So my problem is that I don’t have money for a new phone and I also need my banking app. Rooting is not possible.
Steps I’ve taken:
-removed and deleted my Google account
-disabled all default Android apps and all Google apps except for Play Services (needed for location service and the banking app)
-denied all permissions for Play Services except location and movement sensors (can’t be denied), phone and sms (needed for the banking app)
I figure Google can still track my phone and use its location for traffic analysis, etc. but has no way of targeting me with ads (their main business) or connect my phone to my identity (no access to my contacts, call logs, keyboard, calendar, mail, etc.). I hope it turns me into a nameless device ID.
Does this help at all? Is there anything else I can do?
followed this guide (not mine) and it’s pretty great
Just a note: when downloading a host file do not use the one mentioned as it is discontinued, instead look up “1hosts” on github
Also check out libretube (f-droid) for YouTube, it’s better than the actual YouTube app by miles!
I also highly recommend that guide
Baking apps work on root with zygisk
I have no idea what that means. I googled zygisk and still don’t know how that helps in my case.
Zygisk is part of magisk. Might be wrong but its just root method used by magisk.
This article reads like it was written or translated by an AI from 2006, and it recommends Magisk Hide, which doesn’t exist anymore in the current version of Magisk.
Listen man just activate zygisk in magic setting and enforce blacklist settings. Go into blacklist and add your banking app. Done.
Thank you. This I understand! Now I just have to figure out how to root this thing, cause I haven’t found any guides online for this model.
Np
I think this is good enough. You’ve already pushed far and hit limitations due to life. But yeah. The next step is probably custom rom.
You can’t do much about google tracking you, but you can still block ads by using some adblocker and be on vpn.
Try to do browser isolation (do google stuff on chrome and anything else on another browser), better than none.
Do as many thing as possible on a computer.
Disabling Google services does nothing.
You have to flash a custom rom to the phone. I recommend lineageos, grapheneOS and calyx.
This will also solve the GPS problem, as you can then flash microg, a replacement of Google services.
I don’t have money for a new phone, and there are no custom ROMs for a Gigaset GX290.
Correct me if I’m wrong.There are some efforts going on XDA around the phone. Definitely not the most well supported though. Also this thread around getting lineage to run on it.
https://gist.github.com/schoeller/904611a4baa1bae4107a4e3748e4746e
Never heard of this device. If it came from manufacturer with Android 10, it likely can take a GSI, which is a ROM build based on the standard interfaces manufacturers should be using for their devices. Andy Yan’s Lineage 20 is an example, which I use on my 5 year old mid tier Samsung tablet.
If you can get one of these ROMs, and use MicroG, you will get a few years of life out of your phone. The performance boost is almost like getting a new phone.
Edit: found this article that suggests GSI might work on the phone. If so, you might get Android 13.
Another AI-written article that is the same for every phone and just drops “GX290” in a placeholder for “phone model”.
There is no relevant info for my phone here.
If you can get to TWRP, or flash a custom recovery, you can absolutely remove Google services, and then flash microg!
Now that I think about it, there are various ways to get microg, but the easiest is to flash a custom rom with it integrated
Does those banking that have apps not work in a mobile browser? In the UK, they seem to.
no, they require an app as 2nd factor. Or I’d have to buy a TAN generator but I often have to do transactions while I’m not at home so I’d have to carry it with me.
Weird. In the UK, they give freely tan generator or use a text to send code.
