Verizon Pixel

Questions
1

Hi all,

What is the best course of action to take if I have a bootloader locked Google Pixel? In your opinion, is it ample enough to disable all system apps and replace with FOSS?

2

So unlocking the bootloader is off the table ofc since verizon (and I ask why) does not have a way to unlock said bootloader.

You could remove some apps and such adb-wise using this script I made

Mac and linux Os’es

adb devices

adb shell settings put global auto_update_system 0 || true

PKGS=(
com.google.android.videos
com.google.android.youtube
com.google.android.apps.youtube.music
com.google.android.apps.podcasts
com.google.android.apps.magazines
com.google.android.apps.youtube.kids
com.google.android.apps.photos
com.google.android.gm
com.google.android.calendar
com.google.android.apps.googlevoice
com.google.android.apps.messaging
com.google.android.apps.docs
com.google.android.apps.subscriptions.red
com.google.android.apps.tachyon
com.google.ar.core
com.google.android.apps.tips
com.google.android.apps.wellbeing
com.google.android.projection.gearhead
com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel
com.android.chrome
com.google.ar.lens
com.google.android.apps.nbu.paisa.user
com.google.android.apps.turbo
com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox
)

for p in “${PKGS[@]}”; do
echo “Disabling $p …”
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 “$p” || echo “Could not disable $p (may not exist on your model).”
done

echo “Done.”

Windows Powershell

verify device

adb devices

$pkgs = @(
‘com.google.android.videos’,
‘com.google.android.youtube’,
‘com.google.android.apps.youtube.music’,
‘com.google.android.apps.podcasts’,
‘com.google.android.apps.magazines’,
‘com.google.android.apps.youtube.kids’,
‘com.google.android.apps.photos’,
‘com.google.android.gm’,
‘com.google.android.calendar’,
‘com.google.android.apps.googlevoice’,
‘com.google.android.apps.messaging’,
‘com.google.android.apps.docs’,
‘com.google.android.apps.subscriptions.red’,
‘com.google.android.apps.tachyon’,
‘com.google.ar.core’,
‘com.google.android.apps.tips’,
‘com.google.android.apps.wellbeing’,
‘com.google.android.projection.gearhead’,
‘com.google.android.apps.walletnfcrel’,
‘com.android.chrome’,
‘com.google.ar.lens’,
‘com.google.android.apps.nbu.paisa.user’,
‘com.google.android.apps.turbo’

‘com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox’

)

foreach ($p in $pkgs) {
Write-Host “Disabling $p …”
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 $p
}
Write-Host “Done.”

As far as FOSS replacements go, here’s some that I would use IMHO (All on F-Droid:)

Browser → Fennec F-Droid (Firefox-based) + uBlock Origin
Email → K-9 Mail
Calendar → Etar
Contacts/Sync → DAVx⁵
Messenger → Signal
File Sync/Cloud → Nextcloud OR Syncthing
Password Manager → KeePassDX
Two-Factor Authenticator → Aegis
Notes → Standard Notes OR Joplin
Maps/Navigation → Organic Maps