#iOS is entirely proprietary and closed source‚ that's why you're unable to do anything that android/samsung can do

[swagyna]

extremely long post below the cut, please read the entire thing b4 brashly doing anything. there's a lot and there is scaling difficulty with the steps you can take.

it's actually better for android users to debloat their phones than to just turn off settings — if done correctly, you're able to fully uninstall apps from your phone.

we already know that, after Facebook being put on trial in 2012 (settled in 2022 for a measely $90m out of their $590b) due to their tracking settings — even if off — are still running. even if you turn phone settings off, apps are able to "see" one another and collect data that way. including your keyboard. i repeat:

YOUR PRE-INSTALLED PHONE KEYBOARD IS A DATA COLLECTOR

the issue is that debloating your phone takes a little know-how, and you need a PC to do it. you cannot just "disable" apps from your phone, they're still functional at some capacity.

i REALLY recommend using UAD (Universal Android Debloater) if possible. which, again, requires a computer — i also recommend that you entirely stop using any and all Google services. i am talking down to: Learning How to Read A Map

no more google maps. yes, it's a total pain in the ass, but data collection is not a joke. gmail is a data collector, YouTube is a data collector any form of docs/sheets is a collector, and again:

i cannot fucking stress this enough.

YOUR PRE-INSTALLED KEYBOARD COLLECTS YOUR KEYSTROKE DATA.

IT. TRACKS. WHAT. YOU. ARE. TYPING.

this link has installation instructions for UAD — this is to debloat your phone, focusing on unnecessary Samsung and Google apps. the major 2 problems are: you will need a computer, and you will need to learn how to use GitHub thru YT tutorials.

learning how to use GitHub will be extremely important for protecting your PC as well from Windows bullshit

🗣️DO THIS FIFTH🗣️

a chart of what apps to uninstall and what they do:

(there are also some other ways to stop/uninstall apps on this post, but i don't know the details behind them and recommend you look into them yourself if you can't use UAD)

🗣️DO THIS FOURTH🗣️

for a Google Play Store replacement:

list of games available on fdroid:

🗣️DO THIS FIRST🗣️

for a non-tracking QWERTY, QWERTZ, AZERTY, Kurdish QWERTY, Russian, and more keyboard:

for a non-tracking Japanese 3x4 keyboard:

🗣️DO THIS SECOND🗣️

NewPipe is the YT alternative; this app prevents Google from collecting your IP and you no longer have 1) ads 2) to login 3) afk prompts to check if "you're still there".

🗣️DO THIS THIRD🗣️

USE FIREFOX AND TOR. set your default search engine to DuckDuckGo on FF

(there's actually discussion on whether or not firefox is completely trustworthy on mobile due to their code not being entirely opensource. something to do with working with google. the f-droid alternative is Fennec)

also please read a bit about how to properly use Tor; the tldr is to not login to anything — social media, emails, news sites — while using it

an endnote:

you do NOT have to do this all at once; i started out with swapping my keyboard and YT over first. i'd recommend at least doing your keyboard.

i just recently swapped to fdroid and installed Tor. i'm currently swapping out all of my gmail accounts for protonmail, tutamail, and mailfence.

i haven't even opened UAD yet, as i'm still in the process of finding app equivalents on fdroid and untangling myself from google services.

these will ALL take time getting used to — it sucks and the keyboards are absolutely not as efficient, but that's because there are no installed keyloggers. do not let laziness borne out of ease of use from proprietary apps and software prevent you from protecting yourself. i cannot stress this enough : do not be lazy about this.

r/privacy, r/cybersecurity, and privacyguides are great places to get started in understanding how to protect yourself online. i definitely recommend you start looking into how to do so on your PC as well, if you've got one

as for iOS users?

you're shit outta luck.

anyway yeah DELETE YOUR FUCKING ADVERTISING IDS

Android:

Settings ➡️ Google ➡️ all services ➡️ Ads ➡️ Delete advertising ID

(may differ slightly depending on android version and manufacturer firmware. you can't just search settings for "advertising ID" of course 🔪)

iOS:

Settings ➡️ privacy ➡️ tracking ➡️ toggle "allow apps to request to track" to OFF

and ALSO settings ➡️ privacy ➡️ Apple advertising ➡️ toggle "personalized ads" to OFF

more details about the process here via the EFF