this post was submitted on 14 Oct 2024
34 points (80.4% liked)
Privacy
31991 readers
595 users here now
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.
Some Rules
- 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 :)
Related communities
Chat rooms
-
[Matrix/Element]Dead
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Graphene OS
CalyxOS
Lineage OS
Those are the big three players in alternative operating systems that I know of. I use Calyx because my threat model is corporate data collection more than absolute security. Ironically, the best phones to put these operating systems on are the Google Pixel line because you can unlock and lock the bootloader. I'm not sure if there are other phones that allow this but the websites of the OS should guide you to hardware.
A last-gen refurbished pixel + GrapheneOS has been my go-to for years now. Gives me all the polished featured of flagship hardware with regular security updates and privacy.
Bonus points, the google play compatibility shim means you can run 99% of apps that are on the play store.
Just test the refurbished phone thoroughly on the stock os in case you need to swap it out.
Can you run google maps without their location service? That's the one thing I really miss and there's no way to do it with Calyx that I know of
You sure can.
Thx, time for a reinstall then
edit: naw, one has to install google play services (and sign in) in order to use their location services which are required for google maps. hard pass.
Organic Maps works really well and uses OSM, though searching for business names is kind of wonky. also, GMaps WV is a wrapper around the web interface for Google Maps that works pretty well.
GMaps WV looks perfect for when OSM doesn't have the address. Thanks, looking forward to copying the GPS location out of it and pasting it right into Organic or OSM_and
You don't need to sign in and it's not needed for their location services. It works without it. It complains but still works.
GrapheneOS supplies a sandboxed version of those libraries and the underlying location requests don't go to Google.
I don't know if you can or not, although I can confirm you can use Google Maps in a web browser if you grant the google maps website location access, and it's pretty one to one with the app I believe. It does require you burn through mobile data if you don't have unlimited since you can't download offline maps, but the web version has gotten me out of a jam when open source map apps fail and if you don't worry about data it might be worth trying.
I think Firefox with maps.google uses Firefox location, because I've used it like you, to supplement the open source maps. I don't have google location on my phone at all.
The thing I need is street addresses, which OSM doesn't really have yet for a lot of streets.
I believe you can... I have google maps installed and disabled (frozen) by default in case I absolutely need to use it.
I give DivestOS a mention - it's a Lineage fork with some security changes (such as sandboxing MicroG if you decide to install it).
Additionally LineageOS for microG which rolls the microG stuff into the ROM which saves a lot of work/frustration when trying to unGoogle a device. Any device that is officially supported by LineageOS will have builds which can’t be said for many other ROMs.
dont forget /e/os, its more integrated and ios-like, for people that like that kind of thing
Thank you. Which versions of pixel do you recommend? Cost - compatibility - benefit. I guess I would be able to get 700 € from the iPhone 15 128 .
My 6a is all the phone I need. Doesn't lag. Camera isn't great but I hear that there is better software available than stock(?)