Is loading the Android Custom ROM - LineageOS Safe for Privacy?

Is it a good idea to change your Android phone to LineageOS (a custom ROM build over Android Open Source Project)? This video discusses the privacy threats in a typical Android phone. Then we will compare how LineageOS fares against that.
We also compare LineageOS to Ubuntu Touch.
For extra privacy, follow me also on LBRY.
lbry.tv/$/invite/@RobBraxmanTech:6
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I'm the Internet Privacy Guy. I'm a public interest technologist. I'm here to educate. You are losing your Internet privacy and Internet security every day if you don't fight for it. Your data is collected with endless permanent data mining. Learn about a TOR router, a VPN , antivirus, spyware, firewalls, IP address, wifi triangulation, data privacy regulation, backups and tech tools, and evading mass surveillance from NSA, CIA, FBI. Learn how to be anonymous on the Internet so you are not profiled. Learn to speak freely with pseudo anonymity. Learn more about the dangers of the inernet and the dangers of social media, dangers of email.
I like alternative communication technology like Amateur Radio and data communications using Analog. I'm a licensed HAM operator.
Contact Rob on the Brax.Me App (@robbraxman) for encrypted conversations (open source platform)
bytzVPN.com Premium VPN with Cloud-Based TOR Routing
whatthezuck.net Cybersecurity Reference
brax.me Privacy Focused Social Media - Open Source - Encrypted Communications
brax.me/home/rob Store for BytzVPN, BraxWifi Router, and merchandise

[@kodachisolutions]

9:30 if you're knowledgeable about privacy threats and just wanna hear about lineage

[@Kyle-ye4nj]

thx

[@pizzainc95]

thx

[@kickflipz]

Thx

[@greenrico10]

Thx

[@0divide136]

thx

[@Chiramisudo]

As a software engineer, everything Rob said with respect to how Google and big tech tracks you is spot on. Thanks Rob for the excellent security review and the high-value PSA (Public Service Announcement).

[@robbraxmantech]

thank you

[@MrPersistent16]

He is a SE too 😂

[@MrPersistent16]

@@mhrf90 he understands the inner workings because he is, in fact, a software engineer. That's my point

[@datonecommieirongear2020]

@@robbraxmantech Can you review lineage OS for MicroG? A fork of the lineage build that implement MicroG (to replace google services) and selectively provide spoofing only for microG? (instead of a general one)

[@sophiacristina]

YES! It is funny how engineers are attacked and called "conspiracy theorists" by people that know nothing about but claim we should hear the "experts'... Well, f- them! I"M HEARING A EXPERT! FFS! They are so out of reality... They say "expert" when they never researched about those stuffs, they can't name a single expert...

[@duminicad]

as an experienced developer, I'm impressed with you knowledge, subscribed in a heartbeat!

[@robbraxmantech]

Checkout my github then. github.com/robbraxman/

[@anands1079]

@Fine Wine really i am not a developer but this is basic stuff was nothing new also he is talking so slow and the video is 17 minute

[@theone-swta]

@@anands1079 i speed him up to1.5....all good then.

[@blacksheep1083]

I agree with OG poster! 💯💯

[@russellm7530]

@@anands1079 That Ok. I'm old and hard of hearing.

[@Marr033]

Thank you for this video. English is not my primary language and I don't need to read the auto subtitle, thanks to your slow and clear speech. Edit : subscribed. Your new videos in 4K are so nice to look at

[@WhatzHappeningNow9]

I am throwing my phone out and gonna live my life out in the forest. Goodbye everybody.

[@mikehoot3978]

@mooots Capitalism is private property rights. You can buy the forest. The problem is the government that taxes you.

[@RedLine_Renesis]

Gayyyyy

[@memeconnect4489]

hows going out there homie

[@stoppls1709]

@Agnish Roy lmao

[@tungurahua8257]

I will move there with you. How can I get in contact with you?

[@delicrux]

This is why i was so upset when google bought the project for modular phones it would have been amazing to have removable gps wifi and bluetooth moduals or hardware kill switches. Google killed it immediately because this would have destroyed the phone market(driving prices down due to 3rd party hardware competition) and messed with their data analytics.

[@angelnajera7169]

Wait, which project?

[@delicrux]

@@angelnajera7169 it was called project Ara. I distinctly remember it originally as kickstarter project with a code name like project lisa or something weird then i remember hearing google acquired it. But apparently i was wrong and google somehow owned it all along, and it is called project ara. Its times like this when i feel like im in the wrong timeline... Heres the wiki on project ara en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Ara

[@randomrandom316]

There already is a great upcoming option in the form of Pinephone and Librem 5. Both of them are primarily manufactured entirely in China and that's my biggest concern(hardware backdoors and some blobs they haven't yet gotten an open source alternative for), but there already is a Librem 5 USA version, in time this phone can become cheaper and be manufactured in other places that are more trustworthy than China so future has great options coming up.

[@delicrux]

@@randomrandom316 i applaud your optimism

[@angelnajera7169]

@@randomrandom316 Yeah. That's going to take a WHILE though. The librem seems to be pretty backlogged. Though hardware killswitches have me the most excited.

[@suyashdahale4355]

In current scenario ... All these knowledge should be part of school education ...

[@Kyle-ye4nj]

School education systems are outdated. Funny enough just as old outdated computer operating systems, it leaves the users vulnerable to stuff, just like, all the stuff they do not teach us about.

[@richarddangles8896]

Why would they do that when school is designed to dumb you down and indoctrinate you. These phones are designed to track, spy and sell your data. They would not teach you this for that reason..

[@91722854]

lol, back in my primary school, they taught IT like everyone was a numb fk, we were told to memorise where the cross(close button of a window on Windows XP) was, I mean looking back at it, even the moment I got my own laptop was just leaving me speechless, I feel like i was treated even dumber than (or less intelligent) as a caveman from stoneage

[@suyashdahale4355]

@@91722854 same feeling 😅😂

[@fietae]

Well why don't they teach surgery in school? Just because we are interested in things like a custom rom there is no reason to teach that specific tech things in school. Although i agree that schools are very outdated in the tech education

[@thecozyplace1206]

This has been so informative! I appreciate all the effort of explaining WHAT our choices are first before making a decision. Even my dopamine-starved brain sat and listen to every word you said. I've subbed and liked!

[@rizn1]

Dude really appreciated this! You really broke down everything in easy to understand way! Thank you! Definitely subscribing!

[@robbraxmantech]

Thanks for the sub!

[@userb8a]

Boomers: I don't trust those smart devices Millenials: lol ok boomer Zoomers: I don't trust those smart devices

[@alanramone4263]

the circle is completed

[@RobinHood-qy7vt]

@nonameroy101 lol okay boomer.🙃

[@Reub3]

the the millenials just continue with "Ok zoomer". My generation sucks most of the time.

[@Xfighter000]

Nah plenty of Gen Z stuck in that mentality too.

[@jcdenton7914]

Most of gen Z is just signing their information away to tech

[@nikko444]

Stunning job, Rob! That’s something everyone should watch before using any android smartphone.

[@s.mendez7160]

You can disable WiFi Scanning, and Bluetooth Scanning. A simple RF meter will reveal if the phone is still emanating RF with those features disabled, and while the phone is in Airplane Mode to confirm.

[@bricewillous503]

Very interesting ! Definitely worthes warching it ! "doing a little for your privacy is better than doing nothing"... well said !

[@acceleratelegal2344]

The one tech security reviewer who does not talk at the speed of sound !!

[@FlockeDerBoss]

Great video with a lot of information, clearly, slowly and detailed enough to understand! I would have appreciated you to clean your sweater though. Distracted me a lot xD

[@priderock8876]

Nice job, Rob... Just in time and just what I needed to know. Keep 'em coming, if you have the bandwidth... Rob N.

[@IkromA-w6n]

I'm curious why this video is still on KZbin!?😳

[@SpaceTimeBeing_]

There are ways to hide yourself from youtube. And he isn't asking you to hide yourself completely anyway, reduce the data they have on you. That's it.

[@user-rn6hz8pb9s]

@@SpaceTimeBeing_ he might be referring to the fact that google don’t like these kind of videos

[@madaxe79]

because he also posts everything on LBRY so if they kick him here, it will draw thousands of people to LBRY overnight... they're better off with people watching him here than LBRY

[@FedericoYulita]

Because Google doesn't care. A very small percentage of people are actually going to ditch all Google services. Not even Rob ditched all Google services, it's practically impossible at this point.

[@Monkey_D_Luffy56]

Because KZbin isn't from China, North Korea or Russia

[@tungurahua8257]

I don‘t even own a Android device and I still watched the whole thing. Very interesting.

[@AndroidFerret]

Most things here said also are true for an iOS device

[@AndroidFerret]

@Max Raider siri as an example listening 24/7

[@AndroidFerret]

@Max Raider what's with the reports of siri listening to drug deals and people having sex ?

You access the internet, have a Google account... that's plenty to collect data from ;)

[@tungurahua8257]

Pașca Alexandru: Din păcate, acest lucru este adevărat

[@MrGreeneyes77]

Never have seen your videos before but this one sold me! Very well done! Subscribed!

[@MGSBESTProductions]

Great and very informative! I Zucking love it!

[@ctuan13]

I see what you did there. 😏👌

[@ThePharaohsCat]

Great video. Wld be good to see a comparison with Graphene OS.

[@candidob8683]

Check these out: Calyx OS kzbin.info/www/bejne/npa5f5aappeAgaM /e/OS part 1 kzbin.info/www/bejne/eWrJd5yXfNtljaM /e/OS part 2 kzbin.info/www/bejne/o5DJmp2Cht2Ngrc

[@bryantinobalingit7172]

the next big thing in youtube. Keep up the good work, sir.

[@CarlosVGonzalez]

Excellent video about the lack of privacy and too much power Big Tech has! Congratulations!

[@robbraxmantech]

Thank you!

[@javieroromero157]

Wow, just so happen to run into your video and I'm sold. This is great stuff, did not miss a beat and well put together. I will be tuning and network your channel. Your skill as an instructor is extremely important for detailing the purpose of each category, and you nail it. Trust me, I will browse through all your videos. Thank you sir for your contribution of knowledge.

[@hermanstokbrood]

Why didn't I see this channel sooner. Very informative sir thank you.

[@alkane53]

Love the content, really eye opening!

[@alanx4121]

the mistake oneplus made with the opo was that they made it too future proof, am still using it, Los is still compatible and being updated for opo

[@130rne]

5:36 Nice router name 😂

[@alexcannon6857]

HAHA, I didn't catch that..

[@ALImohammed-jd1xe]

Thank you for your time. very intuitive video. Thanks again

[@jamesbusby6803]

Great vid. Thankyou for taking the time to make

[@electricalbatross5797]

14:10 this is a problem that isn't unique to just phones, like how HP Laptop audio drivers were found to have built-in keyloggers. It just goes to show there is no software solution for top-notch privacy. The only Android phone I know about to have completely rewritten drivers is the galaxy S3, and that is hardly powerful enough to keep up with today's demands.

[@maxc7198]

Have more Info? I have s5 but i will go down if it is worth it.

[@vedaryan334]

Wtf

[@NewLondonMarshall]

The S3 probably is very powerful (I can't remember the specs) but modern websites/apps are very bloated. Take Windows 10 vs Linux on an old laptop for example.

[@idcrafter-cgi]

there is a Pinephone pro which can hold up and can run android inside a container called waydroid and can be even your pc and phone but this won't be useable for most because you need to rethink how updates work and what lifelong updates means

[@DeeBee2013]

GPS has worked indoors for years ever since the company called Sirf invented a GPS receiver that can pick up fragments of GPS signal and piece them together. Obviously outdoors is a better signal but you can get a GPS position indoors these days

[@redsyrup1138]

Thanks Rob! That was educational.

[@josmoify]

i like your precise straight to the point approach ,easy for everybody to understand explanations without delving to deep into the technical mumble jumble .

[@igorpavelmerku7599]

Hi Rob, thanks for your informative videos. I would be very pleased if you reviewed CalyxOS some day in the near future.

[@batmob8437]

Thank you for the sanity (and thoroughness) around this! Just when I need it! TY! I'll come find you on LBRY. Cheers!

[@PCman50]

I'm delighted that I found your tutorial. What a wake up call on securing our phones. Thank You !!!

[@finnk1289]

5:55 This is major information. I knew about firebase but didn't know other telemetry can be baked in as well!

[@cloudstrife7083]

I am a sysadmin and this guy is spot on try to share the video to educate more ppl ... again NEVER PUT ANY important info data on your mobile devices if u have no choice and need to have a mobile payment method use a different small credit card with a limit of like 500$ on it etc try to seperate your real bank accounts and credit card from the mobile device

[@gtaitbiz7787]

Do you have any tips for carrying secure information or accessing them?

[@Donnerkeule666]

Love this guy

[@typeer]

Ty learned a ton and subbed up

[@leodazz9023]

As you appreciate queries, if i heard you right, I would like to do the honors: 1. Your motive behind naming a particular custom ROM developer when you know that all custom ROMs are built on the code that google releases to AOSP on its own terms and conditions. 2. Why this mismatch between saying and doing? For example, being google agnostic and running a channel here on KZbin, an app developed and controlled by Google. How'd you explain it? 3. Any app made to use WiFi, be it open source or proprietary, is bound to scan AP's otherwise it will burn a hole in users metered data. In order to connect to the AP, it needs its exact location and MAC which is impossible without utilizing the GPS. If these locations and MAC's are stored on the device, they are equally open to all potential abusers. Then, why blame only Google knowing that it is the big data miner in the market? 4. Given the continued attempts from Governments all over the globe to regulate and control the internet, what do you suppose that different ISP's should do? Should they rise against the law of the land and get kicked in the belly or what? 5. This point is related to your wifi trangulation remark. Anonymously determining user locations is part of virtually every cell phone carrier's terms-of-service, though most phones allow the user to turn off location services. If the ball is in a user's coat, why do you blame anyone else? And how would you explain this that the same WiFi triangulation is used to track persons in a storm, blizzard, or cast away by some shipwreck, etc? 6. With the exception of Linux kernel, entire Android OS is developed by Google from scratch. Interestingly, Google also contributes to the development of Linux Kernel, sending patches etc. Then, how much difference would removing a single app like 'Play store' make? What about those millions of code snippets that run deep in the OS informing Google about everything it's interested in. Microsoft's windows suffers the same setback and privacy conscious people started to moving to Linux. 7. Web-Apps are better? Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Apple's Safari are all a part of this game. No doubt, there are some privacy respecting browsers like Mozilla's Firefox or Tor browser, but they can't be used to their full potential on a platform like Android. So, there is no foolproof privacy and security when you know you can't control all things of which Android is composed of. Perhaps, that's why some tech savvy people prefer Linux as it can be built from scratch, controlling every bit of data entering or leaving the machine. 8. Pardon my French, what I found in this video is an atrocious concoction of crap, completely incoherent, leading by the topic "Is LineageOS Safe for privacy" but never touching it clearly or giving evidence in support of or against it. Your 18 minute video can hardly provide a single substantial information which could identify LineageOS in particular as a good or bad custom ROM. Whatever things you mentioned are so general and applicable to every goddam ROM and gadget that the viewer ultimately forgets why he or she is actually viewing your video. 9. Let me put it this way - world Governments today have geared their efforts to to regulate "Internet" and are always in search of excuses to make laws in this context. You might be familiar with the terms like "Five Eyes", " Nine Eyes", "Fourteen Eyes", " Trinaitra", "the Great Wall", the India Wall" and so on. When our governments don't want us to be secure, how can we blame big organizations whose sole motive is profits? 8. When a phone or some electronic gadget comes to the market, it had to sign many agreements with the government and comply with the terms therein. You'll always see these terms are government friendly and tax related. Did you ever see a pro-citizen condition in these agreements? For example, govt enforcing the vendor for post sales service to customers. Had this been so, you would not have felt constrained to look for a new phone in just four years period. What about the hard earned mony you are forced to waste in the shape of your old phone which is getting outdated due to nonavailability of updates and security patches? Who's responsible for this - a phone vendor who wants to sell you a new phone or the government which lets him get away with it? 9. Scaring away the phone users is no solution, I agree. But, they have to understand that social media is not the only place to be idling. Internet is also an informal school where you could become aware through search and research. An informed person is the only one who can live with ever changing technology without making fuss.

[@warrenphillips69]

Great video. Thank you. Subscribed.

[@ricardoricardo3232]

When I met my gf she gave me her phone number and 2 days later she was on my Facebook recommendations. WTF!! Also moved and Facebook started recommending people that were in my area. WTF!!! My friend made a Facebook. He didn't add anybody and he popped up on my recommendations even though he hadn't added anyone..WTF!!!!!

[@robbraxmantech]

zucked!

[@hyleenpognaire8134]

So relatable, even to my online shopping apps

[@RomanHold]

dude I baught toothpaste with my credit card and two mins later had toothpaste yt adds infront of videos.

[@aquilomanganelli175]

Never had the desire to install Facebook. I owned their stock at one time but sold it all for a small profit. I do use WeChat. Even though I've been told it's parent company Tencent is connected to the Chinese Communist Party, I find that the built-in privacy features make it a better social media app as an American living in the USA anyway. Not sure how it would be if I was Chinese living in China and using WeChat.

[@NinPossible]

same I was "talking" with my gf about car insurance and got all the ads I could get lol

[@danielreyna5473]

First time seeing one of your videos. Extremely impressed by the way you broke down your message in a logical step by step manner that made it easy to understand and come to the conclusions drawn. I did not know GOOGLE had designed so many features designed to track and record various characteristics of people! A couple of questions tho... I realized when I was a young adolescent that if I wrapped my phone on aluminum foil and tried calling it, it would not ring, even if I was mere feet away from it. Would blocking its ability to recieve and send signals like so also be efficient against the threats mentioned? Also, if one was to use a different OS and use apps outside of the play store, do you mean you can go to websites like apk pure and download apps from there that are found on the play store (whether created by Google or not.) You mention wifi triangulation {I believe that's what you referred to it as}... If you turned off the wifi, would it still be able to? Many phones these days have the option of spoofing the MAC address, does this solve the problem of them using your MAC address? You mention kill switches... Do certain OSes not have the ability to use the software to turn the hardware off? And last but not least, I've been considering rooting my phone for quite some time now and recently purchased an Umidigi A11 Pro Max. It seems very vanilla and very easy to root and flash... Is this phone capable of running Ubuntu touch? If not can you provide me with a few examples? Excellent presentation! Subscribing right off the batt!

[@sun1goldn]

Covering it with aluminum foil would block any signal, so basically yes, it's the most effective way by far, if you don't have a Linux phone. This is also shown in one of the Terminator movies where Sara Connor covers her phone with a bag of potato chips (which is made of aluminum) so she doesn't get tracked.

[@Seticzech]

That's why I use rooted devices with firewall and xposed framework, blocking all no necessary outgoing traffic and providing false data about location, contacts etc. to apps.

[@Broxine]

How do you provide false data?

[@Seticzech]

@@Broxine With Xposed framework which can provide fake contacts, location etc. Very useful tool with many different plugins. I can't post links so try to search "android xposed framework".

[@zioqqr4262]

i hate apps i hate notifications i dont understand why apps exist i just want to log in to websites and log out if i want to i have no way to check whether the things you say here are true but you seem to be informative, which i appreciate

[@mathewwarjoysky7665]

Your voice is full of melody. Good diction!

[@irenerosello1934]

I really enjoyed watching your video, thank you very much for all this information, thank you

[@writingme]

This guy is hilarious. His ominous opening tune is the best. I thought he was gonna jump through the screen and slash my throat when that jingle started up!

[@Rompack]

Great channel. Glad, that I found.

[@padrebrown1417]

Good to know & thanks for the info.

[@sybilfawlty352]

Thanks for the excellent information. Would like to hear your views on LineageOS for MicroG with regards to these issues you discussed. Many thanks

[@robbraxmantech]

Watch my many other de-Googled videos

[@sybilfawlty352]

@@robbraxmantech Will do. Thanks

[@Ukiyo-e-sama]

Thank you! Very interesting!

[@pzrkstinger]

Thank you for detailed explanation

[@eramorn]

Hey Rob, can you make a video about the evolution of cyber surveillance in phone's? I would be intrested to know how thing's where implemented the way they are. You also inspired me to switch from windows to linux and start studying to become a system and network admin. i will try to do this for my phone as well.

[@tome7369]

good vid and very easy to understand. thank you!

[@matthewsloan2938]

Love this video

[@reymondgopog426]

You need to put the video speed to 1.5 to listen him speak in normal speed 😂

[@no-bs6zq]

You are a good fella

[@glenn7095]

1.25 is pretty good actually

[@Pakanahymni]

I have "Enhancer for KZbin" set the playback speed to 2.0x by default, that's the slowest I listen to anything.

[@ventisca89]

1.25 feels more natural

[@hrishikesharma]

@@glenn7095 thanks

[@JoshuaG]

just replaced the old samsung touchwiz of my Samsung Tab S 8.4 to Lineage OS 14.1 , i love it, smooth as butter and daily updates, up to December 5, 2020 android security patch lately, waiting for February 2021 release... :D

[@carinabakewell2311]

Thanks so much, very helpful.

[@FatheredPuma81]

KZbin really needs to introduce that 4x video speed already. 2x is like normal speed for this video...

[@myghi63]

So I installed LineageOS on my brand new Samsung M51 without google applications (gapps): installed lineageOS + magisk, then on the system Magisk I installed MicroG + riru + riru edXposed. After rebooting, installed fake gapps2 + edXposed manager, opened the edXposed manager and activated the two modules in there, and then rebooted. With that, I can run these google applications without having google play services. I know that this isn't perfect for my privacy, but this is a WAY better solution for at least getting these applications running on the phone without a problem, with notifications and all the stuff. I do prefer downloading apps on F-Droid, but if I can't, download it on Aurora Store.

[@myghi63]

Fun fact: On the privacy guard of lineage, gapps was tracking my location everytime, but without gapps (now with microg), microg doesnt even appear on that privacy guard, even considering it does have total acces of my phone.

[@JOAFINDICHJOA]

@@myghi63 I can see you have some skills with doing that. Is there a way I can do that with my Honor 20 Pro too? I couldn't find anything about that in the internet for my phone

[@myghi63]

@@JOAFINDICHJOA Unfortunaly, no: I coudn't find any custom recovery for your device, and since there's no android OS oficially supporting your phone, a custom recovery is mandatory. I'm sorry.

[@JOAFINDICHJOA]

@@myghi63 Thank you for your efforts! I guess the developers of custom ROMS did not like this Phone. I guess I have to make compromises and do the best I can do to secure my privacy. I installed Netguard and blocked all apps I do not use. And I deactivated a lot of google settings. It is a really interesting topic and there are a lot of things to learn I am excited to be on that way now

[@JOAFINDICHJOA]

@@myghi63 Update: I bought a used Google Pixel 3 XL in a good condition for 150€. I flashed GraphenOS on it, I can't Believe that I Managed to Do that xD I willl give the Honor 20 pro to my mum

[@alanesq1]

I find a very big advantage of using Lineageos is I am able to back up my phone which on most phones these days seems to be pretty much impossible but for me an essential feature for any computer. So I can now keep a spare phone (same make/model) ready should my current phone break or be lost and I can quickly restore my latest backup to the spare phone and be back in business with an identical phone no stress...

[@BadAssBlackOverlord]

I don't believe that's even possible.

[@alanesq1]

​@@BadAssBlackOverlord Basically I boot in to the TWRP recovery on the phone and run a full backup then take a copy of all files on the phone to my PC. To restore I boot in to TWRP, copy all files back to the phone from my PC, run a TWRP restore and the phone is exactly as it was when I did the backup :-) Some phones have a backup option in the recovery as standard but the time I relied on this it turned out it would only restore to that specific device so I was unable to recover anything from it when my phone was lost...

[@BadAssBlackOverlord]

@@alanesq1 What the hell... I didn't even know this was a thing. Will try myself when my de-googled phone comes in and see what my options are. Thanks for the short guide.

[@BadAssBlackOverlord]

@@alanesq1 Also can you get LineageOS from the same stock android you re-purchased or do you have to flash the rom all over again and then restore? Hopefully the former.

[@alanesq1]

@@BadAssBlackOverlord I use a Wileyfox Storm phone, I have very limited experience of other phones etc. but when I restore to a stock phone I usually just have to install the TWRP recovery and do a restore although I have had one I had to first install the newer stock rom before this would work? If the phone you have is not too expensive I would buy another one then see if I can restore my backup to this successfully, when this is done you then have a backup phone ready to go when you need it.

[@GHostCCM]

Nice video, but i think you should explain that Lineage OS is an Android custom rom so in the end its still android in the base code.

[@rikimaru749]

Very interessting and what do you think about Sailfish OS ? and Havoc OS ?

[@DnaTunes2k]

@@Adkatka but is havoc save?

[@nedmilburn]

Excellent!!!!

[@coucal]

I have deployed pi-hole on home network. In addition to box standard gravity black list, I have added many more suspicious regex such as jio, facebook, Chinese sites and mobile phone vendors’ api and telemetry uri

[@SpaceTimeBeing_]

Java is used less since a couple of years now. Android apps are now written in Kotlin, it's a much better and modern programming language. Android also uses ART instead of dalvik now.

[@glanda7862]

Hey there! The video was very well made. But I want to point out that you CAN disable all software spying, also the one that google apps have. You need to go to settings -> security & location -> trust -> dataprotection and now you can hold on an app and you'll get control of the permissions of the apps. By default system apps are not shown you need to go "..." at the top and enable to see them, then you can edit the permissions for the google apps. And if you look at the statistics you'll see some terrible things waiting to be detected.

[@linuxpython935]

Can you please make an updated video on this? I have been told that LineageOS is "just" AOSP". It's imho still better than the even more invasive and restrictive vendor-branded versions of most Androids, and it tends to extend the life span of a phone, too, but other than that, I'm not so sure.

[@robbraxmantech]

It's still pretty good and I'm still using it and recommending it

[@LookattheBiggerPic]

You really have inspired me to move forward on my own projects - I have a "Red Hydrogen One" just for this purpose being as it has a fairly peppy Snapdragon 835 / Adreno 540 with 128GB of storage and 6GB RAM - I have looked into AOSP and now LineageOS and intend to Not use Google apps any longer but also hoping to find nice replacements for Messaging that endlessly saves my SMS/MMS as well decent Picture management and capture - I kind of expect to loose the nifty 3D image and video but perhaps Red's player will work on AOSP or Lineage - Geez, I am half temped to ask if you take in outside phones like this to do the deed on for me - I would Not hold you accountable for issues of course since this is most certainly a shot in the dark... in any case, much thanks for all you do!

[@ishzsbxux]

Threema seems to be pretty secure

[@delicrux]

Also one very disturbing thing, i have lg g8 i was on discord chat and my phone froze i could still hear and talk to people in the chat, i helld the power for hard reset the chat was still going after the phone was off and didn't turn off untill i began to boot the device again. I have no idea how this happened but it is very disturbing.

[@catvideos3249]

Unless you remove the battery, it’s never really powered off

[@delicrux]

@@catvideos3249 cant remove because waterproof bs

[@Wieloable]

Thank you for the content.. can you explain the Exacly different between this and e/os ... would you Recommend e/os ? And can you Tell something about the Fairphone which include e/ os

[@En1gma3069]

I love your videos man, am all about privacy and security although I don’t have anything to hide but I think that the more they know the more they can manipulate you. What do you think about the one plus open 2 device? I really like that phone and am trying to transition to all linux with lineage os even linux for gaming etc plus my own nextcloud. What is your opinion on all that?

[@modernmountaineer]

anytime i set up my g account on a new phone i always uncheck network scanning and location access for sure. id love to see some company come out with an actual affordable phone that is on par with android and i phone that is pro privacy.

[@matthewhayes9734]

Until the general public has more options of OS and hardware options with kill switches and replaceable / fixable parts, we will not have a realistic choice. Most people do not have the knowledge of how to install a new OS onto their device. Right now, you have to have at least knowledge of the command line and some coding knowledge to be able to do what Rob is suggesting here. As it stands, the current market (iOS and Android) are the only two realistic choices. Both use 3rd party companies that scan your data and monitor your devices. It is simply unrealistic to expect the general public to understand this without the existence of several other OS options to choose from. A monopoly is an understaement.

[@xescv]

Pro tip: play the video on 2x speed

[@lucasb0rges]

Using LineageOS + Gapps is acceptable for majority of the people, not for the ones who care about privacy, afterall you will have Google apps in it. Using LineageOS without Google Apps (aka gapps) is entirely out of the question, it's way off the mark. Almost all applications and games depends on Google Play Services (or any other Google service) to work. You can't just remove Gapps and that's it! LineageOS for microG is the only viable alternative inside Android, still lacking stuff, still buggy and far for being complete, but better than nothing. Using only FLOSS apps is impossible for those who want to have their job done. If you decide to avoid both Android and iOS, the other "options" are pretty niche and limited. Some are available for a small range of devices like Ubports, others are proprietary like Sailfish OS. To be honest, we don't have a powerful option other than Android or iOS. If you say both sucks, don't use a smartphone because you'll pretty limited and people don't want to be limited in the name of "privacy" or "security". That's one of several reason Linux doesn't get popular on the desktop.

[@yash1152]

please dont shout.... I am using my Android Phone (AOSP, not lineage OS) happily with G-Play services disabled (and thereby all Gapps uninstalled) for more than 2 months now. I use: * Vivaldi (for Chrome Browser) * KZbin Website + Ymusic (for KZbin app) * AOSP Keyboard (for Gboard) * Never ever used G-assistant * Outlook for android (for GMail app, and contacts) * Apkpure + Apkmirror (for PlayStore) * Rest things work absolutely fine.

[@yash1152]

replace 'for' with 'against' in my comment (yeah, u cant edit comment on youtube web for mobile)

[@lucasb0rges]

@@yash1152 LineageOS is based on AOSP anyways. Google Play Services cannot be disable unless you use root, and even if you did still not safe since you have it installed on your phone. Vivaldi is not secure since it's based on Chromium like Opera. It uses blink browser engine, same from Google Chrome or Chromium. Even Chromium which is theoretically open source still leaks some data to Google. Also, it's beta on Android. For KZbin there's SkyTube, FreeTube and FreeTube. If you prefer the website, there is Invidious which is alternative front-end for KZbin, there is still an onion website. AOSP Keyboard seems to be based on Gboard, but lacking some settings. G-assistant is a privacy destroyer. Outlook is from Microsoft, so... proprietary stuff. Apkpure is way better than Play Store. You should try on LineageOS for microG! There's an open source alternative for Google Play Services, it means you don't need to keep it installed nor disabled on your phone. Get this alternative which is better for your privacy and good for battery, no telemetry and data mining.

[@robbraxmantech]

Good specifics here. Thanks for sharing that info.

[@malikulamin9948]

I use Blackberry Os..no google, no WhatsApp, no youtube App, no Gmail, outlook etc...

[@finnk1289]

The most important and easiest thing you can do is reduce the services you use in the first place. I use Firefox browser with Ecosia search (it's totally convenient and user-friendly), soon will ditch Gmail and Google photos, never use google location services for anything, and restrict permissions. Replacing Google services framework with MicroG will be the next step.

[@FAT8893]

I definitely have a wide experience using microG. It is definitely a night and day difference when it comes to battery life - I get a longer battery runtime with microG than Google Mobile Services. I do see slightly better overall performance, but I wouldn't comment much on that since it depends on the app in question. I remembered my phone running decently well until I installed WeChat. Let's just say that it really took a toll on the phone's overall performance really hard.

[@COMPUTER.SCIENCE.]

Why should I trust other companies more than Google? Just becoz they're not as big as GG? It's insane with these blind GG hatred. Everybody'sin the business for making money, even the open-source community work could be doubtful, left alone these private companies or entities other than Google. GG has been providing the most convenient free apps to help mid and low income workers, while the filthy rich are sitting idlly being paranoid that they're tracked. You better off make your own librabries, services, apis, and servers, and secure your own private internet if you want guaranteed safety. If not, there's no such guarantee, such that Ecosia, duckduck go engines, or Firefox..browsers are more trustable than GG. These are just nonsense hype. I rather have ONLY google track me than having a bunch of small/uncontrollable companies do it. 1 to lookout for is much better than 100s.

[@rockstarnaru]

Very Imformative. ty..

[@BurgerParty]

1.25 speed but very informative subbed

[@byranotieno]

We are in a double bind

[@jay-tv07]

Thanks Rob

[@govegan6682]

Excellent video, very informative thank you.

[@EbenezerScroogeMcDuck]

in a nutshell, there's no escape unless you simply don't use a phone. well we got on well in the 80s and 90s without fancy smart phones, can do just that these days. if you wanna game, use nox or bluestacks or just use a tablet and keep it at home. if you need to call, get a 1998 sprint flip phone?

[@partyflockske]

i always used , magisk in combination with Xprivacy ( an app, where you can set for every other apps even the google apps , what they may and may not know. network, location, microphone, analytices, and so on ) i hopt his makes me a bit more secure and private. SInce hell broke lose ( furter stripping of our privacy because of a 'virus' ) i stepped back to a Nokia flipphone that is 10 years old, or even older.. :) thank you for the very informative video

[@nonenothingnull]

0:44 it's still Android, just not really with Google suite. You need to flash gapps for that

[@robbraxmantech]

Correct

[@accio4260]

yeah exactly

[@nonenothingnull]

it was just kinda phrased like he meant it as if it was not

[@andrey.003]

honestly, i'm excited of how are we walking on the edge of privacy nowadays. i would really like to move from stock rom to a custom. but my stock samsung 21 has no custom working os alternatives.the only way to get rid of google is by disabling it via adb. same as samsung apps. but there is no good guide of what apps exactly are safe to disable.

[@david.mihaljcic]

Dear Rob, great channel and well put together program. You're doing a great service to inform the public on how the big companies are spying on them. Now, I've heard you mention it is safer to run a browser's web apps on your phone, because many of them aren't ladent with spyware. Could you recommend a mobile browser with a wide variety of web apps. Or one that you use? Thanks a bunch.

[@robbraxmantech]

Firefox is fine if available. Thank you for watching

[@bananajoe9951]

Google used to say Do no evil... I guess they meant that for everyone else.

[@dagoelius]

That location marker @5:36 :D

[@0ChanMan]

I really appreciate how informative your videos are, and I don't want to come across as another flaming internet troll. but I would really appreciate a younger more energetic host who could roll through the English more comfortably.

[@kristinastevens509]

To each their own, for I appreciate the extra time to absorb the info, it allows me to make other connections and jot ideas down

[@SCTproductionsJ5]

Watch Mental Outlaw's video about using a feature phone for privacy!

[@nevenas3726]

Which privacy...?! Sorry, but what is actually privacy?

[@lyfandeth]

Wifi triangulation is definitely NOT of any use in turn by turn navigation. Considering the average router can reach 25-50 feet line of sight to a phone, routers inside homes and stores simply cannot reach a typical phone driving past on the roads.

[@manowar2816]

Thanks

[@NSAwatchesME]

Put your phone in a Faraday cage...

[@lechsiz1642]

You are doing a GREAT job, Mr. Braxman. Speak a bit faster. I hope you are abe to teach us how to deGoogle our phones. I want to try this on a cheap phone first.

[@trentonc9141]

Odd question but can other people view us on the front or rear facing cameras? Can people access my pics? If I took nude shots of myself, should I be concerned that it will pop up in one of the thousands of porn sites? Or are photos, vid or the phone camera not a concern? Thanks