Privacy

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A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

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Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

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I need a new phone but I want to do this right (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 1 month ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

76 comments fedilink hide all child comments

(Please when answering, assume I’m not a beginner at privacy/programming :) I know where the good stuff at)

First off, shameful confession: I’m writing this on a dying yellow iPhone XR I bought second-hand three years ago (189€). I absolutely love the look of it: the screen, build quality, are all amazing. The only problem was the locked ecosystem (sideloading Spotify/Torrent client was sooo hard).

I saw the android phone of my mother dying really fast. She currently has a Xiaomi phone that’s ridiculously big for my hands, there’s advertisements in the stocks apps (?!!), the UX is janky and everything. It looks like a bloat, privacy nightmare.

So… because it’s impossible to find a jailbreakable phone nowadays I need to buy an android and ideally I would want:

Good screen (vivid colors)
Good build quality (not shitty plastic)
Don’t care about the camera (I don’t want those ridiculously big cameras they make nowadays)
Would want to install either GrapheneOS/LineageOS

The things that scare me off:

I really need my bank app and I need it updated so I have to use Google Play Services but I don’t want it to plague my phone with privacy bullshit (I want to be degoogled)

The things that excite me:

Customization possibilities
Learning experience
Even more privacy than a de-googled IOS phone :)
F-Droid!! (Maybe I’ll find a beautiful IRC client)
More choices for Mastodon & Lemmy clients
Freedom of free software.
client for open-source git providers :)

But to get all of that, I don’t want Google, I need shitty apps (non-free software) I have to install:

Instagram (for non-technical friends)
GitHub (job & open-source)
No-Ad Modded Spotify from Balatan
Discord (gamer friends)
Telegram (cryptobros friends)
Steam (because I still love gaming)

Any advices? Phone ideas? I’m so lost in this ocean of choice (freedom ✨)

My current phone:

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (8 children)

Get a Pixel 7 or newer and put Graphene OS on it. Pixels are excellent phones and have good support for custom ROMs. The Pixel 6 has a lot of weird issues that the others don't have, so avoid it. Graphene is the best ROM for privacy AND security, and it is also relatively user-friendly.

Or, if you want an older phone, try a Pixel 3, 4 or 5. They are good phones with an older design style that may appeal to you.

/e/OS (also known as Murena) is also a good ROM for privacy, and supports a broader range of devices.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (3 children)

Or, if you want an older phone, try a Pixel 3, 4 or 5

These are outdated and don't get security updates anymore, and thus shouldn't be used anymore. The Pixel 6a is supported until 2028, the Pixel 8 even gets 7 years of security updates (until 2030), the Pixel 8a and 9 are supported until 2031.

/e/OS (also known as Murena) is also a good ROM for privacy

/e/OS is unfortunately highly insecure and shouldn't be compared to GrapheneOS or recommended. Graphene is really the better choice here.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 month ago (2 children)

They can recieve security updates if you use an alternative ROM such as Lineage or /e/OS.