this post was submitted on 01 Sep 2023
0 points (NaN% liked)

Privacy

39479 readers
1472 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

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

I have just received a Samsung galaxy fold5 through the post, however I imagine it's full of bloatware and I'm inexperienced with this type of device. What is the first things that you would do to secure it? Thank you ๐Ÿ˜Š

Edit: I mean to be more privacy focused

all 14 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[โ€“] sonalder@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 years ago

I think you confuse security and privacy. Samsung are pretty secure from what I saw. They are not private at all however. You can debloat it with adb and maybe tools such as Universal Android Debloater.

There is a couple of guide such as this one: https://linustechtips.com/topic/1402380-ultimate-samsung-oneui-debloat-privacy-customization-guide/

[โ€“] hellfire103@sopuli.xyz 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Use ADB to remove Google and Samsung bloatware and tracking. Ask around for help.

You should be able to use Heimdall to unlock the bootloader, but there isn't currently a build of LineageOS or DivestOS for this phone, so unfortunately you cannot yet flash a custom ROM (AFAIK). However, rooting should work if you need this (although it can hurt your security a bit).

I'd recommend removing Google Play Services and replacing it with microG, although this may be complicated.

The best solution, however, is probably to exchange the phone for a more versatile model, such as a Google Pixel or a Fairphone.

[โ€“] MasterBlaster@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

While many devices don't have ROMs built for them, any recent device should work with a GSI.

I just bought a tab s8, as I know Andy yan's LineageOS 20 works on it from other users' reports. I currently use it on my old tab 10.8 2019.

[โ€“] ggnoredo@lemm.ee 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

I use FOSS applications as much as I can and try to avoid all samsung and google apps. In addition to that I'm always on pi-hole network to block background network requests by Samsung/Google

Some apps I use:

  • k9-mail
  • Zulip
  • Nextcloud/Talk/Notes
  • tasks.org
  • Signal
  • F-Droid
  • Magic Earth
  • NewPipe
  • Keepass2Android
  • Brave
  • Collabora Office
[โ€“] AdmiralShat@programming.dev 0 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Don't think I'd actually recommend Brave to anyone, it's definitely not as privacy focused as they claim.