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Push Notification Privacy (sopuli.xyz)

submitted 10 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I've heard and read recently about a warrant that shows that the US government is monitoring push notifications on iOS and Android. This is possible because push notifications mostly work remotely, using "push notification post office" servers at Apple and Google.

I am aware that certain apps; such as Threema, Signal, Proton, Tuta, and others; use their own servers for push, but not all apps will do this. If I was to run a deGoogled Android ROM or an alternative mobile OS, how would push notifications be handled? And is there an option that doesn't involve a central server at all?

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The Graphene FAQ is a good place to start

https://grapheneos.org/faq#notifications

I don't use very many apps, so I don't have much experience to share. But I can say Signal works fine. I set K9 Mail to poll, to save battery a bit since I don't need email immediately, but it worked fine with IMAP push.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Looks like I'll be trying to get my hands on a Pixel, then. Graphene always knows what to do.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 10 months ago

I've been pretty happy with it. I tried Calyx first, thinking it would be nice to have anonymized play services. But Graphene is much more refined, in my experience, fixing some AOSP annoyances like deleting an SMS message that you opened from a notification leaving a phantom window in the quick switch list. And with my minimal app profile, I don't find I need google play services at all.

The under screen fingerprint scanner on the Pixel 8 sucks, I wish they'd include face unlock or a rear scanner. It does seem to work better if I only have one finger registered, so maybe it's a software issue that will get fixed. I know I should be using an unlock mechanism that's something I know, instead of something I have, but I really don't use my phone for anything I'm particularly concerned about.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

There's UnifiedPush to let you choose a push provider, including hosting your own.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 10 months ago

Ooh! Brilliant!