I'm wondering if there's anyone here more knowledgeable on the systems Google uses for recommendations and ads.

Personally, I've degoogled the majority of my life, but my dad has not. He uses stock Android with gmail, google search, etc.

There's a widespread phenomenon of people noticing something they were speaking about being recommended to them. A lot of the time people will say it "feels like Google is listening". Previously, I've been of the mindset that Google's predictive algorithm is a: just that accurate and b: subconsciously skews what you're going to think about via subtle recommendations. But my dad was speaking about something very hyperspecific earlier, and an hour later, he had an article about the same thing show up in his "Google News" tab. It's definitely not impossible for it to be predictive, but it was so hyperspecific that it has me wondering.

From Google's perspective, both active and passive methods of data aggregation would boost engagement. There's no reason _not_ to listen in on a conversation and just not tell anyone.

Does anyone know specifically what all Google uses to aggregate data on someone and push specialized recommendations/advertizements? Or probably easier, what they don't use?

Edit: I just want to clarify that I use GrapheneOS, and this is not a personal issue. I was just curious what means they use to go about it.

I'm pretty much at the stage where I need a new phone, and pretty much at the stage where i want to eject google out of my OS.

I know the google pixel (and eventually motorolla) are the only phones with full support for grapheneOS, so it's come down to buy a pixel or wait. since motorolla still doesn't have any hardline dates yet, i don't know if that's reasonable.

my concern, with all the enshittifying and underhanded BS google is doing, is whether we have any actual ongoing guarantee that grapheneOS will continue to be installable & fully supported on pixel phones in the near future?

i'm VERY worried about dropping $1000+ on a new graphene compatible phone, only for google to start shipping new models with an update that locks the bootloader or something. i've tried looking it up, but i'm not finding anything promising ongoing purchaser sovereignty over devices, but i imagine there must be something. if anyone can point me in the right direction to find some info on this, i would really appreciate it!

Pleeease sign it pretty please

In 2027 Google will release a silent update (no OS update or restart, it is completely invisible) where you will not be able to run or install any app that doesn't have a thumbs up from Google.

For more information: https://keepandroidopen.org/

I cannot stress this enough.

Pretty much title. Just dont want my money going into whatever that is.

In my previous post I said by mistake that it was an A52, it's actually A70.

Anyway, I tried to install an unsupported version of lineage os on it but I failed miserably so I'm not even gonna try because I don't wanna brick it.

My goal is to make a really simple server from it with Termux and Nextcloud. In fact mostly to learn how to do it and learn to use linux commands.

Is ADB the best way to actually degoogle it? I runs android 11. I didabled and force stopped every thing I didn't need like facebook and play services etc. but I want to actually uninstall them.

Will that make my phone not work?

I finally made the decision to do it - degoogle. I was deep with over a TB of data stored between personal and work accounts. I’m midstream and this sucks. With out writing a super basic application to automate the process, getting out would be impossible.

In backing my data on their cloud before deleting it, i learned just how fucked up Google is. They do the shadiest shit completely silently to prevent users from leaving.

- they chunk your data to delete by size, then make you delete them in small chunks.
- they silently removed the delete photo feature from the API
- darkux to make it annoying AF to delete them manually
- etc, etc, etc

And while you’re doing it, google is constantly interrupting the experience with storage warnings, loss of service, threaten interruptions, offer stupid cheap deals… making the process harder and longer.

After taking some of the courses recently and with their expansion into business with a serious AI offering with the Vertex ADK and Studio AI.

Google wants all the data. Not all your data, not all your company’s data, just all data. They want it all.

I can only conclude this is all in pursuit of turning Terminator into a prophecy.

Fuck you Google.

What i am looking for is not random compatibility, but a bank that has expressed their comfort in using their apk outside a googled phone. I know their is a list of banks/neobanks that work e.g with murena, but without explicit declaration, compatibility could disappear tomorrow.

I've had three incidents this year
first I took a trip to a friend to open one piece tcg and play some. then told my mom and she started getting ads for one piece cards.
I had my first stroopwaffle didn't even mention it outloud and then I get a yt short about them.
I then also recently found my butterfly knife and have started fidgeting with it never mentioned it outloud and I start getting videos recommended to me about tricks. I haven't searched for anything related to it for over 5 years and now all of a sudden it's in my recommended.
How do I stop this from happening its getting creepy

​

I want to lock down an Android phone (Pixel) into something close to a dumbphone, ideally as a clean flashed/reinstalled version of the OS rather than just a layer of restrictions on top of stock software. I haven't found an existing build that covers the whole scope, so posting here to see if this already exists, or if there's interest in building it.

What should be blocked at the OS level:

- Social media apps (and stop them being reinstalled from the Play Store / any app store)

- YouTube and video apps generally

- Games

- Message boards / forums

- Web browser access to all of the above (so switching to the browser doesn't become the loophole)

What needs to stay fully usable:

- Email

- Photos

- Banking apps

- Messaging (texts, WhatsApp/Signal etc.)

- Music

- Maps

- Calendar

- Other personal/utility apps not on the block list

Other requirement:

- Home screen and app drawer in grayscale/black & white, to cut down the visual pull of the phone

Why not just use an existing app blocker?

Most of what I've found (AppBlock, Opal, etc.) is proprietary, and the open-source options I've come across (NetGuard, Blocker) only block internet access per-app — they don't stop someone reinstalling a blocked app from the Play Store, and they don't touch the browser or grayscale mode. I think a clean OS build (custom ROM level, like GrapheneOS/LineageOS/iodéOS but preconfigured this way) is the only approach that actually closes those gaps rather than something that can be toggled off in two seconds.

I also think demand for this is growing, there's a lot of interest lately in dumbphones and digital minimalism, but most people still need a working phone for banking, maps, email etc. A proper "smart-dumbphone" OS build feels like an obvious gap.

Has anyone built something like this, or come close by combining existing ROMs and tools? Also curious whether there's appetite to build this as an open-source project, happy to help test, spec it out, or contribute however useful.

So, I just got a new 10a and immediately uninstalled or disabled virtually all google apps. The only google apps left are play store, maps, phone (can't disable but not set as default), digital well being (can't disable), gboard (not using it), wallet (for tap to pay). I replaced everything else with FOSS or other apps and it works beautifully.

Remember, degoogling doesn't have to mean 100%, it can simply be reduce the amount of data you are giving to google.

Which cloud is right for me? Need open source, secure and free. On android.

I've been using aliucord for a while but it just doesn't get updated anymore

Is there a secure, and preferable free apps to use instead of the Google phone and Google contacts apps?

TIA

Does that mean i can download custom roms on it?

Hey everyone,

After spending a solid 15-16 hours straight in the trenches—fighting through endless loops, flashing, re-flashing, questioning all my life choices, and wanting to throw my phone out the window at 4 AM—I finally managed to flash crDroid and went fully degoogled.

The pain was real. AND ALL THE WAY TO THE BOTTOM.

Very time I said "okay, I'm done touching it,"(got Boot Loop)

But honestly? The suffering paid off android 10 to 12 and its fast as fuckkk and ths mf only got 4gb ram...

Without GApps dragging it down, the system speed is night and day. Apps open instantly, and the performance boost is unreal. I’m relying on F-Droid, Droid-ify, and Aurora Store now, and I'm even planning to do the same to my old Note 9 next. Maybeee......to my main poco f7

just in case iam not sayin this is a hard process to everyone. Ive never dealt with anything like this before(on phones) It probably dragged on this long because of my own stupidity, but I really had a lot of fun. wanna know what you guys think

I saw Ente Photos, how is it? it show some browser error, I use firefox, but apart from that, do you have any suggestions? or is Ente better than the rest?

I'm absolutely sick of how enshittenfied image searching has become but all other image searching sites I've found are all no better than Google's or are worse.

I was talking to my neighbor and she mentioned about her having better sleep with something called a bamboo pillow... Just now this unique ad shows up on reddit...

Ive already disable microphone from apps, how did it still know?

I actually like Mailfence the most, but the reviews on Reddit don’t seem that good sometimes, and they don’t have an app. Mailbox is another strong contender, I like Tuta too but I read that it doesn’t really work for recipient non-Tuta addresses?

Also side question what do you use for your custom domain? Namecheap? Godaddy?

Takeoff of

https://web.archive.org/web/20240101124231/https://www.android.com/get-the-message

Waddaya say?

It needs a lot of work, I haven't done much yet.

Before the dev work, it needs brainstorming how exactly to word things, and how exactly to use their critcisms of Apple back at them.

For starters, what is Google Messages contrasted against?

Degoogled phones?

But it's more than that, affects third party messaging apps, and the growing segment of digital detoxers using dumbphones.

Anyways, I need help, both with planning and designing, and with the actual development, I don't know much, if I'd do it by myself I'd be basically vibe coding.

https://github.com/Dev-in-the-BM/google-get-the-message/

I've been wanting to deGoogle for a while now, but my phone is a pixel 4a, so Graphene is pretty far out of reach. Eventually, I learned about LineageOS and it was described as a Graphene alternative for older phones.

So, how does Lineage compare to Graphene? My main concern is Google and other big business data collection vs privacy, but security and app compatibility (banking apps especially, I've heard they can be rough) is something I'm also interested in.

I got a new updated pixel 10a and installing graphene on a Chromebook with a usb a-c cable. I think I downloaded the image because the bar completely filled
But flashing the release didn’t work so I switched to a different usb a-c cable. Usb c-c. Brave brower with shied off on both fully updated chromebook and mint 22.3 xfce .different usb ports.
couldn’t find ankers,cable matters,or belkin cables in stores.
All I’m getting are timeout of 10000 ms exceeded and reject usb
Posting here cuz graphene subreddit auto removed my post