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The experiment: Living a mobile life without Apple or Google (part 1)
thackney:
The experiment: Living a mobile life without Apple or Google (part 1)
https://www.kctofel.com/the-experiment-living-a-mobile-life-without-apple-or-google/
...At this point, your mobile device is either going to run software from Apple or from Google. There really isn't much choice. Linux smartphones are in the works but there's a way to go there before they ever become mainstream options.
And from a privacy standpoint, both Apple and Google devices gather your data; the difference is in what they do with it. Apple, for example, doesn't sell your data although iOS apps certainly gather it. And Google? The majority of its revenue is built upon advertising and services that offer value in exchange for your data. At the end of the day, you're still giving your private data to both companies.
So I decided to try a little experiment over the past few weeks that would limit the amount of data I provide to third-parties on my mobile device. I have a Pixel 4, which of course runs Google Android. So I bought a secondary phone, a $399 OnePlus 7T, for the experiment. Since iPhones are locked down quite well, I decided to take an Android approach. For technical reasons, I ended up switching my approach and now use the OnePlus 7T with Google apps and services while experimenting with the Pixel 4, using custom software....
thackney:
Living a mobile life without Apple or Google, part 2: apps and email
https://www.kctofel.com/living-a-mobile-life-without-apple-or-google-part-2-apps-email-cloud-storage/
...To keep my data private, I've installed a few apps directly from developers or from the F-Droid store, all of which are open-source. Here's a sample of some:
Bitwarden password manager
DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser
NewPipe (a lightweight YouTube frontend)
OsmAnd+ Maps & GPS Navigation
Signal Private Messenger...
...However, I recently discovered NextCloud, which is not just a cloud drive replacement but also offers online productivity and other apps.
Rather than choose a NextCloud provider, I decided to go self-hosted and recently installed NextCloud server on a little Raspberry Pi 4. For testing, I have a 64 GB USB stick in the Pi where my NextCloud "cloud" data is stored....
thackney:
@roamer_1
ping if you would like to give your own opinions or items for evaluation
roamer_1:
--- Quote from: thackney on January 10, 2021, 07:56:09 pm ---@roamer_1
ping if you would like to give your own opinions or items for evaluation
--- End quote ---
@thackney
Yeah - I was already over here reading the article. Here's the thing...
This would be a fun little hack. Maybe I will sacrifice my old J7Skypro and mess around a bit.
The problem I am going to have with it is the portability of the phone. If I am messing with a pooter and throw something together that is promiscuous, I soon find that out - The box is basically sand-boxed behind the router so long as I a paying attention to outgoing packets (which I am).
But that phone is everywhere... It is literally in the wild. That, just in principle, with likely broken updating and unlikely app updating is enough to make me wary. And in the midst of that, services that make the phone useful will also likely be a kludge or may be absent altogether....
For instance, Navigation. It is one of the real, and super critical things that phone does. what nav is available and updated enough to be valid outside of google maps? And to use Google Maps, well now Google is on the phone, ain't it? It is useless without knowing where you are, so poof! Tracking. Too bad, there it is. Replacing that and retaining privacy is likely not going to happen. So either Nav+Google tracking, or no nav at all, rendering something like 30% of the real utility moot.
And without nav and a couple other bits, you may as well just go get a flip phone and haul a lightweight notebook around
See where I am going here?
thackney:
--- Quote from: roamer_1 on January 10, 2021, 08:19:31 pm ---See where I am going here?
--- End quote ---
Absolutely.
At this point in time I am thinking of a "backup" phone. Or perhaps one for public and this one for private...
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