Meta/Facebook preinstalls an app called Meta Services (previously Facebook services) on a very large percentage of android devices (I’ve never used one without it) and while they claim it helps updates and synchronisation between different meta apps, it is very suspicious. Why preinstall it on devices of people who will potentialy never use a single meta app?
Go to your app list/app management and show system apps and find anything with the words “meta” or “Facebook” then turn off network access for those apps (if you can) and disable them. (eg. Meta app manager, Meta app installer).
https://www.askwoody.com/forums/topic/meta-services-an-android-app-or-not/
https://fixyourandroid.com/about/facebook-app-manager/
https://www.reddit.com/r/GalaxyS20FE/comments/ttmx4t/meta_services/
Edit: Looking around I have found several people complaining that this app is using their ram for 10 hours a day even though they don’t use anything Meta. That’s even more suspicious.
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Outlook does the same thing with Exchange services. It would kill my battery in a matter of hours
This is why I avoid Samsung like the plague. Chinese brands atleast let you swap the stock ROM with whatever you like, with minimal effort.
One more reason to use a custom ROM. Death to the bloat!
I always, disable or remove anything to do with Facebook or Meta, & lots of other crap, as a first sweep of a new phone or installation…👍🏼
absolute bloatware, i just uninstalled this a few days ago
Some phones used to come with Facebook pre-installed, it’s probably from that. Don’t get a Samsung lol
Ugh, stuff like this is why I bought a pixel. I got an s23 for “free” from T-Mobile, and it was so infested with spyware and bloat that even android debloater couldn’t get it all.
GrapheneOS has basically made it all worthwhile. I do with I could have multiple (more than 2) profiles though.
The one gripe I have with grapheme is I can’t get images to be received through or sent through MMS. I constantly get sent images by my family with questions and they hate using share in google photos. Even republic wireless support couldn’t help me
In most apps, there’s several settings you can change to try and fix that. If you ever want to try it again, try using qksms (or another good alternative at the time), and playing with the settings.
I had the exact same issue with signal on my last phone.
Now on GrapheneOS on the Pixel 6a. One of the best decisions I made :)
GOS club!
What NFC payment options were available on there?
To use my bank card separately, because proving less data to my phone (previously on Android) was a sensible plan.
Tape your bank card to the back of your phone
NFC payments do have the benefit of not providing your card information to the vendor. It only provides a token to the vendor.
Ah, that’s a good point. Tape someone else’s card to the back of your phone!
Good idea.
Unrelated, can I borrow your credit card?
Sorry, I superglued it to my phone
Razer 2 and I don’t have it
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I have a OnePlus 7pro and it’s not installed.
It doesn’t seem to be on my OnePlus 9 Pro so I don’t think it’s on every OnePlus device, this is anecdotal though and I don’t exactly trust OnePlus much anymore
I’m on a Nord CE 3 Lite which is the cheapest OnePlus and even I don’t have it.
Shit like this is why I use a DeGoogled phone. Get a Pixel and install GrapheneOS or CalyxOS and use open source apps wherever you can, and sandbox any Google Play apps you have to use (banking, etc).
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Not the person you asked, but I run Calyx. It has microG services to impersonate google services. It works most of the time, but I have found a few apps that straight up don’t work since microG isn’t 100% viable yet.
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If you use the aurora store it will tell you what apps require google services. My banking app works perfectly fine though I’ve heard others don’t so your milage may vary. Calyx came preinstalled with an email app which works fine, though f-droid has dozens of foss alternatives. Calyx also came preinstalled with chromium though I switched to fennec (firefox). I believe whatsapp works though I don’t have it installed nor will I.
I’ve not found issues on mine other than when I don’t share my location and need to manually input.I quite like that though.
Pixel phones don’t have this app. It’s not Google adding it to the OS.
I don’t think they were implying that it was. Pixel phones don’t have this, but they have loads of other methods of stealing your data. Ungoogled ROMs are focused on complete privacy, not just from google.
I didnt find anything on my pixel 4a thankfully.
Why can’t I find any articles about decompiling and researching this one? :(
(I’ve never used one without it)
I’m so glad I went with a Pixel 4a. Main factors were the smaller size, but I also chose it over the cheaper Samsung alternative because of the OS. Stock Android is just nice, because then you only have to worry about the Google bullshit and not also all the other bullshit on top of that.
It’s not unlikely to be an NSA thing which allows them to access everthing. That sounds paranoid, but Snowden happened so we know they were doing stuff like this 10 years ago:
DROPOUTJEEP … “A software implant for the Apple iPhone that utilizes modular mission applications to provide specific SIGINT functionality. This functionality includes the ability to remotely push/pull files from the device. SMS retrieval, contact list retrieval, voicemail, geolocation, hot mic, camera capture, cell tower location, etc. Command, control and data exfiltration can occur over SMS messaging or a GPRS data connection. All communications with the implant will be covert and encrypted.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ANT_catalog
To be honest, I think we just have to accept privacy is dead. The only real choice that remains is whether to regularly teabag our phones on on the off chance someone’s looking.
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I run a degoogled Pixel 6A with GrapheneOS and Linux on my desktop. I logged in to Google once on my phone and still haven’t logged in a single time on my desktop. I don’t use any of the gsuite apps.
I don’t think the average person should or could reasonably do this. Google is so closely ingrained in society that removing it from your life requires a significant amount of effort to make sure you can still have as much of the stuff you need to participate in society as possible. Some of that stuff just doesn’t exist now without Google.
I’m glad that the software and tools and resources exist to de-google yourself for those that want to but its just not an option for most people.
Some of that stuff just doesn’t exist now without Google.
I disagree. EVERYTHING Google offers has some sort of alternative. Will it take more effort? Sure. But I have been Google free for over 2 years now and I have not once been unable to do anything because Google has some imagined exclusivity.
Start here for apps
CalyxOS
GrapheneOSAnd for the diehard there’s the Fairphone
I’m typing this message on GrapheneOS. My point isn’t that it’s completely impossible but rather that degoogling basically has to become your hobby in order to fully do it. It requires a level of effort that’s not practical for the average person so its unreasonable to expect everyone to do it. Also, FOSS and non-google alternatives are often not as good as the service google provides for free, like Google Maps. I use OSMAnd as my daily maps app, but its pretty finnicky and isn’t anywhere close to the smooth, polished experience of Google Maps, and its lacking some important functionality. I still use it, because I’m committed to trying to avoid Google software as much as possible, but its definitely not the best experience.
Also, a lot of institutions andemployers use the G-Suite and so its impoesible for people that have to do business with those organizations to be entirely free of google. My university uses the G-Suite and when school comes back in the fall I’ll be stuck using it again. The local school district does too.
I think the point is that such a vanishingly small percentage of people know how to do what you suggest (or care at all about privacy yammering) that it’s irrelevant to society’s overall privacy.
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Not only that but it creates a sentiment and more people could be like hmmm… how do I do what I can to protect myself
No, we don’t have to accept that privacy is dead. We need to learn to control the technology around us.
This podcast covers this topic in depth with a lot of practical instruction for what you can do to manage your privacy and security: The Privacy, Security, and OSINT Show
