Still, supporting Murena helps weaken Googles monopoly. Everyone should be able to get behind that.
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yes you should
never has someone the right to know all about you
who is all but transparant about themselves
there is enough going on because people are not what they seem
have a great healthy sane day anyway
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I have been using Black Berry since about 2006, they are the most secure phone so I thought. Or least they were secure until the Key 2 came out with Android.
During the COVID scare there was a website from the local health authorities showing locations there COVID had been detected, when and how many cases. Since I am over 30 and starting to get forgetful I started using a tracking app. One day I received an email thanking me for visiting Walmart. !!?? Notice it didn’t say shopping at Walmart. For me that would be maybe 2 times a year. Checking my tracking apt showed that I had been parked close to Walmart for about 10 minutes a few days before. Imagine if I had been parked close to a crime scene. Now I use a Fairphone 3+ with e/OS just in case.
Who was the sender of that mail? Are you sure it wasn’t just spam that doesn’t have anything to do with your parking behavior? If I took those spams seriously I must have parked my bike in locations of which I don’t even know where they are.
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that’s got nothing to do with the ‘tracking’ app. Those only use bluetooth low energy to exchange temporary keys with nearby devices.
But since you had to enable location services to make the app work (i think this got changed in later versions of android and now you should be able to enable ble without all location services), google got all your location data. And google definitely uses those for targeted ads based on your locations. You can disable ad targetting in your google account online. That prevents getting targetted ads, but does not prevent google from collecting all the data.
Sorry for the confusion. The apt I was using only tracks the cell phone position and uses GPS. You could later see your movements for a given time period on Google Maps. This apt would show the route I took, duration, if you stop how long in that location. This is simular to Trackbook. Trackbook uses open maps and avoids Google spyware.
The one you are thinking about, warns you if you were in certain distance of another person with that apt who had been registered that they have tested positve. That used blutooth. That apt would give off false positives since blutooth, since blutooth has a 10 metre range. You don’t have to be in the same room, just in blutooth range. Blutooth can be received through a wall.
It was sent from Walmart. I traced it back and also sent the email to Spamcop.
I do not own Fairphone yet, but I’m planning to buy Fairphone 5.
Yesterday I have received a response about my inquiry about getting a Google-free version and I as disappointed to learn that there is no such thing. Even Murena comes tainted with MicroG.
Still, I’m not giving up that easy, because I think about buying it and then rebuilding the stock firmware myself.
I have ceremoniously deleted my Google Account years ago, I don’t want any of their APIs on my device and I exclusively use apps that come from F-Droid.
I will never install any banking or government app.
You might consider FP5+iodéOS: ✏ Operating Systems for Fairphones
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I have had a FP3 for about 18 month. 3 months after I bought I installed e/OS. A Google account is NOT required to install or up date any apps and I do not use a google account. e/OS uses something called App Lounge which is similar to Aurora Store. F-Droid which I also use does not offer banking app, or at least apps for the banks I know of, I use the ones on APP Lounge.
There are advanced privacy settings where you can block trackers, block location or fake an IP address. Some apps may not work properly with these setting enabled.
Naturally Googles Spyware will not work if you do not sign into Google. I am quite happy so far with e/OS. I haven’t received any Thank You for Visiting Walmart emails. Which is a relief.
I don’t care. I don’t want either Google or MicroG to exist on my device at all. Merely not logging in is not an option for me.
LineageOS has set a standard for me and I will go for nothing less.
LOS is not Google free…
Conclusion translated with deepl of the below linked article
If you really want to do without Google or receive timely security updates for your device, you should look around for another custom ROM. LineageOS itself does not make any special efforts to separate itself from Google. To be fair, however, it must also be mentioned: They have never claimed to do so. Not using Google Apps or Google Play services does not automatically mean that a custom ROM is Google-free. This requires further steps, which LineageOS does not take.
Overall, LineageOS leaves neither a privacy-friendly nor really secure impression. This is mainly due to the following points:
Despite not using Google Play Services, LineageOS is closely linked to Google services
Delayed delivery of (security) updates
Older devices do not receive complete security updates for proprietary components such as bootloaders or firmware
No support for Verified Boot
The quality of LineageOS on a particular device is significantly influenced by the skills and commitment of the maintainer
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I thought the updates come straight from the Lineage servers, not Google as an intermediary.
I’m perfectly fine without having updates at all, with me manually flashing them when they come.
In fact I used to do it back in the days of CyanogenMod 10 on my Galaxy S3 (a decade ago), through a Clockworkmode recovery.
I will have to lookup what is Verified Boot.
Where do you get the impression Google would be an intermediary for rolling out LineageOS updates?
There are two separate points being made out of the facts that …
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LineageOS does not degoogle the OS apart from not pre-installing Google Apps and background services which Google reserves for Google certified Android OSes (= which LineageOS are not allowed to pre-install anyway), when there’s quite a bit more to be done to really degoogle (the article has details, or just read what /e/OS do in detail).
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LineageOS has some lag when adapting security updates.
… concluding that LineageOS is not for users who want to really degoogle and not for users who want to receive timely security updates.
In my book this “degoogling” thing while still using an Android OS (= still based on work by Google, still relying on Google’s stewardship of the Android realm in the form of AOSP, still including a ton of code by Google) is just using a kind of marketing term lacking a better short description of what the goal is. Really degoogling it clearly is not.
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divestOS is the best aosp based custom rom that is completely degoogled. No microg, no google play, nothing. It’s available for the FP2, 3, and 4, and planed for FP5. The dev is also active in this forum.
If you want to be google free, divestOS is your best option.
Divest is a LOS fork! Calyx is AOSP based…
Still Divest is maybe the best in terms of data privacy
per default it is not completely google free
Im Auslieferungszustand kontaktiert das System zwar noch einige wenige Google-Dienste, aber auf Wunsch kann sich der Nutzer vollständig von Google lösen.
Deepl Translated
By default, the system still contacts a few Google services, but users can opt out of Google completely if they wish.
you’re right of course. sorry, for the confusion.
Yes, I simply believe that my phone shouldn’t slow down due to tracking and advertisements. 
My bank apps work fine on e/os
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