There are android forks that google doesn't control but if your phone uses Samsung chips such as the Pixel you're fucked anyway. In other words, it doesn't matter if the OS is not compromised when the hardware is. After you did all that you can still install the wrong app and get screwed. Just avoid all that mess and get a dumb phone instead.
The security problems posed by smartphones are obvious and it's so tempting to just ditch it for a dumb phone (or no phone) as you say. Difficulty is that everyone has some must-have application on which they depend. For me it's Google Maps I absolutely need it to get around. If you're in a foreign city and you can't speak the language then Maps will tell you exactly where to find the correct bus or train and show you the route.
With this line of thought, you're assuming the dumb phone hardware is safe...
Most devices uses modems from only a couple of manufacturers, Qualcomm and Samsung being two major ones.
And old devices, which depended on 3G no longer work on most networks or are being turned off.
If you want to not be tracked, get an old school landline from the late 90s/early 2k. 😆 Because literally everything else out there, especially on cell networks, is 1000% tracked, and may even be when turned off.
If one is extremely paranoid and pedant not even land lines are private. Ignoring the fact that they have to know who you call to bill you, everything nowadays goes through VOIP. You're not safe even with encrypted chat apps as Tucker has shown. Good luck if you need that level of privacy. For most of us just getting rid of tracking from Google, Apple, and other unsophisticated actors doing what I said gets the job done just fine.
There are android forks that google doesn't control but if your phone uses Samsung chips such as the Pixel you're fucked anyway. In other words, it doesn't matter if the OS is not compromised when the hardware is. After you did all that you can still install the wrong app and get screwed. Just avoid all that mess and get a dumb phone instead.
The security problems posed by smartphones are obvious and it's so tempting to just ditch it for a dumb phone (or no phone) as you say. Difficulty is that everyone has some must-have application on which they depend. For me it's Google Maps I absolutely need it to get around. If you're in a foreign city and you can't speak the language then Maps will tell you exactly where to find the correct bus or train and show you the route.
With this line of thought, you're assuming the dumb phone hardware is safe...
Most devices uses modems from only a couple of manufacturers, Qualcomm and Samsung being two major ones.
And old devices, which depended on 3G no longer work on most networks or are being turned off.
If you want to not be tracked, get an old school landline from the late 90s/early 2k. 😆 Because literally everything else out there, especially on cell networks, is 1000% tracked, and may even be when turned off.
If one is extremely paranoid and pedant not even land lines are private. Ignoring the fact that they have to know who you call to bill you, everything nowadays goes through VOIP. You're not safe even with encrypted chat apps as Tucker has shown. Good luck if you need that level of privacy. For most of us just getting rid of tracking from Google, Apple, and other unsophisticated actors doing what I said gets the job done just fine.