So as you may know, i'm an iPhone user and a hater of Google. Recenly, it has came to my attention that i am somehow being spied on, as this has been appearing lately every single day:
Now i did not open the camera at all, and somehow it's saying that's being used.
Not only that, but basically i had a qr code saved in my camera roll. Every time someone scans it, i get a notification. However, randomly at 12 am, somehow i got a notification saying that someone scanned it. The QR code was not shared anywhere or posted, and the phone was offline at that time too. Now i think that its probably the time to switch from iOS to android.
Why is android superior then iOS, why, and how is it safer then iOS and what phone should i buy? (no pixel tho)
i know you said no pixel, however ... Pixel + GrapheneOS works great and easy to install.
GrapheneOS takes the google spyware out of pixel. However, it does add a slightly steeper learning curve to Android. Not too bad, just a few more options to poke at.
It doesn't cut you off from the google play store, instead sandboxing it preventing from accessing data outside its own service. This is important if you need specific apps for work, bank, etc.
For open-source apps F-Droid app store is your friend.
Unfortunately, GrapheneOS only works for pixel. There are other options you could look into such as LinageOS, but those goes beyond my personal knowlage. Specifically you want a phone that allows you unlock the bootloader.
Avoid Samsung like the plague.
Any version of Android that comes pre-installed is going to have Google Spyware and bloat. Manufactures, especially Samsung, spin up their own version of Android so then you have both Googles bloat and Samsung bloat.
They could also buy a used Pixel to avoid giving money to Google. I suspect that's the reason for the no-Google-rule.
op should try postmarketos /s
Lineage is not fully degoogled, they just give you the option to not install Google services, AFAIK, and leave the hardcoded google deps be. So, if you need something graphene-ish on a broader range of devices, you should go with divestos (developed by the same guy who makes mull/mulch). Although, it's a bummer there's no storage/contact scopes, those are pretty useful at times (sandboxed play services are cool, I just don't have a purpose for them)
Yea, I've moved to DivestOS on a couple phones, and I really like it.
Some things it does differently, like allow you to choose your Internet Heartbeat provider, so your phone isn't constantly pinging Google to check the internet connection is up. There are about 10 options, including none.
*GrapheneOS
Thanks.