Not sure if Apple is up to the same kind of tricks but they do appear to take security and privacy matters seriously.
I would give up Google entirely but I am a bit tied into the Gmail/Google App ecosystem due to my employer using it as their main collaboration platform. Also, I've tried other search engines and always end up going back to Google search engine. Maybe someday a search engine will exist that rivals Google.
It appears the Trump Administration is taking aim at Google. Will be interesting to see where it goes.
Absolutely the “Don’t Be Evil” was a joke. You notice even then they didn’t define “evil”. Although oddly enough the anagram for Don’t Be Evil is “Bend to Evil”.
Apple has positioned itself to say they actually care about your privacy. Their iPhones, on idle with no use ping the apple servers 10 times a day, and compared to the 3000 plus an android does, they are definitely less intrusive.
Try Qwant or start page and see what you think for search. There is always DuckDuckGo.