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How to stay private when using Android

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Re: How to stay private when using Android

#41

Post by stjohnswarts »

pinepinetree wrote: post #9
andrepd wrote: post #2

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 swi…

Exactly. 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.

You 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

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#42

Post by panpanna »

izacus wrote: post #24

These Android topics are always full of complete fabrications about how Android actually works (usually from Apple users, which don't know a lot about the OS). Let's see if this time is any better or we'll see Apple marketing people come out of the woods again :)

This is unfortunately very common but doesn't take away the fact that privacy on Android can be significantly improved with very small changes.

For example:

* Reintroduce the network permission

* Add a notification event so your smartwatch etc can subscribe to that instead of requiring full access to your email account

* Clean up the Google privacy settings which is right now the most complex part of Android

* STOP passive data gathering for giving users crappy services they don't use anyway. Let them actively search when needed.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#43

Post by ajphdiv »

elric wrote: post #30
MobileVet wrote: post #23

... don’t use Android, period. Google did a great job with PR in the early years, but the reality has always been that your data is exploited to their ends.

What are the alternatives? The iphone is prohibitively expensive for most people, and it's unacceptable that privacy should only be available to the wealthy. There's basically an Android/iOS "duopoly" out there, and it's only getting worse. There are now bank accounts that are unusable without a smart phone app, and guess which platforms are supported...Google Play and Apple App Store. And don't even think about side…

I'm thinking of trying to dump my smartphone for a flip phone. It's much easier to control tracking/privacy from a laptop. Maybe I don't need the Internet everywhere I go?

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#44

Post by johnsea »

elric wrote: post #30
MobileVet wrote: post #23

... don’t use Android, period. Google did a great job with PR in the early years, but the reality has always been that your data is exploited to their ends.

What are the alternatives? The iphone is prohibitively expensive for most people, and it's unacceptable that privacy should only be available to the wealthy. There's basically an Android/iOS "duopoly" out there, and it's only getting worse. There are now bank accounts that are unusable without a smart phone app, and guess which platforms are supported...Google Play and Apple App Store. And don't even think about side…

There a secondhand iPhones (it's also better for the environment). Otherwise no alternative than using a desktop computer and forego some smart conveniences.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#47

Post by NetOpWibby »

elric wrote: post #30
MobileVet wrote: post #23

... don’t use Android, period. Google did a great job with PR in the early years, but the reality has always been that your data is exploited to their ends.

What are the alternatives? The iphone is prohibitively expensive for most people, and it's unacceptable that privacy should only be available to the wealthy. There's basically an Android/iOS "duopoly" out there, and it's only getting worse. There are now bank accounts that are unusable without a smart phone app, and guess which platforms are supported...Google Play and Apple App Store. And don't even think about side…

Apple is getting better at providing more affordable iPhone options. You’re not getting a flagship under a thousand bucks but you’ll still have a damn good device that’ll be supported for a while.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#48

Post by panpanna »

anjel wrote: post #6

Another tactic not mentioned: I disable automatic app updates, and never update most Google apps, at all. Eventually, they fall so out of date that they break or at least suffer from reduced functionality eg. Google exchange services.

for the love of God don't disable updates for WebView

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#49

Post by AlphaWeaver »

johnsea wrote: post #39
emodendroket wrote: post #22

If you want to stay private, give up the idea of a smartphone altogether. If you (quite understandably) do not want to do that, you're pretty much just kidding yourself.

It's not all or nothing privacy. If you give up Android/Google Play (and Facebook etc.) you have a much smaller exposure. Buy an iPhone or a Jolla (or, maybe in future, PinePhone or Librem). Then use Firefox with uBO, DuckDuckGo and Fastmail. And you have a much better privacy in 2020.

IIRC, you can't use uBO on Firefox on iOS, only on Android.

Re: How to stay private when using Android

#50

Post by [deleted] »

elric wrote: post #30
MobileVet wrote: post #23

... don’t use Android, period. Google did a great job with PR in the early years, but the reality has always been that your data is exploited to their ends.

What are the alternatives? The iphone is prohibitively expensive for most people, and it's unacceptable that privacy should only be available to the wealthy. There's basically an Android/iOS "duopoly" out there, and it's only getting worse. There are now bank accounts that are unusable without a smart phone app, and guess which platforms are supported...Google Play and Apple App Store. And don't even think about side…

[deleted]
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