So I’ve been thinking of, after finishing my move, not keeping a phone on me at all times as I and probably most people at most threat models do. I currently use a Fairphone 5 with CalyxOS (in light of recent news on their end, I will definitely be switching, most likely to either LineageOS or PostmarketOS) but have found that I spend too much time on my phone browsing the web, messaging friends and such, and want to stop that nasty habit, especially since it is a worse experience than browsing on my laptop (currently a Thinkpad t440p running Libreboot and NixOS, full-disk encrypted with LUKS of course).
My threat model primarily concerns corporate surveillance, which I think I do a good enough job at warding off, but I wonder if ditching the phone entirely and using exclusively VoIP numbers (unsure of where but most likely voip.ms unless I find something better) on my laptop would be better. Can anyone think of any downsides, whether they be convenience or privacy-related, to ditching my phone and using exclusively my laptop for any sort of communication?
To add, I created VM (QEMU) with android x86 instead of waydroid. Why? Because I was able to patch it, give “real” IMEI and SN to stop some apps from complaining about running on emulator.
It is not silver bullet, but SOME apps with strict no-emulator policy will be bypassed.
For beginners try to edit build.prop to start your tweaks from. And do not forget to take snapshots of you VM if you are experimenting.
It seems that you only have to fix your bad phone habit. I do not see that anything would go against your threat model either way. I only see that browsing the web is bad, not messaging friends. But if you do think so, maybe you should meet up irl more? Otherwise here is the cons I could find:
Cons
You can miss calls. The computer has to be on to get the signal.
Not able to call everywhere. A computer is not easy to walk around with while talking.
Worse battery life than a phone.
You might change your phone problem into a laptop problem.
You can not fit a laptop into your pockets so you have to carry around a backpack all the time.
My solution would be to get someone i trust to enable parental controls, if that exists on privacy focused Android OS’s, and restrict your access to the web and other apps deemed “unnecessary”.
I fixed being on the phone all the time by doing the following over the course of some time:
Got rid of my Fakebook account. Seriously, there are so many reasons to get rid of Fakebook and one of the best side effects of doing so is that you’re not falling into MAGA rabbit holes from that one post from that wellness page a friend shared solely because of the headline that turned out to be a MAGA sockpuppet.
Turned off most notifications. I don’t get notifications for email anymore, just for phone calls, SMS, and the two messengers I still use. If I hear a notification that means someone’s deliberately trying to get my attention and not trying to shove an ad in my face.
Depending on set up. Mine setup needs only E750v2 to be turned on.
Drawbacks I cannot receive normal calls. But when isp send service message something like “You missed call from +XXXXXXXXXX” my custom script sends on that number text like “Sorry, this number cannot receive calls. Send SMS or use Signal. Thank you.”
Unfortunately true
Depending on setup. In 60% situations TLP with aggressive battery settings solves this.
Absolutely NOT IF you are on Iinux. And TRUE on any other OS.
Argumenting:
PC don’t have limitations about any type of OS (if you wish, you can install today Arch tomorrow Ubuntu and no jailbreak or “hacks” needed)
PC doesn’t limit you to ROOT commands, so you can run (if using USB modem) AT commands to change IMEI, randomize MAC or even set it to someone’s else one
PC doesn’t stop you from installing via “sideloading”
PC have access to hosts file, so you can block ads without even any software
True
For now I am living with phone… But I feel that I will go and purchase linux-only one.
But let’s be real. We all want both: privacy + convenience. So don’t make yourself suffer. Just buy Linux phone. This will solve all issues with proprietary crap and give you control and convenience.
Currently i am waiting for release of Liberux NEXX (now it is a prototype). But it has 32Gb RAM! But pretty expensive one.
Good first step! Do not forget to change anything tied to that account (email (if possible), password (if reused))
From privacy perspective it doesn’t change anything. If you are looking for REAL privacy, better move no WEB versions of apps. And do not forget to delete as much non FOSS apps as possible.
Hah. I generate passwords and aliases through Proton Pass, and the only official app I use is Discord (…I know…), and even then I have background network access and background battery usage disabled, my Mastodon is logged in through Tusky, and everything else is through a Brave PWA.
If you need moderate privacy flash lineage OS or Graphene OS. If you want to go hard-core - acquire Linux only phone. But you should be ready to spend several days to set up VMs for android apps (if you will ever need so).
If you wanna go NUCLEAR (this is not privacy anymore, we are on anonymity zone) ditch everything that doesn’t support IMEI change. And better use external modem (like me).
But as I see by your post you need privacy. Privacy ≠ anonymity.
So my pro tip: if you have money and enthusiasm - buy Linux only phone. If you are not - flash custom ROM.
But remember one thing, if you are using official ROM from manufacturer it at least “call back home” with telemetry wich DRASTICALY reduce your privacy.
You have pretty good setup now. If you want to go next-level it is at least firmware change. Or even hardware change.
I’m not the OP. I’ve been doing this sort of thing for 4 years and I’m not looking for total anonymity, just keeping Big Tech off my back. That generally means keeping the data brokers busy wondering which email is really mine and why I have so many of them.
And by the way, I did try a Pinephone out and all it did was lag and then crash after a couple of reboots. Once mobile Linux gets stable, a reliable VPN is available for it, and the Signal Foundation releases a version of Signal for mobile Linux, I’ll make the switch. Right now I’m fine on my degoogled Pixel.
I’m running Librem 5 for more than 2 years and it is mostly stable for the whole time. But I still would not recommend it to everyone. People should know what it can do and where the flaws are. Signal also works for over two years. Personally I would never go back to Android or any other big tech company since a pocket computer is all I ever wanted. I have no experience with Pinephone and PostmarketOS.
Even Android and iOS, and for sure degoogled phones have flaws. It’s just a matter of which one you value and which one you can ignore. In example no smartphone (even degoogled ones) give me that much amount of control over the device. On the same time, camera of Librem 5 (and other Linux phones) just has not the same quality - hardware and software and that will not change any time soon, even if they’re improving.
I have no experience myself, but here’s the wiki entry. It says yes, but I really cannot tell anything about.
The 3-4GB is indeed not much, but it is also no gaming machine. There are not many games that run on Linux ARM64 architecture anyway. But once I plugged in a PS4-controller and played Path of Exile 2 on it. How? Streaming from desktop. The low-end speccs have a reason and Liberux will not fulfill it: making the phone as open source as possible, including firmware and hardware and long term CPU production (2033 if I remember correctly). And for such tasks there are very limited hardware options available. Capitalism always tell us they bring the innovation, but the truth is, they block real innovation by making everything a companies secret.
I don’t hit 3GB RAM. The 32GB drive is a worse issue, which I extended with a microSD. And in addition there is RAM compression and SWAP available. Tasks that need more power I usually do on desktop anyway and so I think I will use the phone 10 more years without much issues and that values more to me that pur power. There exist an internal information that Purism works on an upgrade SoC with 4GB (CPU limitation) and 128GB.
Liberux Nexx on the other hand is still on crowdfunding as far as I know, which means it still can fail. They compromise the hardware freedom Librem 5 offers, but therefor have modern speccs. I probably would go with it, if I would like to replace my desktop entirely. But for that the speccs are too low (and ever will be for a phone). And ARM-architecture also refuse to use it for proprietary software such as common games (other than Steamdeck etc). It probably would be better, if they have used x86_64 architecture (AMD APU). Anyway, it is not bad to offer more options to get more people involved in these projects.
Another option would be to install Mobian or PostmarketOS on a Pixels phone and alike. An option that only exists thanks to Librem 5 and Pinephone. But I have no idea how well it works and what additional flaws are there. If everything of this is no option, than degoogled phones are the way to go … at least as long as they’re allowed to continue. I think you know the new issues with Google and companies that lock down root access.
I always remove SWAP. On any device. Instead I use zram. Because SWAP will kill your flash. Yes, not so fast, but still.
This is more interesting. Generally I don’t need high end phone because I have top-notch laptop. For phone I need AT commands support (to change IMEI when i changing ISP) and open messenger (signal). Sometimes i bet you will have idea to run Android apps, but most not so heavy.
I know it is paranoid but still. I don’t trust Google at all. Especially after that sideloading bullshit.
True. But won’t phone be a little more “fat”?
P.S: Personally I am not a fan of ARM and prefer x86. Why? Easy: more software support.
That was the term I had in mind. I think it is enabled by default these days.
I don’t know and just remember people calling Librem 5 a “brick” for it’s thickness. But once they had it in hand, nobody complained about it. So at least some thickness is okay. I mean back in 2000 people run with really thick phones (even compared to Librem 5) and did not complain. It’s a matter of case design I would say.
My preference is fully open source RiskV, but the power is not enough for now as well as software support. But since Debian 13 has RiskV support as first OS right now, at least Debians software is compiled for it. I wish it becomes a main plattform one day in future.
At the moment, I use a Fairphone 5, which is capable of running postmarketOS and Ubuntu Touch. At the moment I’m running CalyxOS, and recent events prompted me to think about alternatives, including ditching the phone entirely and using just my laptop. Maybe a modded iPod for music too since it’s all offline anyways.
Another new option the FLX1s. It is also a Debian based Linux phone, but with build in Android layer to run those apps in a container (company sais). They want to close the cap to smartphones. I’m not much interested in this device, so please do you own research if you want to know more about. It could be something for those who don’t want or can leave Android completely. But it’s also maybe a good advice to wait for reviews of actual users.
Try it! What’s the worst that can happen? Treat it like an experiment. Pretend you sold your phone, and power it off and keep it in a drawer and see what your life is like for a few days.
You’ll learn your pain points very quickly. If they’re addressable, address them. If they aren’t, you have your answer. Maybe you’ll learn there’s just a few things you need that some ultra minimal phone can accommodate.
