Not sure how it hasn’t been said yet, but I really like Helium314’s OpenBoard fork. Can’t recommend enough.

This list is a must.

I 100% agree, its best to just stick to upstream Fedora imo. Glad you made this comment. The security issues of Nobara always put me off, especially since basically everything it does can just be applied to regular Fedora. I think Nobara would much better serve as a script or toolkit, similar to Brace, or something along those lines instead of an entire separate OS with the security issues it brings.

Didn’t realize they had one, appears a lot of functionality requires an account to use. I’d be cautious overall based on the privacy practices they use in their mobile app, doesn’t seem to be a big concern for them and I’d be careful giving them any trust. But if you do wish to use them, their mobile site with a good content blocker would definitely be the best option (preferably without an account if possible).

I like the concept of Ground News, but about the privacy…

According to Exodus, their mobile app contains 9 trackers:

• Amplitude
• AppsFlyer
• Facebook Analytics
• Facebook Login
• Facebook Share
• Google Analytics
• Google Crashlytics
• Google Firebase Analytics
• Google Tag Manager

Also wants location, camera, phone state, and advertising ID access?!

No thanks.

Yeah, Chromecasts are much better than Fire TV’s, due to the more control you have over them and how easy it is change the launcher vs. Amazon actively preventing it. Basically same price and budget as well. Plus Google running a newer version of Android in general vs. Amazon’s, etc. Chromecasts are probably lesser of the two evils imo.

Pretty much unfortunately. The good thing is its trivially easy to change launchers on the NVIDIA Shield or Google TV devices, plus you can even go a step forward and debloat them entirely with ADB. Amazon’s really the only manufacturer I’d say that forces home screen ads with no choice around it, since they actively prevent changing launchers and such. But Apple is probably the only one out of the box with no advertising.

If you have the money, I’d go for an NVIDIA Shield, or maybe an Apple TV. Well worth the money.

Otherwise, for budget, you could get a Chromecast, which gives you more control over it and has generally less garbage than the Fire TVs do for instance, since you can easily change its launcher and debloat with ADB.

You can easily change launchers on the Shield and remove all of Google’s nonsense through ADB as well though, unlike Amazon who locks down the OS very tight. Plus like another commenter said, you can just flat out install LineageOS and you’re good.

I prefer Calyx on my phone, for the sake of the extra privacy of Micro-G vs sandboxed Google Play Services.

You should give DivestOS a try tbh if you prefer microG to Sandboxed Play Services, since Divest’s implementation of microG is sandboxed/unprivileged unlike Calyx’s, which is a massive privacy and security benefit. Divest in general is a lot more private and secure then stock or Calyx, since it includes a lot of hardening and patches from Graphene, so I’d recommend it as the second best option to Graphene in general, and definitely by far the best option for using microG. Divest also covers most of the same phones Calyx and Graphene do, unfortunately no Pixel Tablet support though.

(I’m not trying to shill Divest or anything btw lol, I just think its a great underrated project that deserves a lot more recognition and support than it has, and seems to fit your use case)

Yeah, its just stupid on all angles. Nearly all security benefits of using iMessage over something like SMS go out the window entirely when using middleware like this. The only thing you gain is the color of your bubble and maybe some extra features. Overall its useless. If someone seriously thinks lower of a person or their social status of whatever because of the COLOR OF THEIR MESSAGE… that person has issues and I could care less about what they think of me, some self reflection could be nice.

The problem with graphene is that is shamelessly promotes proprietary software.

How does GrapheneOS “shamelessly promote” proprietary software? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them do this. Maybe you’re referring to Sandboxed Play Services? But that isn’t “shamelessly promoted” or recommended, it isn’t even included in the OS, its just an optional app that can be installed for those who need it.

They have build tools to try to make it safe to run non-free programs (proprietary software) but that entirely misses the point.

I assume you mean Sandboxed Play Services again? That’s far from the only feature or benefit that GrapheneOS gives. They do much more work than just Sandboxed Play Services or making it safe to run “non-free” programs. They make it safe to run ANY program, regardless of license.

Not all of it is carrier related. I had an S21 unlocked (from US) and it still included Facebook and their garbage services, Netflix, OneDrive, etc. Also all of Samsung’s first party bloatware and nonsense is prevalent regardless. Not to mention Samsung selling data and their tracking, crippling your phone if you root it or install a custom OS (and in the US outright preventing it entirely), etc. Can’t recommend them or their phones at all, but its unfortunate because they have great hardware, just terrible software.

deleted by creator

Thorium isn’t good at all imo. They don’t really do much to enhance privacy/security, and have constantly delayed updates. It seems to be ran entirely by 1 college kid in his free time.

I like Chris Titus, but I wouldn’t really use him as a source for privacy/security advice.

Pro would just be not directly connecting through Google/YouTube servers, and instead using a proxy. Its a nice privacy benefit. I agree it could make things slower, so I don’t think it should completely replace direct connection with YouTube, but I just think the option would be nice to have.

App looks legitimately amazing. Seems a bit buggy in alpha but I’m sure it’ll be ironed out. I just hope they look into supporting Piped instead of directly connecting to YouTube, as well as SponsorBlock. Once they get those 2 things and iron out some of the bugs, I’ll primarily use it for sure. Its a great concept.

Is the culprit “firebaseinstallations.googleapis.com”?

Yeah, anticheats are a privacy and security nightmare that most people don’t even think about. You’re effectively giving their proprietary software extremely invasive kernel level access to your system. They can access and do pretty much anything they want on your device with really nothing stopping them. Anticheats like this are extremely dangerous and should certainly be avoided where possible.

I understand the problem of cheating in games, but I feel like there has to be a better solution to this problem, as making users install an extremely invasive rootkit isn’t acceptable at all imo. I’d recommend avoiding games that include invasive anticheat or DRM like this. Best way to get across that this isn’t okay is through the wallet.

Sensors and Network access aren’t on Stock Android unfortunately (though they should be!), only on other OSes like GrapheneOS and DivestOS atm. Everything else besides those 2 however is present on Stock.