Documentation for terms and conditions of using products and software is usually a long and tiresome read, and Apple’s documentation is no different. According to an infographic from Statista, if you did sit down to read through the terms and conditions for creating an Apple ID, you’ll have to set aside a whole half hour!
According to the website, Apple’s documentation contains 7,314 words, and at an average reading speed of 240 words per minute, you would need to spend at least 30 minutes reading it from start to finish.
In a bizarre ranking of the worst tech company user agreements, Apple ranks fourth. If you’re wondering, Microsoft was found to have the worst user agreement in terms of length, spanning 15,260 words. For context, that’s almost as long as a fiction novella and would take you an hour to read through. How much of the agreement you would understand in that hour of speed-reading is anybody’s best guess.
Spotify’s 8,600-word long user agreement ranked second-worst while TikTok ranked third with its 7,459-word document. Spotify’s document would take 35 minutes to read, while TikTok’s would take 31 minutes.
Instagram’s 2,451-word agreement was the quickest to read, and you could be done with it in just nine minutes.
Tell the truth, have you ever read through the complete terms and conditions before accepting?
According to @VisualCap, which includes 21 of the most popular online platforms, 97% of people between 18 and 34 years old accept the conditions without reading them. pic.twitter.com/ipznjfaA0a— Statista (@StatistaCharts) December 17, 2021
Interestingly, Statista didn’t say which Apple user agreement it evaluated. When you create a new Apple ID, you are presented with a link to a privacy page, which in turn opens the iPhone maker’s privacy microsite that includes a link to the company’s full privacy policy. The iCloud agreement is separate, and the word count for it reportedly varies by country.
Coming to the ease of readability, Statista noted that a colossal 97 percent of 18 to 34 year-olds don’t read the documentation before consenting to it. However, for the three percent that seemingly does read the policy documentation, Apple’s choice of words makes it easier to read than other policies usually brimming with legalese.
Are you a part of the three percent who read policies before consenting to them? Tell us in the comments section below!
