this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2024

13 points (100.0% liked)

Privacy Guides

16081 readers

113 users here now

In the digital age, protecting your personal information might seem like an impossible task. We’re here to help.

This is a community for sharing news about privacy, posting information about cool privacy tools and services, and getting advice about your privacy journey.

You can subscribe to this community from any Kbin or Lemmy instance:

Learn more...

Check out our website at privacyguides.org before asking your questions here. We've tried answering the common questions and recommendations there!

Want to get involved? The website is open-source on GitHub, and your help would be appreciated!

This community is the "official" Privacy Guides community on Lemmy, which can be verified here. Other "Privacy Guides" communities on other Lemmy servers are not moderated by this team or associated with the website.

Moderation Rules:

We prefer posting about open-source software whenever possible.
This is not the place for self-promotion if you are not listed on privacyguides.org. If you want to be listed, make a suggestion on our forum first.
No soliciting engagement: Don't ask for upvotes, follows, etc.
Surveys, Fundraising, and Petitions must be pre-approved by the mod team.
Be civil, no violence, hate speech. Assume people here are posting in good faith.
Don't repost topics which have already been covered here.
News posts must be related to privacy and security, and your post title must match the article headline exactly. Do not editorialize titles, you can post your opinions in the post body or a comment.
Memes/images/video posts that could be summarized as text explanations should not be posted. Infographics and conference talks from reputable sources are acceptable.
No help vampires: This is not a tech support subreddit, don't abuse our community's willingness to help. Questions related to privacy, security or privacy/security related software and their configurations are acceptable.
No misinformation: Extraordinary claims must be matched with evidence.
Do not post about VPNs or cryptocurrencies which are not listed on privacyguides.org. See Rule 2 for info on adding new recommendations to the website.
General guides or software lists are not permitted. Original sources and research about specific topics are allowed as long as they are high quality and factual. We are not providing a platform for poorly-vetted, out-of-date or conflicting recommendations.

Additional Resources:

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

jonah@lemmy.jonaharagon.net

make google pixel as private as possible (kbin.social)

submitted 5 months ago by milkytoast@kbin.social to c/privacyguides@lemmy.one

13 comments fedilink hide all child comments

ill intall graphene os, i just need my carrier to unlock it first. for now though, what can i do to make it as private as i can?

top 13 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] h3ndrik@feddit.de 10 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

Install GrapheneOS, don't install the Google services package. Install as few proprietary apps as possible. Use free and open source apps, for example from the F-Droid repository. Mind that your carrier always knows where you are, because you're connected to a cell tower nearby. Choose a good carrier and forbid them to use or sell your data. (Or activate airplane mode.)

Also use a suitable browser like Mull. And no social media or "free" services that harvest your data. Instead get a mail provider and instant messenger from companies/projects that respect your privacy.

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 3 points 5 months ago (1 children)

can't install graphene until my carrier unlocks it. only temporarily using pixel os

I already use graphene normally on my old pixel

[–] h3ndrik@feddit.de 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Ah, I thought you were asking a general GrapheneOS setup question. Now I get it, you want to know what you can do in the meantime... Well phones come with a load of bloatware. And I don't think you can get rid of the Google stuff on a normal phone, let alone on a Pixel. Not connecting it to a google account is a start. But it pings Google every few minutes and transfers data anyway. You can go through all the settings and disable all targeted advertising and cloud services. Apart from that I'm afraid there isn't much you can do. As far as I know the google services run with more privileges as "system-apps". And unless a phone is rooted, there is nothing that can be done on the device itself to prevent such an app from talking to the internet. Well you could use Wifi only and block everything with the firewall of your router. I don't now your threat scenario / what you want to protect against... Disabling everything and not having a google account tied to it might be enough. If you absolutely need privacy, disconnect the device from the internet, use it just to call people and use a Linux computer to access the internet... I think you have to compromise.

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Download fdroid and start switching to open source apps

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 2 points 5 months ago (1 children)

not gonna set it up, as I won't be staying. I already use 99% foss

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago

Oh, okay then. I was under the impression you already had the device set up and were starting the privacy journey.

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 3 points 5 months ago (2 children)

so im basically stuck on pixel os for 3-5 days. im purposely not setting up my phone, just installed frdoid and qksms, might add fennec, but thats it. declined everything during setup, but theres definetly more i can do

[–] lemmyreader@lemmy.ml 3 points 5 months ago

You can install netguard from F-Droid and then use the allow and block list options to block everything Google that you will not need.

[–] steersman2484@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

Just wait 3-5 days?

[–] paradox2011@lemmy.ml 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Keep WiFi and Bluetooth turned off while you're out in public.
If you have the ability to keep the phone connected to a guest network or VLAN on your home network while it still has stock android that is a bonus. Google scoops up data regarding the other devices on your network.
Use a privacy oriented DNS service like NextDNS to block all the google requests. They have a block list just for that, blocking them is as simple as clicking a button.

[–] rottenwheel@monero.town 1 points 5 months ago

Check the Android section in TNO's website. https://thenewoil.org/en/guides/most-important/mobile-settings/

[–] macattack@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

One vote for tracker control so that any apps w/ tracking software have a harder time also.

[–] mahony@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

If there is a setting to delete advertising ID (somewhere in privacy settings), do that. That will solve the most stuff and there's not much more you can go. If you disable the ID all other apps dont know who's data they are collecting, and google will figure out who you are anyway.