The message is clear. If your top priority in a mobile device is to be as secure as possible from security threats, to have bugs addressed in a timely manner, and to have a single point of contact controlling the updates, your only effective choice is to go for iOS.
