Maximizing privacy on Android without custom ROMs? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 month ago by TheTwelveYearOld@lemmy.world to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

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I've had a Galaxy S22+ for 2 years and still want to use it. When I look up how to maximize privacy on Android, many results say to install custom ROMs which I can't since its a US model and the bootloader is locked. I just want to minimize tracking and sharing of personal information. I could use a firewall app like RethinkDNS to block trackers, but could I completely block tracking from Google and Samsung? Are there any lists of packages to uninstall to improve privacy? (I've used ADB to remove a bunch of bloatware. Ex: pm uninstall -k --user 0 com.samsung.android.arzone)

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[-] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 7 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

disable Google Play Services and the Google Play Store. And that will help a lot. And if you still need apps from the Google Store, you can use the Aurora Store from f-droid

Edit: you may also want to look into controld.com since their free dns blocks known malware, ads, and trackers. They have several options including standard DNS, DNS over HTTPS, and DNS over TLS, and Android supports DNS over TLS. So you can use it directly.

[-] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 3 points 1 month ago

I've found disabling play services on Samsung causes weird errors.

You can try, it may work.

Thanks for the DNS link!

this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2024

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