I am not a nerd(respectful), but I would like to know how you’d set up your phone. I’d like to start leaning into more opensource/privacy minded apps and such to avoid having as much of my data harvested. I’m still going to use apps like Instagram which are obviously horrible but I figure trying to do better in other areas is better than nothing.
- what to delete
- what apps are a must (calendar, maps, app store etc)
- vpns?
- keyboards?
- email besides proton? Is there a way to have my emails from Google forward to this address?
- everything needs to connect to Google accounts is there a way around this?
And yes any other advice on making your phone functional/fast/anonymous/aesthetically pleasing is welcomed thankkkkks
Unless you want to go as far as installing a custom ROM, which may not even possible because the phone is so new, the best thing to do is don’t sign into a Google account. Sideload the Aurora Store, an F-Droid frontend like Droid-ify, and Obtanium.
The first one lets you sign in anonymously to a random proxy account to download Google play apps without needing to sign into a personal Google account. You can also sign in if you really need to for things like apps you’ve paid for and it still fuzzes some of the analytics Google collects on you, but eliminates a lot of the benefit.
The 2nd one is going to be your primary place to find open source apps or open source versions of apps that have both a Google play and an F-Droid version. For example, the media streaming app Jellyfin has both, but only the Google Play version has the ability to Cast to Chromecast devices because it requires proprietary Google code.
The last one, Obtanium, lets you download apps directly from Github/lab/codeburg/etc repositories from developers that host their apks there directly instead of relying on the stores. This bypasses some security checks that stores like F-Droid use, so it’s a little more on you to trust apps this way, but you usually get updates faster. For example, I have things like Thunder (a Lemmy client) and IronFox Browser installed through Obtanium.
To answer some of your specific questions, a lot of the pre-installed apps aren’t going to let you remove them entirely. You can disable and remove their saved data though, which is still good to do so they at least don’t suck battery. And if you ever need the app, you can re-enable it. Actually removing them requires plugging your phone into your computer and using command line android tools to remove them manually.
You should easily be able to set up mail forwarding from a Gmail account to Proton or elsewhere, but know that this eliminates some benefit, as it means that Google is still getting a copy of the email before it gets forwarded to Proton and that means they can read and obtain whatever information they want from it if they ever felt the need.
I was curious about the ROM thing, what exactly would that do anyway?
I’ve never heard of the aurora store so that’s cool I’ll definitely check that out. I think I tried to use obtanium but had no idea what I was doing lol.
You mention deleting those stock apps manually, I imagine that could be something that someone (me) could screw up pretty easily if they don’t know what they are doing? It sounds tempting for some apps that I know I’d never touch in my life but also do not want to explode my phone.
Thank you for the info this was helpful
A ROM is the operating system on the phone. So you replace all the existing software from scratch.
In a prior comment I just suggested you installed CalyxOS which is a custom ROM. It is very easy and indented for use by non-nerds to provide them with the most private, secure phone which works as expected. You must still be brave to do things you aren’t used to perhaps. But it should proceed easily (as long as you get the right phone). Here is the instructions for installing on Pixel 7 from Windows computer as an example https://calyxos.org/install/devices/panther/windows. I was shocked the first time I did it that it worked properly on the first go. I had set the whole day aside assuming I would fuck it up again and again but it was done in like 20 minutes.
When you restart after install, it has everything you need set up: browser, email, chat, app stores, bluetooth works, etc. Just like a regular new phone except it has had as much as possible of the spy tech removed. And unlike some other ROMs it also keeps the device physically secure in case it gets stolen or something.
Oooo thanks for explaining. I read your other comment and fuck, I’m just gonna keep the oneplus lol. I have shit opsec and just want to improve a bit. That does sound tempting though, I’m not a luddite and can figure technological stuff pretty easily so.l that’s encouraging that it’s that quick to install