Permission-based Apps on Mobile and Extensions on Modern Browsers are better for privacy, if you want to see what they can access it is displayed before you install.
I'm not sure if people do understand what privacy means anymore. Privacy paranoia is so prevalent these days, that the best way to get the most privacy is not to even use internet.
I've been using Google Search for years just like over 1 billion other people in the world. And I don't really think if something bad has ever happened to them or me since 1997, by using it. So I don't really get the point when people say I don't trust Google because of it's privacy.