Apple doesn't tell us everything, but they do say a lot so I don't think I'd call it security by obscurity.

https://support.apple.com/guide/security/secure-enclave-sec5...

https://help.apple.com/pdf/security/en_US/apple-platform-sec...

They give us the architecture diagrams and tell us how the locks on their doors work, but they don't gives us the keys for it.

Remember: You don't actually own any iOS device because you can't run unsigned code that you wrote on it.

If the builds aren't verifiable and you can't put what you want on there then it's just promises, which are worth nothing.

> Remember: You don't actually own any iOS device because you can't run unsigned code that you wrote on it.

We agree about that!

I'm with you on the general idea that we shouldn't blindly believe everything a for-profit corporation says but at the same time we shouldn't allow fact-free speculation, rumor, or just plain cynicism to masquerade as facts either.

I don't think it's controversial that trust in Apple's extremely locked-down ecosystem basically comes down to "we promise". If it's closed source you can't verify. Even if it's open, if it's not a reproducible build (or your own build) that you install yourself then who knows what's on there and what it does?