Im stuck with an s23 for a while yet. Is it even worth the trouble of trying to use f droid, shutting off google play services and disabling all the other shit on my phone, when at its core its all spyware?
I really wish an alternative existed that wasn’t just a prototype or $1000.
Yeah at least you’ll be familiar with the apps, ease the headache switching.
No, IMO. For a real private android experience you have to switch to Lineage or Graphene and F-droid apps. I’m writing this from a Galaxy A5 2016 with LineageOS with F-droid only apps in one (main) profile and WhatsApp and a couple of other (in my case, sadly unavoidable) proprietary apps in another profile.
Here is a list of supported phones by LineageOS in case you are willing to switch.
I’m on the same phone. I fucking hate this thing. Screw Samsung I don’t even know who to go to next though
Yeah its shit. It was free so u kind of had to take it but maybe im thinking the Lightphone could be a good contender…idk
Worth it, especially if you are stuck with the phone. Find FOSS equivalents of the built-in utilities (gallery, files, etc.), disable what you can (judiciously) with uad-ng, block the apps that can’t be disabled from network access using Rethink DNS, and use the websites of services on a computer browser instead of apps whenever possible.
It’s still far from what privacy ROMs can do for you, but until you can get a GrapheneOS, etc. friendly phone, taking some action is much better than just letting the spyware run wild.
Yep ive been doing some of these!
One issue is personalDNSfilter blocks mullvad so i cant use both at once. Not sure why. Still confused on all the networking terms everyone throws around because theyre so ambiguous. I really dont get what dns is even though ive read the definition a hundred times.
Sorry if this analogy has already been thrown at you dozens of times, I like to think of DNS like an address book for the internet. On a traditional phone, I can’t just type in someone’s name, I have to type in a number. Without DNS, the internet would be like that, accessing any website would require recalling and typing in the IP address. But DNS translates domain names (hence Domain Name System), the part of the URL leading up to .com, .ml, etc, into the proper IP addresses for you.
I jumped through hoops with the Samsung. ADB-ed the hexk out of it and broke functionality in so many ways.
If I can save you the effort - DON’T even bother trying. There is just too much interconnectedness to undo without breakage.
I moved to a hunch of Pixels running Graphene and have lived happily ever after.
With the added Israeli spyware coming to Samsung, I cannot think of any reason to put any effort into it.
Additional info: Skip the Pixel 6 and 7. Its better to spend a little more in the Pixel 8. I got mine used and its brilliant. I also liked how the Pixels 4 and 5 were as well. Very good devices.
Very wierd of you to assume there will be spyware on samsung but not google phones
Samsung phones have hardware kill switches, so it is impossible to turn the spyware off without fully breaking functionality. Older pixels are fully rootable, so you can fully remove any spyware from the root level, not just disable at the os gui level like samsung
If you install Graphene OS on the Pixel you will start with 0 bloat wear.
Seems people are pretty confident about that. I guess I am too pessimistic in tech to accept governments and big tech will allow you to have a spyware free phone by any means, but I havent done actual research (Im not a security researcher anyway) into it. So I accept the wisdom of people here.
They aren’t running Google software, they’re using GrapheneOS. And the spyware they’re referring to on Samsung phones is very pubic knowledge, just as the data collection and surveillance in stock Pixel software is. But that’s not relevant
Ever heard of hardware backdoors and spyware?
Perhaps you have some useful suggestions to share. Always happy to listen and learn.
I honestly dont know at this point. but my point is, people buying phones of THE evil company that takes our freedom and privacy away, to get freedom, and think that a company as evil as google will just let you have actual privacy, is kind of absurd. But, it seems like you people have done more research on this. You say there is and havent been evidence of spyware on google pixels, and I will accept that. But deep down Im pessimistic.
Truth is, most of us feel the same way you do. You are not alone. What is being shared by the community is the “best options of what we have” at the moment.
This tyranny is by design. But this also means we can design ourselves out of it. Its just slow process.
We are starting to see new models of communication be develop, and in some cases we are seeing convergence of these efforts into very exciting solutions.
We’ll get there. Its a lot of work and we have to keep doing whatever we can in our capacity to help that process along.
Just know we all feel the same way you do, and this is the best we got for the time being. We have to stick together and keep talking all this.
Power to us!!
Samsung is shit.
Not worth, samsung is terrible and they do not care about the freedom of modifying your phone.
it’s not bad when Universal Android Debloater is used. I’ve used an Android 13 based samsung device for a year, debloated to hell with UAD and there were no weird network requests happening other than NTP timesync and google connectivitycheck. Do run RethinkDNS in allowlist mode though, just in case.
If you have an unlockable bootloader (specific region and not upgraded to OneUI 8 yet), just install a custom rom.
Yes, only libre apps, it makes switching easier.
I just got a new phone when my old be crapped out on me while in Vietnam, and the local guy I found who deals in cash only had iphones or Samsungs. So, I held my nose and got a Jump2.
I’ve been through, disabled as much as possible, added fdroid stuff for all the daily use things, and put a killswitch VPN on.
Seems to be doing alright … I’m not obsessive about security, and I need Play Store stuff for work, so this is about as good as it gets, lol
Go get a Pixel 7 or 8 and install Graphene OS.
Take off all that shit with Shizuku and Canta. Leave play store alone so you don’t brick your stuff. Just use Canta to disable it. Get NextDNS and start using the built in filters. No Google is a good one.
I bought an S25 and just gave up. Got the new Fairphone 6 with e/os and never been happier. Spoofed IP, fake geolocation, detection of trackers in apps built in. Then I just use NextDNS and am happy.
Fellow Samsung user here:
NO(especially after the removal for bootloader unlocking)Im stuck with an s23 for a while yet. Is it even worth the trouble of trying to use f droid, shutting off google play services and disabling all the other shit on my phone, when at its core its all spyware?
it of course is.
i’m guessing you already know how to debloat your phone using adb.
in addition to what’s already posted you can use a private dns that filters system trackers as well ☞ https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
keep in mind, netGuard (or rethink) is less efficient when you use private dns
I really wish an alternative existed that wasn’t just a prototype or $1000.
a reconditioned second hand pixel or 1+ from a trusted seller must be less than 200. if you go for a nonPixel, check before buying if the model is supported on https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
keep in mind, netGuard (or rethink) is less efficient when you use private dns
Care to explain? What do you mean by “less efficient”?
(64) Can you add DNS over TLS/HTTP?
If you mean to intercept DNS over HTTP (DoH) or DNS over TLS (DoT) requests to resolve domain names, this is not possible because DoH/DoT traffic is encrypted, which is the whole point of DoH/DoT.
Please see here about how you can use DoH/DoT with NetGuard anyway.
https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-content-faq64
Thank you for your answer ! Wasn’t aware of this !
However, this isn’t an issue if all your DNS goes through a pihole with DoH/DoT ?
i think so
in that case, if I’m not wrong, you won’t be needing private dns from android
Check this out. It may help. universal android debloater next generation
Try best as you’re setting the phone new. If anything fails you only need to do a factory reset. Also you’ll likely need to perform a do-over after every system update.
