Just bought a Pixel 8 and was wondering if there was any guides to set up best privacy practices with the standard ROM.
I am using F-Driod and a few apps from there including Protonmail and ProtonVPN, AdGuard DNS.
I do have Sync with google setting switched off.
So just wondering if there was anything I should really tweak.
Maybe delete the google advertising ID and if you don’t use it, disable auto download MMS.
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Do you have a particular reason to stick with the stock/standard ROM? If you don’t, which it kinda sounds like you don’t, you should probably be running GrapheneOS instead of the stock Pixel ROM
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Here’s a hardening guide, it’s not only for the Pixel 8 but in a more general way :
Yes, it’s 3 years old but the hardening guide is still mostly valid.
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I’ll echo this.
@Canine9881 could you explain why you’re sticking with the stock OS? That can help inform people better how to help.
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GOS can do basically everything stock OS can. I also suggest looking at GOS
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As others have alluded to, I’d strongly suggest considering a custom ROM like GrapheneOS or DivestOS.
It is your choice to stick with the stock ROM if that is your preference, but you should understand that the “ceiling” to how private and trustworthy your device can be is much lower when you are starting out with a base (OS) from a company that is at best indifferent to real privacy, and at worst has strong incentives to violate your privacy in myriad ways.
If you’ve never tried GrapheneOS, I’d strongly suggest you try it first, before deciding to stick with Google’s proprietary stock ROM. See if it works for you and give yourself enough time to become familiar with it. Then if you still feel you want to use the stock ROM, you can always transition back to that.
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And if you don’t like the GrapheneOS or [INSERT ANY CUSTOM ROM HERE] experience, you can always go back to the stock ROM :
https://flash.android.com/welcome
That website is only compatible with Pixels (obviously)
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Ive ran CalyxOS on a older Pixel and it had some bugs I couldnt sort out I never tried the stock OS on it.
I havn’t tried GrapheneOS just yet.
I want to try the standard Pixel OS before trying GrapheneOS to see the differences.
I’m in the wagon with GrapheneOS.
I started the same way you are planning and ended up “doing it right” then.
I can suggest Proton unlimited as well, you will need to sync data.
And you should do a thorough saving of all data, pics, pdfs etc…
GrapheneOS is usability like stock except syncing…
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By the way it’s super easy to flash 
I used my old Moto G100
In my experience, GOS feels just like a slightly simpler version of Stock, but it probably can be configured to act just like stock, I just don’t use anything fancy 
I flashed my old pixel with Calyx OS a few years ago.
I run Linux on my PC’s and its really easy with that.
I will end up flashing it with Graphene but not just yet.
What holds you back? I really don’t see any reason not to use it.
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I use GOS on my Pixel 6a and is rocky stable. I’m very satisfied with the OS, all went smooth and simple. Go for GOS, I would say!
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I used to be the same as you with my Google pixel setup, but it’s because I was thinking graphene os was for extreme cases only. I was wrong, since, if you choose to do so, it will act the same as the pixel os without the ai stuff (serverside & proprietary code).
Im not even exaggerating, it feels the same to me as normal stock os with Google play services, notifications and bank apps working. Social media works too, as well as the Google camera with the processing power for photos.
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