this post was submitted on 10 Nov 2025
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Privacy
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Google has the capability to read everything that you can read on an Android phone, unless you have taken steps to remove all Google-controlled components that have system-level privileges. Last time I checked, this included Google Play Services, which are installed by default on most Android phones.
Note that messengers with end-to-end encryption, like Signal, cannot protect against an adversary with full access to your device.
This is part of why people de-Google their phones, which usually means replacing the entire OS with something like LineageOS or GrapheneOS.
So just to confirm the answer to my question question: Its pointless to use encrypted messaging on an Android device?
Of course not. End-to-end encrypted messaging protects against eavesdroppers in transit. It's an opaque envelope.
(Edit: Keep in mind that Google is not the only potential eavesdropper out there.)
What it cannot do is protect a message from someone reading over your shoulder when you write a message or open an envelope. On mainstream Android, that could be Google, if they choose to abuse their system-level access. On iOS, it could be Apple. And so on.
Those companies might be eavesdropping on sent/received messages already, either at a large scale or in a minority of cases, or regionally, or they might not be doing it at all... yet. But they have the capability. You'll have to decide for yourself whether that risk is acceptable.
But if the ENDS are both compromised... I wish there were more/better custom ROMS out there. Hopefully Linux Phone gets some love.
If either end is compromised, then there is someone reading over the proverbial shoulder, and the conversation should be considered compromised.
That would be a welcome step in the right direction, as would open hardware.
Do you have an issue with graphene?
Me personally I don't have a Pixel but I looked into Graphene and I'm told banking apps don't work and also tap to pay.
Linux works on pretty much every PC ever and every app can be installed. It would be nice to have that for phones!
My banking apps just work(tm) without any work or fiddling. (Sweden) You can have a separate space for apps that need google play and all that and it has no access to your private data.
Oh that's great to know!
No, because it still stops everyone else from reading your messages.
People in the field would love to bust Google for this so it's a safe bet that they are actively looking for Google to log or transmit what you type in the keyboard in every app. The fact that the news hasn't broken that Google is logging this info is important. It means in the realm of possibility it's not impossible but it is unlikely.
Still it's safer to assume all of your communications on stock android are being tracked or spied on.
The same way you assume a weapon is loaded. Better safe than sorry.
This was actually very helpful perspective thank you
It is not pointless.
Wrong, it gets others off WhatsApp.
If you use stock android and proprietary software, YES. Everything you type can be recorded before it's encrypted.