Hey guys, it’s pretty much the tittle. I’ve been using Lineage with microg for a year now and despite using the majority of FOSS apps in my routine I still feel like I have to struggle to preserve my privacy and keep Google away from my data. Do you guys feel the same sometimes?
Every time I have to use a banking app is a pain …I kept changing banks to the ones who I could use with Magisk but every app update breaks my setup and I have to find a workaround or change to another app. I just quit using banking apps and passed them all to the wife.Now even home brokers have been blocking me asking to use a “official android version”
Today even a government app we must use to get access to services and information started complaining about my play store.
I self host a nextcloud service on my old desktop that serves as a server but every now and then the updates crash something. Sharing calendar and notes is too complicated if you don’t have a vps or a domain. I keep getting complains from the wife about how come I just don’t use google keep and Google drive anymore.
After a year I’m starting to think that maybe my data is not worth the hassle just to keep big tech out of my digital life… I guess Big Brother wins
What do you say? Am I too lazy or it is unpractical to stay away from big tech?
I posted this before when another user posted a similar problem. Obviously yours is particular with google so some parts may not apply, but the gist is that you need to figure out your threat model.
You need to step back and review your threat model, then figure out the balance point between privacy and convenience/QoL. There is no such thing as complete privacy unless you go completely offline and live like a hermit. So something has to give, and your threat model will help you identify that. Figure out first what exactly you’re protecting, and from who. Then you can assess which ones you will deem non-negotiable when it comes to privacy, some where you can relax a bit in exchange for covenience (and this has levels as well), and lastly the ones where you have no choice because blocking something will make it cease to function. Having this threat model will also help you figure out what extent you would want to expose yourself depending on the service. Don’t put everything into the same tier because that will be impossible. Good luck.
I remember this comment. Best advice I’ve seen on this sub.
Thanks friend!
Any amount is more than nothing. Privacy isn’t a zero sum game
For banking, can you use a browser instead of the app?
I do very little banking through my phone - what’s there to do?
There are some browsers that support sites-as-an-app, such as Cromite and Hermit, that may solve this issue.
Unfortunately some financial apps are “app or nothing”.
Just wondering if it’s that way for OP’s bank.
I don’t really use the app or the website (maybe to check a balance), so I have no idea what uses there are. Frankly I wouldn’t have banking at all if I could avoid those bastards.
I hear you. I would do away with all banks if I could, no doubt.
Ultimately there are always going to be people who don’t have smartphones or computers, so society (including things which are currently almost mandatory to participate in society, like being able to bank) should be accessible to these people. If it’s accessible for them, it’s also accessible to people with smartphones or computers who have just removed the spyware from them.
I don’t do mobile banking; I just bank from my desktop browser. Not sure if this is an option for you or not, but I would have thought that online banking in the web browser should be even more common than having a mobile app for it.
Not sure what you mean by “home brokers” blocking you but if you mean their wifi blocks you, I’ve experienced that too on GrapheneOS but have found that VPNs allow me to use pretty much any public wifi.
Does your government app have a web alternative? If not that seems incredibly discriminatory against people who don’t have smartphones. If it has a web alternative but doesn’t work with any particular privacy settings, do you have a local library with computers you can use?
It makes me sad that progressive web apps were killed off
I’m about 4-5 years from where I started to self host things. I went through a raspberry, minipc and now I built a small rack where I have a custom built PC where I self host things. Is it a pain in the ass to start without anyone teaching you? YES. I spent a lot of time trying, testing, failing and retrying, but it was a nice trip, I learnt a ton of things and a lot of things I’ll learn, I’m still definitively not an expert but I’m improving myself.
I tried (more than one time) nextcloud and I’ve definitively not liked it. I tried filebrowser which is more near to my use case, than I finished choosing a WebDAV instance using apache, it is perfect for my use-case, compatible with my windows job-pc and mounted perfectly from my LineageOS Android phone.
I’ve LineageOS without microG and any google thing at all; all I need is self hosted and available through a custom domain and/or through a VPN I self host. 90% of my apps are Foss.
My bank app works great without an official Android OS ( I didn’t root my phone).
It’s all about the amount of time you can invest through it:
- A lot of time: learn about self host, try the available solutions and choose which one fit your use-case
- Some time: find available solutions that don’t require you to do anything (like proton drive, private nextcloud instances etc…)
- No time: use Google.
If you need something, I have some free space on my server that you can use (don’t trust me or anyone else, use it by thinking).
Don’t give up!
I self host a nextcloud service on my old desktop that serves as a server but every now and then the updates crash something. Sharing calendar and notes is too complicated if you don’t have a vps or a domain.
Self hosting is a pain imo. You can pay a small cloud provider with nextcloud. There is a middle ground between big tech and self hosting.
Then don’t. It’s that simple. It is impossible to live a 100% private life, you have to value your own time and enjoyment.
I use and older phone for banking, stock firmware as updated as it can be. VPN connection, no SIM, powered on just for transactions. Still, my bank requires a location for every transaction, supposedly by law. In the beginning I thought I should spoof the location to a fixed one, but I’m tired of this shit, too. It feels like it’s impossible to just be in peace, at the same time, apps are being used to rob clueless people their savings and to discriminate, alienate elder people.
Everyone is giving solid advice.
It is a trade off as google controls so much.
instead of changing banks, change the phone and try grapheneos’s google sandbox thing. i myself already gave up, have lineage and gapps installed, but i do block most of analitics with blokada. i also try to use foss as much as possible, but sometimes theres simply no alternative. in the end of the day, you need to reconsider if you really want to go with the full front assault, or just block most of the stuff.
I’m planning to buy a new phone in the next year or so and looks like pixel is a great option because of graphene. I wish it ran on my poco x3.
Graphene is in an interesting position as far as being the only majorly secure OS out of the box. So don’t give up until you try it even on a 200 dollar Pixel 6 or a Pro version if you like larger screens.
Use a second profile for all your normie proprietary apps and google services. Then use your main profile for FOSS and privacy outside of work things. Easy to setup and install. No tweaking really out of the box. I’ve never had a major broken component even with banking apps. Its kinda like the shit just works. I hate its on pixel devices but I Understand why having a secure chipset. The absolutely only complaint I could muster with Gos is needing location to be inside main and secondary profile at the same time Google maps I don’t know why. Beyond that. Its been flawless.
Edit: Don’t let other persuade you down the rabbit hole of full self hosting and going crazy micromanaging things for perfection. It’ll feel like a second job and lead to what you have which is fatigue of something you genuinely care about and rightfully so. If you need help once your on Gos. Message me. There needs to be less friction to achieve tasks not more or people just won’t do it.
if you have x3 pro, you could also try divetos. its a linageos fork with more security. if you have the nfc, then you are out of luck.
Mine is the NFC one …tough luck.
For banking apps: my Bank only has them as 2fa, if you say you don’t have a Smartphone, and give you the same Programm as Windows App eventually, runs great in a win10 VM, the payments are made in there Webportal
This is why I have a degoogled phone and a googled phone. I carry them both around with me but any bank app, or other data harvesting app or necessity goes through that phone,so I may keep the majority of my stuff clean and free (as much as I can within my capabilities)
I think we have to persist. Make our statement and presence. Let banks know. Let everybody know there are people who care. Each day we are more. One day we will be many.
Are there any banks that support FIDO2 in Europe already? I’m so sick of SMS or other shenanigans.
I don’t have a phone that supports any of the foss android versions but I have been making due without a google account and free app stores (f-droid + obtainium which is great). That will have to do. I’d love much better privacy but it is too much work. I also do relatively little with my smartphone.
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