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Unfortunately all of these things are bandages on a sinking ship. They're technically better than nothing, but in reality they simply do not fix the problem. Ev
by andrepd 7y ago
Unfortunately all of these things are bandages on a sinking ship. They're technically better than nothing, but in reality they simply do not fix the problem. Even worse, it's possible (even probably) that some privacy controls simply do not do the think they say they do. You are essentially trusting a company with a rubbish track record in privacy violations to pinky swear they stop tracking you when you toggle a switch.
- pinepinetree 7y agoExactly. Scottiestech's YouTube has some good info on how your smartphone is tracking you more than you think. Sometimes I think about building my own phone with a Raspberry Pi or use LineageOS.
- endemic 7y agoAFAIK one of the best solutions for smartphone privacy is using a custom Android ROM without Google apps installed. Of course that means basically no 3rd party apps, but you can still get a surprising amount of functionality with just a web browser. You’ll still get tracked by your mobile provider, but I think that would happen even with a dumbphone.
- andrepd 7y agoYou can use microg. It's a Free reimplementation of google play framework, so that apps which depend on it can still function in a de-googled phone. It's imperfect, I admit it, and breaks some apps, but it's still a massive help.
- qaute 7y agoI'll second (third?) LineageOS + microG! Full ROMs combining both are available [1] (OS updates often seem to have to be installed manually, but are supported on popular phones for years). In addition to using everything from the F-Droid repository, I can run Slack/Discord/Messenger/WhatsApp/GroupMe (though notifications are hit-or-miss) and a good few other apps (Duolingo, bank mobile apps, Uber but not Lyft). Many of these apps can be installed via Yalp Store [2], which is a frontend for the Google Play store with a built-in account to provide some anonymity. It'll do until I get a Librem5 [3]. TL;DR: no Google, most things work, but not necessarily smoothly. I've used it for a few years now. [1] https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ [2] https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstor... [3] https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/ https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/
- arminiusreturns 7y agoF-Droid is a pretty cool foss app "store" as an alternative to the playstore.
- icefog 7y ago> Of course that means basically no 3rd party apps I'm using LineageOS without Play Store/Services and would like to dispel this myth. Here are just some of the third party applications I can install directly from the developer using adb, without going through a third party store: Signal, Firefox, NetGuard, NewPipe, Orgzly, OsmAnd, Tor Browser. Those pretty much cover all of my smartphone needs and more.
- im3w1l 7y agoThree kinds of apps that are very important to me, that I cannot get without play store: The national 2fa app. The app people use to send money to their friends, sometimes street vendors. Rideshare app.
- huntermeyer 7y agoWhat do you mean by, "no 3rd party apps"? You can use F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/ https://f-droid.org/) in place of the Play Store.
- yjftsjthsd-h 7y agoCertainly if you want to build your own Pi phone don't let anyone stop you, but if you want something very much like that but prefabricated, the pinephone is a good option.
- stjohnswarts 7y agoYou shouldn't have to find a half dozen toggles somewhere. there should be a master toggle somewhere that turns that crap off. Location, sync, listening, all that stuff. They could provide that if they were serious about privacy, but they don't
- andrepd 7y agoI do use LineageOS+microg without play store installed, to avoid any Google software on my phone (yet still being able to use some apps which depend on the google framework)
- art4ur 7y agoI've been doing this for about a year and half now. Not only does my phone's battery last longer without Play store but I'm missing very few features.
- izacus 7y agoCan you please list a few privacy violations that create the track record? Comparable to e.g. Apple giving Siri voice recordings to 3rd party contractors without the ability to disable it? I'm sure it'll be easy, easier than downvotes.
- singron 7y agoFor example, turning off "location history" didn't prevent Google from tracking your location history. You had to also disable "web and app activity".
- Terretta 7y agoMore to the point, none of this matters when you’re continuously polling Google’s API endpoints for your email.
- izacus 7y agoHow is that different than Apple iPhones polling iCloud backends for your email? Or visiting websites?
- asdkhadsj 7y agoDepends on what criteria you care about. In the example of polling, and the data that can leak from said polling, it's only different in the sense that we _know_ Google is evil in this equation. So if this is a concern of yours you should definitely not use Google, and you should probably not use Apple.
- izacus 7y agoWhat the heck does "we _know_ Google is evil" actually mean? This isn't a Marvell movie, how does doing the same thing by two different corporations make a difference beyond you buying into brand marketing?
- xenospn 7y agoThis is why I have a serious aversion to using any kind of Google Product. They're an advertising company first and foremost - why would anyone expect their products to do anything BUT maximize ad revenue?
- mirimir 7y agoYes, totally inadequate. The problem, though, is that ~nobody would bother doing what it would take. And so there's the argument that recommending bandages is the most effective strategy. It would be cool to see this acknowledged. Even if in tiny print somewhere.