I hear many people say that the Google Pixel is good for privacy, but is it?
I’m asking this because I find it weird, of all the companies, Google having the most “privacy”.
I LOVE GRAPHENEOS
Yes, it is. I mean, GrapheneOS is the gold standard for privacy&security, but even stock Pixel is a good step up. Think of it like this: on stock Pixel, only Google is tracking you, not Google + Samsung, or Google + Xiaomi. Just Google. It’s guaranteed to be a step up from all other Android phones, stock or not.
Wow the fact that this is considered good is depressing
Wait since when a monopoly is preferable to a duopoly? As far as I’m concerned if I can’t have 0 companies to spy on me I’d rather have them all fight each others in the data space…
In this case they don’t fight, they exploit your data in different ways and if one of the exploiters isn’t arsed to keep your data secure then everyone gets it and it’s not just corporate actors profiting from you but more harmful actors including scammers using your data.
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You can install on it a lot of custom ROMs, including GrapheneOS and CalyxOS.
About how Pixel is more private… Pixel ‘only’ has Google’s tracking; other manufacturers have their own tracking, *on top/in addition* to Google’s tracking.
Installed GrapheneOS and adjusted my google settings to track everything they can, then I checked to see how much data that got collected, it is almost nothing.
This is gonna be a foolish and stupid question but how did you check how much data was being collected?
Under GDPR you have the right to download the data they have about you, so google has a page where you can do that. That being said I doubt that is everything they track, I’m probably still getting fingerprinted and tracked by ip, but still thats a lot less info collected on me and most importantly that data is less valuable to sell.
Google take out
additionally you don’t need to jump across several hops to flash custom roms on Pixel phones (or tablets)
it’s easy as using a web browsermeanwhile custom roms on Xiaomi or Samsung are a huge pita to setup and require almost shady looking korean or chinese (windows) applications
Just install GrapheneOS. The only things that don’t work on it are Google Pay and Android Auto.
I’d argue yes.
I see Google as a known unknown, where as various other Chinese phones are unknown unknowns.
I acknowledge I have western bias, but the propaganda, human rights violations and control of the CCP is well understood.
At the very least Pixel let’s you flash an alternative OS.
Basically every Chinese phone has a great custom rom support
And rootkits on the chips. If not now then when.
Here’s your tinfoil hat
Graphene only supports Pixels officially because of how easily you can unlock the bootloader
it’s because of the Titan M chip, not because of ease of bootloader unlocking. Pixel’s have much higher hardware security with only iPhones and their secure enclave matching it afaik.
That’s not the only reason, you can also unlock the bootloader of a FairPhone very easily and they’re still not supported.
Xiaomi phones used to be good for custom ROMs, but now they try to stop you unlocking the bootloader by making you wait an unreasonable amount of time after first registering the device with them before you can unlock. Many of the other vendors are even worse.
So from that perspective, Pixel devices are not a terrible choice if you are going to flash a non-stock image.
Waiting a bit has been normal for years already. And it’s not a big deal at all. It’s to stop reselling the phones
Wait times are as high as 2 months (depending on how old the phone model is, etc…), and even as a regular Xiaomi customer, their support never seem to allow anyone to skip the wait, even if for example they broke their old phone and want to set up a new one like the old one (ask me how I know). During that period, MIUI is like a data collection honeypot, sucking up your PII and serving you ads.
It might be ‘normal’ now to Xiaomi customers to wait to be able to unlock the phones that they have paid for and own (perhaps in the same sense someone in an abusive relationship might consider getting hit ‘normal’ because it has been happening for a while), but the idea that the company who sold you the phone gets some say on when you get the ‘privilege’ of running what you like on it, and make you jump through frustrating hoops to control your own device, is certainly not okay.
If they just wanted to stop reselling phones with non-Xiaomi sanctioned malware / bloatware added, making the bootloader make it clear it is unlocked (as Google does, for example) would be enough. Or they could make a different brand for phones that are unlocked, using the same hardware except with a different logo, and let people choose if they want unlocked or walled garden.
However, they make money off selling targeted ads based on information they collect - so I’m sure that they probably don’t want to do any of those things if they don’t have to, because they might disrupt their surveillance capitalism.
Ok, wall of text aside. Now I’m sure you’re bsing. It’s never been 2 months or even longer. Literally every Xiaomi or Poco is that you register and then you wait 1 week and then unlock with the pc. No weird ass wait times. You don’t even have to use it. I have done this for like 8 models old and new already. The Mi unlock app doesn’t even have software for other times.
Also the bootloader does display that it’s unlocked. But even with a ‘warning’ most people wouldn’t care and that’s what Xiaomi still wants to prevent.
Who says the google pixel is good for privacy? Google?
Makes sense. They do no evil.
Well it really depends. They definitely are one of the most secure devices.
With the stock ROM only Google gets your data. So it’s better than for example a Samsung device where both Google and Samsung and maybe some other companies get your data
Then with GrapheneOS its the most secure and private device.
Pretty much everyone that knows about privacy focused phones. Ironic that google supplies the only way to avoid google. It will be a sad day when they lock android down.
Google claims to do some processing on their own tensor chip locally so it might reduce some data being sent to Google, but it doesn’t limit them from tracking you. With Pixel, you are only being tracked by Google and not Samsung or other manufacturer
Not sure how I should feel about that. It’s highly likely any party engaged in tracking activities will try to grab as much data as they can. So a non-Google device seems like it would be doing twice the amount of data collection.
But considering Google also controls the hardware design of the Pixel, it wouldn’t surprise me if they have some additional tricks up their sleeve.
What we really need is a full open-source phone, including firmware. Maybe we’ll get there one day.
That’s newspeak. Just like war is peace.
Its not pixel that is good for privacy… Its how you use OR not use it when required… For example, if I was manifesting, I would not bring it with me even with a custom ROM installed
A part of that is due to the fact that you now only have one company to worry about collecting data, rather than both the manufacturer(think Samsung) and then Google too.
They also play the best with options like Grapheneos or Calyxos
Install GrapheneOS on it and it will be. Remember, security and privacy are two different things. You can be very secure without being private, and you can be very private without being secure.
Google Pixels by default are pretty secure, but not private, at least not to Google.
It’s one of the better options.
For a start, even if you run it stock, it’s somewhat on par with the iPhone (depending who you ask). You’re trusting one company with your data, Google. You’re not trusting Google AND Samsung, or Google AND Huawai. It’s just Google. Plus Google does offer good security, so your data/device is pretty secure. In comparison to Samsungs Knox… while better than a lot of other Android security stuff, is kinda bad.
Though, the real privacy win for the Pixel, is it DOES allow you to modify it. You can remove Google’s version of Android, and change to Calyx or Graphine OS. Both of which are fantastic options, that allow you to really lock things down.
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However, Android is more secure, as evidenced by higher exploit prices for Android than for iOS.
that could be attributed to market share.
Wouldn’t say they’re cheap though. Maybe compared to flagships, but def not to phones most people can afford.
Commenting from my GrapheneOS Pix6, I actively prefer GOS to stock, and get a sense of disdain or my soul sighing every time I pick up my stock rom Pix6 now.
I bought my girlfriend a Pixel 6A as birthday gift last year and whenever I use it I’m blown away by how smooth and fun everything feels on GOS. Every other Android I use feels so sluggish, blown up and hard to use in comparison
I was explaining today to a close friend that I (anecdotally) have noticed a significant reduction in battery usage on my GOS pix 6.
The whole device feels snappier, more responsive, and I can certainly attest that I got 9+hrs out of this thing at max brightness playing terraria. Can’t say the same for stock rom in the same conditions, while I don’t have the technical knowledge to prove it (and I’m happy to be proven wrong) I’m convinced the majority of my stock rom Pix’s battery is eaten by proprietary software phoning home.
With that said, unless I go out of my way to disable certain privacy aspects of this phone or implement spmit-tunneling on the VPN it’s set to go through, unfortunately many sites/apps break. For these instances I generally use the stock pix. (Eg. Gov services/KDE Connect).
Hey, which app do you house to get emails? I don’t think there is a thunderbird port for Android, is there?
Will I be able to use such an app with Google emails without play services being installed on the device?
Sorry for the delayed response here, however I primarily use a proton address, and I currently have a redirect in place for my Gmail to the proton. My intention is to close the Gmail all together, however that’s not yet possible as I will likely miss important emails in the process, I am (as discovering) updating my email addresses for each service as it becomes known so as to avoid such occurrences.
As it stands, I have GPS on another user profile to add to the security provided by GOS sandboxing, not that I don’t trust GOS devs, I don’t trust GPS not to sneak in somehow.
I hope this answers your query, do dm me if need be for further explanation.
Edit: I cannot speak further as to email clients, as I have yet to perform further experimentation. I do intend to get to it soon, though if you beat me to it, do message me to let me know how you went and what you’d do differently.
Edit pt2.: I have checked, both my pix6’s were from a close batch and manufactured the same month, I suspect due to this battery degradation is not applicable.
Apologies for the late response.
Could you explain more about how you’re using GPS whilst it is maintained in a different profile? How does GPS interact across profiles (which I assume is a prerequisite to use Google’s email addresses on one’s mobile)?
K-9 Mail for Android has merged with Mozilla and will eventually be renamed to Thunderbird. Its UI has seen a lot of improvement these past couple of years, and the backend has always been reliable for IMAP (including push notifications).
Thanks. I’ll take a look. Apologies for the late response
I get a lot of use out of Google wallet. Can that be sandboxed on graphene?
Google wallet is one of the few apps that don’t work on GrapheneOS.
Most banking apps actually do work
Pixels get verified boot and bootloader relocking for custom roms like grapheneos as well, so you can be sure your device isn’t compromised even with a privacy respecting custom rom. I guess this is what most people refer to… Oh, and Pixels are probably going to get security patches for the kernel as well as the vendor blobs unlike many other vendors…
pixels have the highest hardware security of all Android phones, which increases privacy potential. assuming you keep the stock os and default Google settings, though, it’s about the same as any other.
Google also has good support for alternative OS’/Android forks, which is likely where that claim is leading to.
