If you’re referring to the com.android.adservices.api module, in the GrapheneOS discussion forums they clarify this: “This is an open source component of the Android Open Source Project providing an implementation of alternatives to tracking users for targeted advertising. It isn’t enabled by default, doesn’t use any Google services and is not a privacy issue in any way.”

They also mention that: “GrapheneOS isn’t going to enable these features since we don’t have any reason to enable targeted advertising.”

We all would love to be able to reset this, but we can’t, plus it appears to be irrelevant to our privacy as long as we don’t install Google Play Store and Google Play Services (which I have chosen to NOT install).

We can’t reset of disable it because, and I quote: “However, the systems it provides are much better than the approaches preceding them based on identifiers. Google Play provides an optional advertising ID which can be regenerated or disabled but most other SDKs don’t provide similar controls.”, so it seems that, because I don’t have the optional advertising ID that Google Play provides, I can’t, nor do I need to, reset or delete the ID.

This is the link to that discussion: https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/2156-why-theres-a-package-named-android-adservices-installed-out-of-the-box/10

I get it, but GrapheneOS is meant to “disallow” those things precisely because they invade our privacy.

Genuinely curious here, I but what restrictions?

Yeah, for MSO compatibility, OnlyOffice is a much better option, with some caveats.

Your logic is spot on, and it does apply to most power users, but not to all.

Everyone has a different use case and experience, I think we speak based on our own experiences.

I’m so used to libreoffice that I don’t understand excel that well anymore. But there was a pretty steep learning curve to get there, months.

There is web support, but it lacks most actually useful functions. Libreoffice is great, but is not 1:1 compatible with excel. Then there’s Onlyoffice, which is very compatible, but also lacks many functions.

Bottom line is, if you’re an excel power user, you’ll need to learn Libreoffice Calc, or you’re out of luck. If not, Onlyoffice should suffice.

e/OS is miles behind GrapheneOS and even CalyxOS. I see no reason to go that route if you’ll be much better served by any modestly modern Pixel phone and GrapheneOS.

Thanks for this. I wish more of us posted resources like this one more often.

Dude, it’s all good. I doubt anyone has entirely removed intrusion from their lives. I’ve been the nut in my family, friends and work environments (not complaining, I actually love being that person) on privacy and cybersecurity. I still keep my Gmail account, the one I used to buy all my movies when I thought Google wasn’t evil. My kids love using the Lenovo Google Assistant screens. I have 2 Chromecast with Google TV with the account I mentioned (my TVs do not connect to the internet). I play on my PS5 with my account and use my credit card (none of that temp credit card or cash or crypto), but I haven’t used my PayPal in years (but still have it). I buy shit on Amazon (it’s so convenient).

The point being, do what you can to safeguard your privacy as much as possible, as long as it does not affect your mental health. You need Facebook for whatever reason? You can minimize the invasion, and still use it. (Full disclosure, I fucking hate Meta, so I don’t use any of its platforms, or even their open source language model). I’m on GrapheneOS in my phone, use Linux exclusively in my personal life, but I’m picking up a surface pro 11th Gen for work this Friday. I need my job, everything is windows based, and it’s just getting harder to use Ms shit from Linux effectively. So, I use Windows. I have a good job, get paid well, so, I have to decide if that’s worth some of my privacy.

Live life man, enjoy, be happy, then worry about the rest.

That’s not a privacy win for anyone. What this is is a marketing win for Crapple and Google.

https://media.tenor.com/fKMzakG8oPYAAAAM/jenn-jenn-robbins.gif

You’re absolutely right. Chrome is the worst offender, no question about that.

I’m guessing that the requirements for a PR job with Mozilla say “removed people preferred”.

What is the point of using anything Mozilla if it’s just going to do the same shit as the services we keep trying to avoid, only worse?

Mozilla has fallen, it is no longer focused on privacy. I get that companies need money to operate, but there are alternatives to just poking holes to be profitable (while calling yourself “not-for-profit”).

Everything under the Mozilla umbrella is questionable, at best.

That’s what I ended up doing. I don’t want any of that shit in my daily driver.

Guilty as charged, I owned a total of 5 jeep/Chrysler/Dodge vehicles way back when. Moved to Infiniti, then Tesla (fucking got rid of it within a year) and now I have a Chinese BYD with every telematic disabled.

Should we start a thread showing off our tinfoil hats collections? 🤣

Isuzu diesel engines are immortal, you can’t break them even if you put gasoline in them 🤣

The fact remains that, unless everyone decides to punish these companies by not buying anything from them until they change course, it’ll only keep getting worse. Show me 1 that has changed to keep their clients happy instead of the shareholders. Yes, it can change within 20 years, for the worse, as history has shown us.

That’s the easy “justification” used 99% of the time. Every single company. Fuck them all.

Unfortunately, public transportation in my country is garbage, and I’m being considerate with that word.

I used to be a rabid advocate of self hosting password managers, and was switching between Vaultwarden and KeepassXC every few months. But Proton offered a lifetime subscription to Proton Pass with unlimited Simple login aliases, and I bought it now use this exclusively.

For me it’s hit-or-miss with Nord and with Proton. As a matter of fact, works more times than not. This is on Brave browser, just to be clear.

Same here. It works flawlessly. I installed from Github via Obtainium.

And for all devices. Seems it’s only available for Windows. WTF?

You can hide your phone number from other users, bit still need a phone number to sign up or to use your account.

I’ve been on GrapheneOS for almost 4 years now, absolutely no regrets, even on my mental health.

I’ve been on GrapheneOS for 4 years or so. I’ve tried CalyxOS every now and then, but always end up coming back to GrapheneOS. I find it simple, private, secure and free of BS. CalyxOS does come with some stuff preinstalled, which doesn’t really appeal to me, and I trust the sandboxes Google Play model much more that MicroG.

About the devs, I really haven’t had any issues that I have not been able to resolve myself, so my interaction with the is non-existing. I have read some posts with interactions with them, and they do seem to be hostile towards anything that is not 100% aligned with their train of thought, which I find stupid, to say the least. But regardless of how rude they may be, I feel GOS literally has no competition in the Android landscape in terms of privacy and security.

I wish I could be more help, but its always worked for me since I started using GrapheneOS about 4 years ago.

The one thing I can think of is a misconfiguration on SUPL and PSDS.

If you still have access to a GrapheneOS device maybe you could take a look there.

How is that any different than what all those shady companies do?

I took advantage of the lifetime protonpass offer for black Friday, since I already had 5 simplelogin emails for that purpose. Very happy now with the unlimited aliases.

What about it?

That’s weird. Everything that needs GPS location works great for me. I agree that it does take a bit longer to lock, but it’s only about 1 or 2 seconds longer.

My OsmAnd~ works amazing.

For apps that won’t notify without GS I just use ntfy. Works great. But I still keep most notifications off, does wonders for my mental health.

Absolutely agreed. Been there since the Pixel 6, no regrets.

Wtf is wrong with you?

I buy it on a need-to-get basis. Basically I use whatever exchange payment service the provider supplies me with, use a one-time use card to pay for the exchange, and done. I don’t have a wallet.

I’ve never paid attention to that, and at those prices, while keeping more stuff from mining data, it’s a steal.

I’m trying to convince my wife and other company partners to accept bitcoin and Monero for our buainess, but they are completely against that. Turning Normies while also keeping them clear on what is actually worth it is insane hard, people at just naturally too inclined to their “normal”.

https://www.sceptre.com/TV/4K-UHD-TV/U435CV-UMRD-43-4K-UHD-TV-product1159category1category73.html