Privacy concerns

[bravadprint]

Hey, i need someone to help me with my privacy on my oneplus 7 pro

I'm sick of the fact that what ever i type about i will get ads based on my typing. I've changed keyboards to anysoft keyboard. But i found that i had maps open and dirrecting me somewhere but found that i had conversations to my passenger and even got ads based on my conversation..

Is android even safe anymore? I'm being monitored and not just for personalized ads.

I've gone through googles privacy settings and have turned everything off related to ads and data collecting.

Now im going through my phones permissions and i'm actually quite scared that i cant deny system apps to my location etc. Ive tried to Google some of them but i cant find much on one system app called subsdm, the search comes back with malicious apps but i couldn't actually find anything in particular regarding subdsm.

When registering for android forums, the app couldn't even verify my device. Has my device been physically opened and had hardware changes?

Now I know the police in my country monitor my Facebook / Facebook owned apps and my Google acounts. I want to make sure that they don't have any installed apps on my phone etc.

I have done a factory reset and flashed the phone using software provided on the oneplus website.

Is there some other reset or opperating system i can use so that i can deny system app permissions ?

Also when apps have camera and mic permissions cam they use them when ever? Only because location has the option for only when all is open..

I've attached some photos of these 'system' apps. Can someone help me secure my phone before I just bite the bullet and use iPhones again.. and is there any system apps that should have permission to display over apps, change system settings, adaptive notifications, usage access, picture in picture or WiFi controll

Thanks in advanced,

Ethan.

 

[Hadron]

It's funny how people's experiences vary: I never see ads at all except in a few apps I have that are ad-supported and don't have a paid version, and those only as small banners within the app, and never related to anything I've ever typed, searched or whatever.

If you are really concerned about privacy here are a few tips:

* Don't use Google Assistant. If that thing is enabled it will enable every type of data-tracking Google allow, because that's how it works. Personally I disable the "Google" app as well as turning off all sorts of data recording by Google. This means that a Google search bar widget won't work, nor will voice search features or Assistant, but I don't want any of those anyway (I use a third-party launcher so that I don't have to have a search bar on my home screen) and it ensures that none of that stuff can ever run. Now I'm not convinced that Assistant is any more evil than Siri, just better at what it does, but I also disable Siri on my Mac so I'm consistent in my attitude to these corporate surveillance tools whoever is behind them.

* Change your default search engine. There are plenty of alternatives to Google out there (I keep one browser set to use Google for when I want to, but my default browser is set to use DuckDuckgo).

I can't say anything about what apps the police or security services in your country might have installed. OnePlus are a Chinese company, so I'm sure they will co-operate fully with such requests from Chinese security apparatus at least, but I don't know what country you are in (only know you have a OnePlus phone from the pictures you posted - might have been helpful to say that in your post for people who don't look at all of the pictures). Of course there will be no connection between tracking for ads and tracking for other purposes, so seeing targetted ads tells you nothing at all about the latter (and if information from what you typed leaked into some ad tracking that may be down to the app you typed it into rather than the keyboard. Being wary of the apps you install is more important than being wary of the OS - on which topic you'd also be amazed how much tracking the average iPhone owner is subject to but unaware of).

Most of the apps you have posted here are OnePlus apps rather than Android apps, and my phone (Pixel 2, Android 10) does not and never has had those apps. This includes the subsdm app you are concerned about. Hence I can't say much about them. It is in fact possible to deny location access to most system apps, though obviously it doesn't make sense to deny it to "Fused Location" which is the system location service (i.e. the thing that provides location information to other apps). Of course if you want nothing to have location information you can just turn location services off.

Permissions can be confusing, e.g. a flashlight app will need camera access because that's how it accesses the camera flash - it doesn't mean that the app is taking pictures (but does suggest you should take care about which flashlight apps you install). There are also stupidities, e.g. tying together permissions that logically don't need to be connected, which means that some apps have to be given things they don't need in order to get things they do. Google still have work to do in this area (but while Apple claim to be better the main difference I see is that they hide more stuff from the user - of course I trust no corporation myself, since by construction and even law they are entirely self-serving entities).

OnePlus phones are quite open for rooting and custom ROMs (third-party Android builds). However as I don't own a OnePlus phone I'm not familiar with what ROMs exist for them and what capabilities they have. A look through the development forum for your device at xda-developers.com would be a good start there.

Yes, of course there are system apps that should have the abilities to do some of the things you list in your final question - many things could not function at all unless some apps could do this stuff.

 

[Dannydet]

Here is the link to the Xda Oneplus 7 pro...
https://forum.xda-developers.com/oneplus-7-pro

 

[lunatic59]

Let me address some specifics.

When registering for android forums, the app couldn't even verify my device. Has my device been physically opened and had hardware changes?

This is a message when AF couldn't identify your device specifically. One of the cool things this forum does is to either join you to a device forum, or create one specifically for your device when you sign in. Because Android phones are so varied, and help for one device might not be valid for another, it's always a good idea to troubleshoot problems with others who have the same hardware. If you've modified your phone, or blocked the permissions needed to identify your device, then the forum app won't be able to do that automatically. Nothing has been physically changed.

I have done a factory reset and flashed the phone using software provided on the oneplus website.

Is there some other reset or operating system i can use so that i can deny system app permissions ?

Probably, but you will most likely disable or remove some of the OnePlus-specific features.

Honestly, I don't see anything out of the ordinary with your apps, services or permissions. Are apps, Google and your network collecting information about you? Absolutely. Just understand that the more you try to block that, the more you are going to disable or break until you've got a semi-disabled not-so-smart phone with a rather frustrating user experience.

 

[Hadron]

Are apps, Google and your network collecting information about you? Absolutely. Just understand that the more you try to block that, the more you are going to disable or break until you've got a semi-disabled not-so-smart phone with a rather frustrating user experience.

Just to quibble, what is frustrating depends on what you want. I tried Assistant for a month, knowing the trade-off, to see whether it was worth it. I decided that it offered nothing that I actually found useful (and persisted in things I didn't - it clearly has pre-programmed assumptions and never learned that they were not relevant to me) and so I don't miss it at all. I switched to Duck as my primary search engine due to privacy concerns, but while it sometimes misses things (which is why I sometimes use Google - with precautions) it also gives me less junk, is often more relevant, and doesn't post ads at the top of my search results. I often find open street maps based apps more accurate than Google. Etc.

So personally I find the fact that you need to make an effort to restrict tracking frustrating but not the result (and I'm not naive or ignorant enough to believe that buying an iPhone is a solution). Others with different preferences will feel differently.

 

[lunatic59]

I find assistant helpful and accurate. I know that data is being collected and ads are being served based on my activity and location. I'm okay with that. I'm also fine with anyone who isn't. I truly believe that privacy on the internet is an illusion and that both carriers and platforms act without concern for their subscribers ... at least as far as laws and good business practices will allow.

That said, I also tend to trust Google to be more diligent in protecting my personal information as it is their life's blood -- the control of the information and the trust of their subscribers. As soon as either are lost, their financial paradigm is compromised. It is a rather cynical and mercenary viewpoint, but one that I believe drives most corporations.

In the end, it is not me restricting access my information as much as it me deciding who has access to the information that is already being collected.