Please, technical people of HN, install NetGuard on your Android phone. You will be shocked where your data goes. GDPR? Ha!
See also: https://github.com/offa/android-foss#-firewall (In particular, AfWall+ for rooted device is quite powerful)
Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
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Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do banking applications work? I mean as in "I buy X online. It requires me to login to my bank application and press 'confirm'. I perform this sequence, and online purchase is completed. "?
Some will, however I have heard some of these apps have janky hooks into Android's trust system which will break them on non-google distros. Personally I wouldn't suggest having banking apps on a phone. You can always use the web browser if you absolutely must access those accounts.
Most banks in EU require phone app based confirmations for transfers and other operations (according to PDS2 directive).
Visa and Mastercard also introduced 3DSecrue system which piggybacks on the same system of confirmations. Vendors are incentivised to adopt it by lower rates.
In essence when paying with card or making a wire transfer (or using some instant transfer method, for example Blik in Poland), you get notification on you phone asking you to confirm operation, even if you initiate it from your account in the browser.
In essence Bank apps became 2FA devices. The only way to avoid it is to opt-out of the App 2FA and use paper one-time code pad. You regularly then get sent a list of codes by snail mail, which you have to type to confirm operations.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#153Earlier quoted context omitted.
iOS 15 now OCRs text across the OS, including screenshots. So you can take a screenshot and get OCR'd text from there.
That's more of a process than simply selecting text on the task manager tile.
I guess. You have to hit the screenshot combo and then tap the screenshot, versus hitting the app-switcher button. Are you doing this often enough for that 1 extra step to be a big deal?
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#154How far are we from a phone that: ships fully formed - no flashing and stuff, has reliable supply chain and production, is open source only, usable on a daily basis (stable, normal battery life, all basic apps, easy upgrades) and ideally repairable / recyclable as much as possible? I would leave "high-end" specs and price constraints out of scope to make this a reality sooner than later. There are several contenders…
Far in never. There's no (real) money to be made, manufacturers don't care.
I use GrapheneOS. It's rough but at least it gives me peace of mind.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#155A distinction needs to be made clear here with regards to the data being transmitted to Google by LineageOS in this study. In the cited paper ( https://www.scss.tcd.ie/Doug.Leith/Android_privacy_report.pd... ), the device used to test LineageOS was a Google Pixel 2 running LineageOS 17.1 which also included an installation of OpenGapps 10.0 nano . It's not the OS that is transmitting the data over to Google, but rath…
Technically, the Internet Connectivity Check on LineageOS also sends your position/IP to Google, and also avoids a VPN tunnel because it's lower down the stack. I can recommend LineageOS, however be aware that lots of malware infected builds have made it to xda dev in the past, so you should build it yourself if possible (or use the official downloads). Regarding the Connectivity Check: You can add all google related…
you can disable captiveportal and block everything else with netguard
(check Netguard thread on xda)
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
I hope you have recurring donations setup for all these FOSS apps. FOSS still means that developers need to eat.
It's unbelievable that I'm getting downvoted for asking people to pay for software on a platform where a large % of users are involved with technology. No wonder opensource based businesses are dissatisfied with how they are treated.
Seconded.
The downvote button is for comments that detract from the conversation, not because somebody disagrees. This place is turning into another Reddit.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#157How far are we from a phone that: ships fully formed - no flashing and stuff, has reliable supply chain and production, is open source only, usable on a daily basis (stable, normal battery life, all basic apps, easy upgrades) and ideally repairable / recyclable as much as possible? I would leave "high-end" specs and price constraints out of scope to make this a reality sooner than later. There are several contenders…
there was a mass market sailfish phone in India but it was a flop. ofcourse it has Android emulator that used to send just as much crap out as tthe original... but atleast you could stop that.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#158I use GraphineOS and LineageOS without Google Play Services. They are great and are suitable replacements for Apple and Google. - Osmand(FOSS) for maps (supports being fully offline!) - Signal and Discord for messaging (Discord is sandboxed) - Newpipe(FOSS) for Youtube - F-droid(FOSS) for my FOSS appstore - APKmirror for the few non-free apps I need - Libretorrent(FOSS) and VLC(FOSS) for watching movies - Firefox(FOS…
FairEmail is also a nice open-source, privacy-focused email client available on F-droid.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#159Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you think Google is adversarial then don't use Gmail; It seems strange to avoid using their 'apps' but continuing to use their products? I think you just handed them that information when you logged into their website.
>I think you just handed them that information when you logged into their website. Obviously and that's my point. You are not going to avoid Google if you use the web. The best you can do is limit exposure. >Google is adversarial then don't use Gmail This is ignorant and unhelpful. Do you think I just decided not to consider that option? I don't have an option. I have to use it for work. This is the problem with the…
> Obviously and that's my point. You are not going to avoid Google if you use the web. The best you can do is limit exposure.
That couldn't have been your point. It's very easy to avoid having a gmail account.
> This is ignorant and unhelpful.
People here don't know you personally, or your needs. Most people don't need gmail for work. If your job requires you to use google products, it's going to be difficult for you to avoid google. But, again, your situation is not representative of the vast majority of people.
Re: Android phones are sending significant amount of user data with no opt-out [pdf]
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's unbelievable that I'm getting downvoted for asking people to pay for software on a platform where a large % of users are involved with technology. No wonder opensource based businesses are dissatisfied with how they are treated.
Seconded. The downvote button is for comments that detract from the conversation, not because somebody disagrees. This place is turning into another Reddit.
How does "I hope you at least pay for these apps" adds anything even remotely relevant to the thread about what apps someone uses as part of their de-googled phone?
Yeah, developers do need to eat, but this (IMO) snarky comment is hardly relevant to the OP.