So I currently use GrapheneOS but suppose I’ll need a second phone with an app that I need but doesn’t work on GrapheneOS. I’ll also need to hear this app’s notifications in real time so I can’t just turn it off and only turn it on when needed. Is there a physical way to muffle the mic enough so that it can’t record anything useful, while still having the phone speaker’s sound be hearable?
Physically removing the microphones and sensors is a much more sensible approach than blasting noise to deafen the microphones / sensors. That way you will still be able to hear notifications come through.
Alternatively you could forward the notifications to your main device and keep the secondary device in a non-sensitive environment. I can’t recommend any specific software to accomplish this, but it is certainly possible. This obviously assumes that you don’t need physical access to the device most of the time.
Is it doable for an average user? Modern phones are made without being able to be opened up in mind, and I think many phones also have more than 1 mic in different places. Can you realistically do it without breaking it?
Honestly it depends a lot on the device model, but no, it’s generally not a trivial thing to do.
I think if your threat model is such that you need to do this but do not have strong experience altering a phone its probably worth just paying extra to have a company like NitroPhone do it.
They re-sell Pixels with GrapheneOS, as NitroPhones, with the option to have microphone sensors and cameras removed. Not worth it, unless you have an extreme threat model. There may be other cheaper options that I am not aware of, so its worth researching if its a need.
I don’t think this is extreme. Google’s proprietary low-level software has access to your mic and they do listen, since it’s a regular occurrence that when talking about something with a friend, you later see google ads for that thing on your phone, despite not having typed it anywhere.
I am not trying to offend you. Everyone has different privacy needs. All I meant was its extreme relative to the majority of users. That’s just a fact.
I wonder if a random local phone repair shop would do that for me if I asked them to.
Extremely unlikely in my opinion. Do you mind sharing the device model here?
Please avoid spreading unsubstantiated claims like this. I’d prefer if we kept this thread factual. It is still perfectly valid to be concerned about microphone / sensor surveillance without making such claims.
Which app?
If this device is not running GrapheneOS, and you choose the device, then choose a modular phone like the Pinephone, this way you can remove the mic entirely. Per wikipedia pinephone also has physical swich for mic PinePhone - Wikipedia