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  • Re: Phones and apps forced on you

    From Marion@marion@facts.com to comp.mobile.android,alt.privacy on Saturday, March 08, 2025 18:18:49
    From Newsgroup: alt.privacy

    On 7 Mar 2025 10:18:55 GMT, Stefan Ram wrote :


    Well, I'm using a mobile phone. But my security concept involves
    not putting an SMS into it and not connecting it to the internet.

    Assuming the phone is not rooted, you can still delete from the user
    partition almost every app (even Google apps!) that you don't want.
    <https://duckduckgo.com/?q=samsung+galaxy+adb+delete+bloatware>

    Also, since my youth, I'm used to the idea that it's my computer,
    so I decide which software to run on it.\

    Once you remove all the bloatware, you replace them with non-GSF apps.
    NewPipe replaces the Google YouTube app
    Aurora replaces the Google Play Store app
    Bromite replaces the Chrome web browser app
    FairEmail replaces the Google GMail app
    etc.

    (I'm using the phone to make photos, read PDFs, and semi-manually
    track my sleep, calculate the recommendation for next sleep, etc.)

    What do you think of this free sleep app that doesn't have advertisements?
    <https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=health.sleep.sounds.tracker.alarm.calm>

    Now, a bank told me I need a photo TAN.

    A photo TAN is a security measure where a visual code is scanned by a
    device or app to generate a one-time transaction authorization number.

    Do you know what I thought?
    I thought that they were asking me to make a photo of my face right
    before each transaction maybe with a newspaper of the day or in a
    position only given right before the transaction.

    But no, the "photo TAN" does not involve sending a portrait photo of
    yourself to your bank!

    I think I'm going to buy an extra phone, I might call the "dirty phone".
    This will be used for all third party apps I am being forced to use
    and get an SMS card when needed.

    *How to Buy a Burner Phone*
    <https://lifehacker.com/how-to-buy-a-burner-phone-1843905326>
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