Yeah at least you'll be familiar with the apps, ease the headache switching.
this post was submitted on 26 Jan 2026
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Privacy
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Fellow Samsung user here:
NO(especially after the removal for bootloader unlocking)
I jumped through hoops with the Samsung. ADB-ed the hexk out of it and broke functionality in so many ways.
If I can save you the effort - DON'T even bother trying. There is just too much interconnectedness to undo without breakage.
I moved to a hunch of Pixels running Graphene and have lived happily ever after.
With the added Israeli spyware coming to Samsung, I cannot think of any reason to put any effort into it.
Additional info: Skip the Pixel 6 and 7. Its better to spend a little more in the Pixel 8. I got mine used and its brilliant. I also liked how the Pixels 4 and 5 were as well. Very good devices.
Very wierd of you to assume there will be spyware on samsung but not google phones
They aren’t running Google software, they’re using GrapheneOS. And the spyware they’re referring to on Samsung phones is very pubic knowledge, just as the data collection and surveillance in stock Pixel software is. But that’s not relevant
Ever heard of hardware backdoors and spyware?
Perhaps you have some useful suggestions to share. Always happy to listen and learn.
I honestly dont know at this point. but my point is, people buying phones of THE evil company that takes our freedom and privacy away, to get freedom, and think that a company as evil as google will just let you have actual privacy, is kind of absurd. But, it seems like you people have done more research on this. You say there is and havent been evidence of spyware on google pixels, and I will accept that. But deep down Im pessimistic.
Truth is, most of us feel the same way you do. You are not alone. What is being shared by the community is the "best options of what we have" at the moment.
This tyranny is by design. But this also means we can design ourselves out of it. Its just slow process.
We are starting to see new models of communication be develop, and in some cases we are seeing convergence of these efforts into very exciting solutions.
We'll get there. Its a lot of work and we have to keep doing whatever we can in our capacity to help that process along.
Just know we all feel the same way you do, and this is the best we got for the time being. We have to stick together and keep talking all this.
Power to us!!
If you install Graphene OS on the Pixel you will start with 0 bloat wear.
Seems people are pretty confident about that. I guess I am too pessimistic in tech to accept governments and big tech will allow you to have a spyware free phone by any means, but I havent done actual research (Im not a security researcher anyway) into it. So I accept the wisdom of people here.
I'm just learning Graphene...but my God all of the handles that I'm looking for are there. I can turn off network access for any app I don't want tattling. I'd say it's definitely worth 100 for a pixel 6 to play with and learn.
Samsung phones have hardware kill switches, so it is impossible to turn the spyware off without fully breaking functionality. Older pixels are fully rootable, so you can fully remove any spyware from the root level, not just disable at the os gui level like samsung
Go get a Pixel 7 or 8 and install Graphene OS.
Take off all that shit with Shizuku and Canta. Leave play store alone so you don't brick your stuff. Just use Canta to disable it. Get NextDNS and start using the built in filters. No Google is a good one.
I bought an S25 and just gave up. Got the new Fairphone 6 with e/os and never been happier. Spoofed IP, fake geolocation, detection of trackers in apps built in. Then I just use NextDNS and am happy.
When I use a Samsung, I use a firewall to block connections to samsung.com.
On device or network ?
Can personaldnsfilter do this?
Yes. Download NextDNS.
I did, and this is great! Seems very cheap for what it can do. Is it worth having both next dns and mullvad? Or do they interfere ?
I have not combined nearly enough. Haven't decided on a VPN yet. I think I might have been using one from kolab or something. Didn't put it on new phone yet. NextDNS is free for 350 queries. Never had a leak due to limits. Try it and set filters. It's great.
Check this out. It may help. universal android debloater next generation
Try best as you're setting the phone new. If anything fails you only need to do a factory reset. Also you'll likely need to perform a do-over after every system update.
No, IMO. For a real private android experience you have to switch to Lineage or Graphene and F-droid apps. I'm writing this from a Galaxy A5 2016 with LineageOS with F-droid only apps in one (main) profile and WhatsApp and a couple of other (in my case, sadly unavoidable) proprietary apps in another profile.
Here is a list of supported phones by LineageOS in case you are willing to switch.
Worth it, especially if you are stuck with the phone. Find FOSS equivalents of the built-in utilities (gallery, files, etc.), disable what you can with uad-ng, block the apps that can't be disabled from network access using Rethink DNS, and use the websites of services on a computer browser instead of apps whenever possible.
It's still far from what privacy ROMs can do for you, but until you can get a GrapheneOS, etc. friendly phone, taking some action is much better than just letting the spyware run wild.
Yep ive been doing some of these!
One issue is personalDNSfilter blocks mullvad so i cant use both at once. Not sure why. Still confused on all the networking terms everyone throws around because theyre so ambiguous. I really dont get what dns is even though ive read the definition a hundred times.
Sorry if this analogy has already been thrown at you dozens of times, I like to think of DNS like an address book for the internet. On a traditional phone, I can't just type in someone's name, I have to type in a number. Without DNS, the internet would be like that, accessing any website would require recalling and typing in the IP address. But DNS translates domain names (hence Domain Name System), the part of the URL leading up to .com, .ml, etc, into the proper IP addresses for you.
Unless you self-host, the DNS service is hosted on someone else's server, and many devices default to communicating with the DNS server in plain text. Which is why you want to trust your DNS provider since they can keep a list of which sites you visit. And DNS over HTTPS mitigates the possibility of interception by encrypting your DNS requests.
Im stuck with an s23 for a while yet. Is it even worth the trouble of trying to use f droid, shutting off google play services and disabling all the other shit on my phone, when at its core its all spyware?
it of course is.
i'm guessing you already know how to debloat your phone using adb.
in addition to what's already posted you can use a private dns that filters system trackers as well ☞ https://mullvad.net/en/help/dns-over-https-and-dns-over-tls
keep in mind, netGuard (or rethink) is less efficient when you use private dns
I really wish an alternative existed that wasn't just a prototype or $1000.
a reconditioned second hand pixel or 1+ from a trusted seller must be less than 200. if you go for a nonPixel, check before buying if the model is supported on https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
keep in mind, netGuard (or rethink) is less efficient when you use private dns
Care to explain? What do you mean by "less efficient"?
(64) Can you add DNS over TLS/HTTP?
If you mean to intercept DNS over HTTP (DoH) or DNS over TLS (DoT) requests to resolve domain names, this is not possible because DoH/DoT traffic is encrypted, which is the whole point of DoH/DoT.
Please see here about how you can use DoH/DoT with NetGuard anyway.
https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/blob/master/FAQ.md#user-content-faq64
Thank you for your answer ! Wasn't aware of this !
However, this isn't an issue if all your DNS goes through a pihole with DoH/DoT ?
i think so
in that case, if I'm not wrong, you won't be needing private dns from android
Yes. I have an s22 and am stuck with it just like you, I would love a google pixel.
I have gone through all the "trouble" of doing all that and it's definetely worthwhile, you can get rid of a lot of unessesary things. Definetly DON'T sign up for a samsung account, although it will try very hard to make you sign up.
F-droid isn't a pain, it's an awesomeness. Everytime you try to download a simple app like a stopwatch or something it's usually really bad and littered with spyware and ads, the developers who make these apps don't use the apps themselves. The quality of F-droid apps and other open source apps are so much better while having better privacy.
I still have not figured out why people dislike Froid. I've been using it for over a year. No issues.
Hi there! I mentioned this in the other thread but I'll go into more detail here. GrapheneOS was created as a replacement operating system for mobile devices. It's based on Android, but improves security and removes the invasive surveillance. It's currently only available to install on Google Pixel devices, because while Google is bad with privacy, they are good with security. In 2026-2027 GrapheneOS plans to release their own smartphone in partnership with an OEM. GrapheneOS has 400,000 users and counting. Linux phones have a lot of security issues, especially when rooted. GrapheneOS worth looking into. You can buy a Pixel for around $200 second hand, that way you don't line Google's pockets to get one.
OP said they are stuck with the s23 for a while. So this doesn't help them.
Being stuck sucks, but eventually OP will have the option to switch and it's a still good to hear about it.
Yeah, ill switch in a few years when this battery goes kaput. But financially it wouldn't make sense right now. Thanks!
I'm on the same phone. I fucking hate this thing. Screw Samsung I don't even know who to go to next though
Yeah its shit. It was free so u kind of had to take it but maybe im thinking the Lightphone could be a good contender...idk
Not worth, samsung is terrible and they do not care about the freedom of modifying your phone.
Samsung is shit.
I've had my J7 for almost 10 years now. It's got TWRP and I have root access with majisk. While this particular model is not supported in GrapheneOS or even LineageOS, I still did my best to personalize it, so I gutted it with SDMaid and removed all the bloat I could (be careful if you're going to do this, since there are some apps that look like bloat but are actually quite necessary). I also use Termux with root access sometimes (be careful). Personally I don't think I'm ever changing it until I lose it or it breaks.
You sound not yet ready to unplug 😃
But to provide another perspective, havent used a Samsung phone for 10yrs. I generally buy a cheap phone with as little as possible preinstalled spyware. Except for browsing and messaging, every app I use daily comes from fdroid.
It'd be great but I have a technically inept social circle, and I travel so need all of those apps that come with that (turo, airline apps, lyft Uber, hotel keypad apps, hell to even start some of these damn new cars you need a phone)
And they NEED to work or youre stuck in an unknown place with nothing. They've really got us over a barrel there
If I stay in my basement and play with linux all day, sure I could go without all those apps. But thats not reality unfortunately.
I think best approach if you need to use privacy invasive apps like uber and so on is to have a degoogled personal phone, and second stock phone whether it is android or apple for all those other apps that don't play well on custom roms.
Compartmentalizing is best that can be done if there isn't much choice in not using certain apps, and cuts down on headaches of trying to get them working on custom roms. And that stock phone can just be a cheap crappy budget phone, since its main use will be to just launch those junk apps when needed.
Yes, getting started is still a start. Also means your workflow will be as ready as can be for GOS
Yes, it makes switching easier.
it's not bad when Universal Android Debloater is used. I've used an Android 13 based samsung device for a year, debloated to hell with UAD and there were no weird network requests happening other than NTP timesync and google connectivitycheck. Do run RethinkDNS in allowlist mode though, just in case.
If you have an unlockable bootloader (specific region and not upgraded to OneUI 8 yet), just install a custom rom.
I just got a new phone when my old be crapped out on me while in Vietnam, and the local guy I found who deals in cash only had iphones or Samsungs. So, I held my nose and got a Jump2.
I've been through, disabled as much as possible, added fdroid stuff for all the daily use things, and put a killswitch VPN on.
Seems to be doing alright ... I'm not obsessive about security, and I need Play Store stuff for work, so this is about as good as it gets, lol