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I'm not going to debate the conclusion of this paper, but keep in mind if you pick Android, it's still very important to pick the brand correctly. When you open

I'm not going to debate the conclusion of this paper, but keep in mind if you pick Android, it's still very important to pick the brand correctly. When you open the Clock app on Xiaomi phones, the first thing you see is a privacy policy you need to accept (!). Samsung might be better on this. I saw quite a few people on other websites (not HN) who said they switched to Android after Apple's CSAM thing, but put little thought into brand choice beyond price and features, just assuming all Androids are the same. You might say that people who really care about privacy would just get GrapheneOS, but the mainstream info available to help make these decisions is really poor as of now. Just seems like a Wild West.

tomComb 5y ago
This. On privacy and even moreso on security, Android can be very good or it can be terrible and the first, and perhaps most important, determinant of this is your choice of brand.
- lrvick 5y ago
  Privacy is terrible on all stock Android phones, even first party from Google. All ship with piles of binary blobs mandated by Google, SoC vendors, and carriers that have god access to your device, as well as any entities they sell that access to, and this sort of power abuse has been caught publicly many times. Apple has been caught doing similar in the past but it is much harder to regularly audit closed platforms. Unless you run something best effort like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS you should not have any reasonable expectation of privacy on a handset.
  - acdha 5y ago
    Do you have citations for any of those sweeping claims?
chayleaf 5y ago
Flash Lineage OS without GApps, use microG if necessary. That will be miles better than either stock Android or iOS. Sure, that isn't really general user-accessible, but I'd expect it to be pretty easy for the general HN reader. Or use Pinephone if you want "actual" privacy. Librem 5 is an alternative as well, albeit an overpriced one.

tomComb 5y ago

This. On privacy and even moreso on security, Android can be very good or it can be terrible and the first, and perhaps most important, determinant of this is your choice of brand.

lrvick 5y ago
Privacy is terrible on all stock Android phones, even first party from Google. All ship with piles of binary blobs mandated by Google, SoC vendors, and carriers that have god access to your device, as well as any entities they sell that access to, and this sort of power abuse has been caught publicly many times. Apple has been caught doing similar in the past but it is much harder to regularly audit closed platforms. Unless you run something best effort like CalyxOS or GrapheneOS you should not have any reasonable expectation of privacy on a handset.
- acdha 5y ago
  Do you have citations for any of those sweeping claims?

chayleaf 5y ago

Flash Lineage OS without GApps, use microG if necessary. That will be miles better than either stock Android or iOS. Sure, that isn't really general user-accessible, but I'd expect it to be pretty easy for the general HN reader. Or use Pinephone if you want "actual" privacy. Librem 5 is an alternative as well, albeit an overpriced one.