Whenever people ask about ways to make their smartphones more private or which is the most privacy-respecting phone to get, there’s always a few people confidently asserting “all smartphones are spy tools, get a dumbphone with no apps if you want to be private”. Which is ridiculous advice for a few reasons

  • Dumbphones usually run either proprietary operating systems or outdated forks of Android. They’re almost never encrypted. They rarely get security updates. They’re a lot more vulnerable than even a regular Android phone

  • With dumbphones, you’re usually limited to regular phone calls or SMS/MMS messaging. These are ancient communication standards with zero built-in privacy. Your ISP can read any text message you send and view metadata logs of any phone calls you make. In lots of places (like Australia where I live) ISPs are actually required to keep logs of your messages and phone calls

With even a regular Android phone you at least have access to encrypted messaging apps like Signal or Session so your conversations aren’t fair game for anyone who wants to read them. Of course there are better options. iOS (not perfect but better than most bloatware-filled Android devices) and a pixel with GrapheneOS (probably the best imo) are much better options; but virtually anything out there is going to be better for privacy than a dumbphone

  • rumba@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    3 hours ago

    GrapheneOS provides users with the ability to set a duress PIN/password that will irreversibly wipe the device along with any installed eSIMs.

    That’s a good way to get locked up for 6 months while they ‘investigate’ you

    What are you trying to hide RUMBA??? Ihre Papiere bitte

    • eldavi@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      3 hours ago

      there are cases out there of people being detained for years for not providing the unlock pin/passwords to encrypted data.

      • rumba@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 hours ago

        yup, I want no parts of that.

        Here’s my license, here’s my phone. here’s my travel laptop.