(I reposted this bc some applications were missing.) I had to install some apps because of school. Btw, can you say improvements that I can make? I can’t install anything that isn’t from playstore. Edit: Duolingo is now just a PWA

  • Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    2·
    9 days ago

    Not really imo,
    however doing good taking small steps OP! :)

    Suggestions I’d make:

    • Aim to use nothing/as little as possible from the Play Store (proprietary, often filled with trackers)
    • Aim to use everything/as much as possible from F-Droid (open source, no or nearly no trackers)
    • Switch GApps for MicroG (The open source implementation of the Google system apps to make things like notifications work, which removes spyware)
    • Switch your Xiaomi OS (also spyware filled) for a more privacy friendly OS like LineageOS

    I’d suggest LineageOS4MicroG:
    https://lineage.microg.org/

    It’s vanilla LineageOS,
    with MicroG + F-Droid pre-included.

    • Ori@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
      1·
      9 days ago

      I went to almost every website that offers ROMs and couldn’t find any official ROMs for my device (/e/? Doesn’t work. Lineage? Nope. Graphene? Only works for pixels). I can’t install apks outside playstore (So, no aurora store and no f-droid. Newpipe was an exception) Thanks btw

      • Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        4·
        9 days ago

        Ufff sad to hear.

        What you could do:

        • Not recommened: Search on XDA for an un-official build of a custom rom for your device (stability may vary)
        • Recommended: Be patient, until it’s time to buy a new phone, then first look for the OS you want, then choose a device from the list that the OS supports, that’s how I do it nowadays :)

        Also interesting, but annoying that you can’t install apks from outside the PlayStore :/ No way to circumvent it?

          • Rikj000@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
            4·
            9 days ago

            Huh, if your parents are the blocking factor,
            how about trying to educate them a bit about F-Droid and data privacy?

            Software from F-Droid really is much more privacy/battery/storage friendly. Just open source software, no spyware services bloating up the apps.

            Perhaps after some convincing, they’ll at least allow you to use F-Droid and Aurora Store! :)

            3xodus can help with convincing them:

            It shows known trackers (= spyware) in applications.

            ClassyShark does it by de-compiling the apps and scanning them on the fly.
            Their website shows reports by other users that scanned applications.

            Nearly everything from the PlayStore contains trackers, while nearly nothing from F-Droid does.