Hi there community,
I found a old smartphone which I would like to bring back into shape, in terms of security,updates and privacy. It seems the device isn’t likely compatible with most of the privacy oriented OS out there. I hope, the community can help.
There’s not much you can do, unfortunately. Even Google Play System Updates (which give some security updates for devices on Android >10/11 independent of the OEM) isn’t present, since the phone only appears to be supported up to Android 6. Unless you really absolutely have to, I wouldn’t recommend using it at all for anything important.
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Maybe you could find a custom ROM for your phone to get a higher version of Android than Android 6. This would bring some security fixes which aren’t in Android Marshmallow.
Generally I would advise that you update or replace the installed apps with modern ones and just stay aware of the fact that the phone is outdated and you shouldn’t use it for anything important.
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I looked around and not much can be found. Any custom ROMs to suggest ?
Done and I just installed the minimal apps and I am even thinking of remove some pre-installed apps or replacing them.
You could try install rethinkdns, i’m not sure it will be compatible with android 6 though
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That’s a good idea. I will try it.
Installed it and it’s great. Any other suggestions, apps to install ?
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Just disable bloatware and unwanted apps, delete google ID, install brave as default browser.
Keep it simple.
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Use this to remove bloat (most cases spyware) and replace some apps with privacy respecting ones.
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I did disable the bloatware , deleted my google id and Brave is ma default browser. I do think , I could replace a few apps with privacy oriented ones.
I am no sure if , the code will work on Noa. If I had a way of checking without bricking the phone , I would have already done it. Never, every will I understand the stupidity behind producing a device which can last/provide a sense of security for a short term , just to make a profit.
It ain’t bricking your phone. Just select the recommended apps to uninstall and that’s all. You can also easily restore them. For your phone this is the only solution you should use.
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Thank you than. Their ‘‘DISCLAIMER: Use at your own risk. I am not responsible for anything that could happen to your phone.’’ disclaimer threw me off. Anything else to add ? Any apps to add /remove? Custom ROM that might help me upgrade ?
Custom ROMs are even more risky since you are playing with bootloader. Here there is no risk, stop worrying I used it, and lot of others did. It is the reason the project is alive. Now you do it.
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It is important to note that Privacy Guides does not recommend using “debloaters” for Android. One of our team members talks about this here:
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Thank you everyone, for the help and for sharing your knowledge !
This community is a true inspiration.
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Didn’t knew this was the case thanks. I created a random google account and enable basic google services as shown here. I don’t own grapheneos atm. Is there some hope to reduce data collection with google on android ? What should I do? My current threat model requires no google account for personal use. But my school has made one for me, I only use it on my computer
Hey guys, in my previous post I briefly mentioned using kali nethunter on a nothing phone 1. When I set it up and flashed it with magisk it was running nothing os 2/android 13, but for some reason magisk never created a stock backup image and I can’t follow the official ota update guide using the a/b partitions, so it’s just stuck on a13 for the time being. I still get the play system security updates and app updates (i only enable the play store long enough to apply necessary security updates and then I disable all the google bloatware again).
I’ve found that I really like nothing os and I’ve been debating spinning up an esim to use in it so I can test drive it as a normal phone while I’m out at work or doing errands and stuff like that. Initially I just left the cellular data off and relegated it to wifi-only in my apartment purely for nethunter use, but I’d like to be able to use it on cellular data for streaming music, browsing, navigation, etc. Aside from the nethunter apps, the only other apps I have on it right now are mulch, clipious, molly, and rimusic; for app stores I have accrescent and the divest f droid repo (i don’t use the official f droid repo)
So if I stick to trusted repos, use minimal apps, keep personal/sensitive info off the device and keep up with app/play security updates with general common sense opsec is there any real critical security risk using it for normal phone stuff? I know android 13 isn’t super outdated but I’m used to the bleeding edge life and anything outdated makes me nervous.
And just for general reassurance, no I will absolutely not be using any of the kali stuff outside my place, that’s purely for my own educational purposes on my own home network.
Hello.
I still use an OnePlus Nord (the original, codename Avicii). I would love to upgrade to a Pixel 9a with Graphene OS but I really can not prioritize a new phone right now.
But my phone is old, and outdated. Running Android 12 and Oxygen OS 12.1. I recived my latest security update on december 5, 2023, so EOL was reached long ago. This is especially annoying since my OnePlus Nord still works very well and is in perfect condition.
What are my options?
Can I get some use of this phone without compromising security and privacy?
Realistically I can probably upgrade to a new phone in one or two years (and I understand that it is not optimal, but life is very hard at the moment…)
I use my phone for everything. Including banking. So I mean, I need it to be somewhat secure.
It is really stupid that phones have a EOL… this should be banned, my device is perfectly fine and I don’t get why I should not be able to use it until it is dead. But that’s for another topic..
Best regards
//Car
There are several of these threads on the forum. I hate to break it to you but there is no good advice to be given here besides that you should not buy in to a false sense of security by doing anything about it.
The reality is and will be that you are running a device with proven and exploited weaknesses. I can not make it any more bright for you.
The only good thing you could do is limit usage.
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Like @ph00lt0 says,
Real sorry to hear this. I don’t want to diminish you as just being another example of privacy being a privilege, but it’s certainly true that privacy is not affordable to most people now, which sucks.. PG should include this as part of their website: (1) acknowledge the privilege of privacy and (2) how to best achieve it when you are not.
Not only is it economically expensive, it’s also cognitively expensive too. I’m at least glad you can cognitively afford it by being on this forum and asking for advice. The next step I would do if I were you would be to search for poverty relief/assistance programs related to technology essentials like smartphones. I don’t know of any specifics at the moment, but you could do some light googling. There might be highly local programs as well that won’t pop up immediately on google.