DeGoogle Yourself

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A community for those that would like to get away from Google.

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My internal fight over what device to buy (lemmy.kde.social)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Hello there! This is my problem: I'm going to buy a new smartphone, and I'd really like to degoogle myself as much as possible. The idea would be to buy a device compatible with LineageOS, but... Supported devices are usually older models, and often there are newer devices with better specs for the same price, that does not support lineageOS. Is seems a shame to buy a device with lower specs than another one just because of software compatibility. So the alternative would be to buy an unsupported device, unlock the bootloader and debloat it as much as possible, flash privileged fdroid and aurora store on it, install microg, etc... What do you suggest me to do? Is the second alternative a viable option? What other steps should I do if I decide to go that way?

Thanks in advance folks!

Edit:
Thanks to anyone for the great answers! I finally decided to buy a pixel 6 (or 6 pro if I find a good deal) and install a custom ROM on it! GrapheneOS will support it for "only" 3 more years, while other roms like lineageos or divestos will have longer support. What do you suggest? Graphene OS and when support ends switch to another one? O directly use the other one?

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

The best option would be a Pixel running GrapheneOS. If you don't want a Pixel, a well supported device with DivestOS (look for a recent one with a relockable bootloader) would be your best option. Debloating a stock OS isn't recommended since those apps will come back anyway should the system update. Leaving your bootloader unlocked and rooting your phone as well is detrimental to Android security. Please don't do that. See a third party OS comparison Also see:

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

thanks for the answer!

Debloating a stock OS isn’t recommended since those apps will come back anyway should the system update

really? at every OS update they will be brought back? there is no way to prevent that?

Leaving your bootloader unlocked and rooting your phone as well is detrimental to Android security. Please don’t do that.

my option #2 was to unlock the bootloader only to debloat and to flash privileged apps like fdroid, and then lock it again. Would this still be dangerous?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Unfortunately, yeah, see this discussion on stock Android debloating . As for 2, I don't think you even need that anymore, the new F-Droid basic apps can do automatic update out of the box.

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

I think system apps are basically baked into the OS/ROM image (probably not the right term, but you know what I mean) which is why you can often only disable them - that's how they're there in the first place, they need to still exist somewhere so they come back on a factor reset. Don't know if a system update would necessarily bring them back though.

Unlocking the bootloader to install a ROM and then re-locking it is fine (I believe that's what GrapheneOS does at least), just don't leave it unlocked when you're done. Root is the big security vulnerability so best not to have it unless you really really need it and are willing to take the risk. I don't think you need a bootloader unlock for installing any apps though, isn't fdroid just a normal app install?

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

I don’t think you need a bootloader unlock for installing any apps though, isn’t fdroid just a normal app install?

I can install fdroid with low privileges, but it will ask for permission at every update and install. Installing it with elevated privileges will allow for background updates, like Google Play does

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That isn't needed anymore, I think F-Droid basic can auto-update apps now. https://f-droid.org/packages/org.fdroid.basic/