So recently my moto G60 reached the end of life with respect to security updates. That was the reason I was using to prevent myself from switching to a custom rom(actual reason is laziness). This phone has rom support for pixel experience and lineage OS. So my questions are if pixel experience has any privacy advantages when compared to the stock rom the phone ships with¿? Also if I flash GApps along with lineage OS will all the privacy advantages I get with lineage disappear¿? I might need Google play services for some banking applications.

11 points

The only way to use google play services and retain any privacy is to completely sandbox them, and the only OS that actually does this is GrapheneOS.

permalink
report
reply
3 points
*

DivestOS (a Lineage fork) permits you to run MicroG as a user app, so it can be run within a user profile (e.g.the work profile).

How do you think this compares to the Graphene approach? (This stuff is above my pay grade, hence the question).

DivestOS.org

Edit: Divest is only available for a handful of devices, fewer than what Lineage supports.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points
*

So are you saying that privacy wise there is no difference between a device running stock rom and a rom like lineage with GApps??

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

It depends on your threat model. If you simply want fewer targeted ads, there is a benefit. If you are a journalist under a dictatorship, there is little to no benefit.

permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

as you didn’t mention Calyx, are there any security/privacy benefits of using it?

permalink
report
parent
reply
4 points

Calyx with Micro G does have benifits, but isn’t quite as good as sandboxing, and also doesn’t have some of the other degoogling and security Graphene does.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points

If you use gapps you basically screw the privacy benifits. Use yourbank.com from a browser or get a new bank

permalink
report
reply
1 point
*

What if I use the aurora store¿? Will that protect my privacy

permalink
report
parent
reply
7 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
parent
reply
1 point

Its better than using gapps for sure

permalink
report
parent
reply
6 points

Motorola phones are very easy to mod(root,custom rom) and even if you brick the phone in most cases you can just use the lenovo recovery tool. I personally use crdroid but lineage is fine too. I recommend you use microg with magisk to hide that the device is root/has custom rom. You can also just use shelter for the banking apps.

permalink
report
reply
6 points

Root is great for some rare cases, but not needed for privacy and make your phone less secure.

There are great apps only working with root though

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*

Pixel Experience has zero advantage for your privacy. LineageOS really doesn’t do much to protect your privacy (or security). That’s hardly surprising since privacy&security was never the goal of LineageOS to begin with. The only things Lineage will do for your privacy is 1. Remove Google Play Services 2. Remove your OEM’s built in tracking. Installing Google Play Services will negate 1. If you are serious about your privacy and is willing to make sacrifices, your best option would be GrapheneOS, followed by DivestOS. The latter supports many of the devices supported by LineageOS, so check if your device has support.

permalink
report
reply
1 point

My device doesn’t have support for graphene or Divest unfortunately. Which is why I made this post. I am guessing that lack of Google play and Google location services alone would be a massive improvement for my privacy.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points
*
Deleted by creator
permalink
report
reply

Privacy

!privacy@lemmy.ml

Create post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

Community stats

  • 6.5K

    Monthly active users

  • 2.9K

    Posts

  • 78K

    Comments