Tim Cook Talks Privacy, User Trust, Morning Routine, and More in Financial Review Interview

In a long and extensive interview with the Australian Financial Review, Apple CEO Tim Cook discussed many topics, from Apple's core values on privacy, the importance of user trust, his morning routine, App Store regulation, and more.

tim cook afr cover interview
The interview, conducted in July, is in celebration of the Financial Review's 70th anniversary. Cook begins the interview by sharing his morning routine, noting he likes to read emails from customers as it helps him keep a "pulse on what customers are feeling."

Tim Cook likes to begin his days early; he's at his desk by 4am. "I do that because I can control the morning better than the evening and through the day. Things happen through the day that kind of blow you off course," he tells The Australian Financial Review. "The morning is yours. Or should I say, the early morning is yours."

The morning routine of the man at the helm of the world's most valuable company? Reading emails from customers. Cook estimates he gets through hundreds a day. "I cannot read all of them, no. I'd not admit to doing that. But I read an extraordinary number of them. It keeps my hands on the pulse of what customers are feeling and thinking and doing"

Speaking about the Apple Watch, which since its introduction in 2015 has gained new health monitoring and tracking capabilities, Cook said emails from customers on how the device has changed, or in many cases saved their life, "really mean something" to Apple. Cook notes that his company wants to create products that "enrich people's lives, and there's no better example of that than saving someone's."

Talking about artificial intelligence, Cook notes that Apple already utilizes AI in features on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch but believes that AI is just getting started in terms of on its impact on our lives. Cook also commented on augmented reality, calling it a way to "amplify the value of technology with people, without enclosing or shutting off the real world."

He's excited about artificial intelligence, which is already "all over the current iPhone, iPad and the watch et cetera" but "we're only at the early stages of what can be done". AI will take away some of the mundane things we do every day, he says, and free up our time so we can do more of what we love."

He goes on: “I'm a huge believer in augmented reality. It can enhance our conversations that we're having, and enhance learning and really amplify the value of technology with people, without it enclosing or shutting off the real world.”

Apple is widely rumored to be working on augmented reality glasses, and the company has stepped up its efforts in recent years on building outs its AR platform. Learn more about Apple's future augmented reality plans using our comprehensive guide.

With the emergence of AI and AR becoming more mainstream in the future, Cook spoke to concerns over how technology can be utilized for harm rather than to benefit people's lives. Cook said he believes that technology's impact on society is not based on the technology itself but on how its creators and users take advantage of it.

"Technology doesn't want to be good. It doesn’t want to be bad, it's neutral," Cook says when asked about the potential downsides from tech as we move towards the middle of this century. "And so it's in the hands of the inventor and the user as to whether it's used for good, or not used for good. And it depends on creativity. It depends on empathy. It depends on the passion of the people behind the technology. At Apple, when we make something, we make sure that we spend an enormous amount of time thinking carefully about how it will be used."

As is customary for any ‌Tim Cook‌ interview, the executive also touched on privacy and its role as a core value for Apple. It's worth mentioning that the interview was conducted in July, before Apple announced its controversial plans to scan ‌iPhone‌ users' photo libraries for CSAM or child sexual abuse material. As such, Cook's privacy and user trust comments during the interview don't address those plans.

Referencing Screen Time, a built-in feature of iOS and macOS that provides users with tools to monitor the amount of time they're spending on their device, Cook said that it was an important feature to launch, pointing out the potential risks of technology losing touch with people's lives.

Cook went on to discuss privacy as a whole, noting that the topic has become more mainstream over the last few years. Cook said that he believes people's trust in some ways has been taken advantage of and that steps need to be taken to rebuild that trust.

Does he think people's trust has been taken advantage of?

"In some cases the answer is undeniably yes. And I think it's incumbent on all of us to rebuild that trust."

"I think what's happened is that there are many more people today that view privacy as a mainstream issue," he tells the Financial Review. "Ten years ago, privacy was a niche issue. Today it's one of the primary issues in people’s minds because people know that the web has become this surveillance tool in all too many cases, and that the building of detailed profiles on people has gone well beyond any kind of reasonable thing."

In several countries, including Australia, Apple is under investigation for alleged monopolistic practices and behavior that could be considered anti-competitive. Probes, still ongoing in many cases, are likely pointing to increased regulation that would Apple and how it operates the ‌App Store‌.

Cook spoke about regulation and said it needs first to be determined where regulation is needed and where its specific focus should be. The CEO also pointed out the competition that Apple faces and said that he believes "competition is inherently good."

"Well, I think scrutiny of large companies is fair. And I start from the premise that regulation is necessary in some areas. And so it becomes a matter of determining where it's necessary and where the focus should be...In our model, the user is where the power exists because it's the user who decides when they buy a phone, are they going to buy an iPhone. Are they going to buy any number of Android phones? And so it's a fiercely competitive market. And then the market inside the App Store is also fiercely competitive ...And so there's huge competition in all areas of this.

Cook said that any form of regulation that could be implemented would need to "be justified by being great for the user," drawing the comparison between regulation and product innovations. Cook also touched on the idea of Apple's tight control of the ‌App Store‌, which has become a hot button issue for the company.

Criticism, mainly driven by game developer Epic Games, is that Apple holds a monopoly over the ‌App Store‌ and that it should instead open up its devices to allow users to download apps from platforms outside of its own. Cook said that he believes doing so would be considered a backdoor.

"It's the reality. If you put back doors in a system, anybody can use a back door. And so you have to make sure the system itself is robust and durable; otherwise you can see what happens in the security world. Every day you read about a breach, or you read about a ransomware."

In the remainder of the interview, Cook spoke about his childhood, the late Steve Jobs, and more. ‌Tim Cook‌ is being featured on the cover of the Finical Review's "Platinum 70" magazine for Friday, August 20.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Sunday March 23, 2025 10:00 am PDT by
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of March 2025: Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
macbook pro blue green

When Will Apple Release the M5 MacBook Pro?

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:53 pm PDT by
Apple regularly refreshes the MacBook Pro models, and a new version that uses M5 series chips is in the works. Apple just finished refreshing most of the Mac lineup with M4 chips, and now it's time for the M5. Rumors suggest that we could see the first M5 MacBook Pro models this fall. Design There have been no rumors of a design update for the M5 MacBook Pro models that are coming this...
Apple Lumon Terminal Pro

Apple's Mac Site Features Fictional 'Lumon Terminal Pro'

Wednesday March 26, 2025 12:19 pm PDT by
Apple is going all out with promotions for the popular Severance Apple TV+ show today, and as of right now, you'll find a new "Lumon Terminal Pro" listed on Apple's Mac site. The Lumon Terminal Pro is designed to look similar to the machines that Severance employees like Mark S. and Helly R. use for macrodata refinement. The Terminal features a blue keyboard, a small display with wide...
Facebook Feature

Facebook's New iPhone App Feature Turns the Clock Back to 2007

Thursday March 27, 2025 1:59 pm PDT by
In the mid-to-late 2000s, Facebook was all about staying connected with friends and family. However, as the social media platform added new features and grew over time, that core experience began to get drowned out. That changes starting now, according to Meta, which today introduced a new feature that will "bring back the joy" of classic Facebook. Specifically, Meta has redesigned the...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.4 Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

Tuesday March 25, 2025 6:45 am PDT by
Apple is expected to release iOS 18.4 to the general public as soon as next week, following more than a month of beta testing. Apple's website says some iOS 18.4 features will be released in "early April," so the update should be out as early as Tuesday, April 1. Apple this week seeded the iOS 18.4 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, barring the discovery of any...
iPhone 17 Pro 34ths Perspective

iPhone 17 Pro Supports 8K Video Recording, Suggests Leaker [Updated]

Wednesday March 26, 2025 4:06 am PDT by
Update 7:25 pm: Based on comments from our forums, it appears the original Weibo post may have been mistranslated and "8K" actually refers to the high price of the device rather than 8K video recording capabilities. The iPhone 16 Pro currently starts at 7,999 yuan in China. Our original article follows below. Apple's forthcoming iPhone 17 Pro models are capable of shooting 8K video, up...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

'iPhone Fold' to Feature Metallic Glass Hinge That Resists Deformation

Thursday March 27, 2025 4:21 am PDT by
Last week, we covered a report claiming that Apple's book-style foldable iPhone (or "iPhone Fold," as we are provisionally calling it here) will use liquid metal hinges to improve durability and help minimize screen creasing. Today, a Chinese leaker provided more details on the properties of this hinge material that help to clarify why Apple chose it for its first foldable device. According...
iOS 18 4 Ambient Music Control Center

How to Use iOS 18.4's New Ambient Music Feature in Control Center

Thursday March 27, 2025 7:45 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 18.4 update for the iPhone adds an Ambient Music feature to Control Center. Below, we take a closer look at how it works. iOS 18.4 is currently in beta, so the Ambient Music feature is not widely available yet. The update will likely be released to the general public next week. To use the feature on iOS 18.4, open Control Center and tap on the plus sign in the top-left...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock

Gurman: Jon Prosser's iOS 19 Mockups 'Aren't Representative' of Redesign

Tuesday March 25, 2025 4:47 pm PDT by
The iOS 19 mockup images that leaker Jon Prosser shared today are not representative of the actual iOS 19 design, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on social media. According to Gurman, the images that are "floating around" are based on "very old builds" or "vague descriptions," and are lacking key features. Gurman says that we can "expect more from Apple in June." Gurman made the same comment ...

Top Rated Comments

dgrey Avatar
47 months ago
“AI will take away some of the mundane things we do every day, he says, and free up our time so we can do more of what we love."

Is he serious? Give me a break. Automation and computerization were touted back in the mid-20th Century as being able to “take away some of the mundane things we do every day….and free up our time so we can do more of what we love."

That’s not how it works out. Instead, corporations say, “Gee, it does all that work for you? Now you have more free time? GREAT! We’ll just pile more work and responsibility on you, so you’ll work the same number of hours as before (or even more), so you can get even MORE done, and fatten up our profit margins to even more obese proportions! The *corporation‘s* bottom line will benefit from this, not YOU!”

That some tech innovation will make workers lives better, and we can magically start working shorter hours and do “more of what we love” is a sick joke. It’s false, because corporations take advantage of it to push workers harder. It’s all about MONEY MONEY MONEY (and only for a select few, because they’ll pay you less at the same time).
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrPresident Avatar
47 months ago
An interview conducted before the announcement of CSAM makes this article look dated.

Does he think people's trust has been taken advantage of?

"In some cases the answer is undeniably yes. And I think it's incumbent on all of us to rebuild that trust."


I wonder what his answer would be now Apple are forcing users of iCloud in iOS15 to allow their phones to be searched for ‘hashes’.

Have Apple taken advantage of peoples trust considering they promised people privacy only to announce they will review private images on their personal devices?

Do they still believe it is incumbent to rebuild that trust now they have begun to erode it?

I think Apple’s approach to privacy going forward will have to be different or they will leave them self open to criticism of being hypocritical.
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MakeAppleAwesomeAgain Avatar
47 months ago
PR damage control is running at full capacity.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Reason077 Avatar
47 months ago
Frowny-face pictures of Tim always reminds me of...



Attachment Image
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dkka1 Avatar
47 months ago
Blah blah blah marketing BS blah blah blah
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thadoggfather Avatar
47 months ago
Lol at that magazine cover

total clown world has invaded every facet of culture and life

Apple has never come across more desperate.

Like someone who calls you after you have a bad first date with no chemistry — and you don’t pick up, multiple times. They don’t get the hint: we don’t like that they’ve blown their cover on privacy. The veil is lifted
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)