What apps to strip out of a new cell phone?

[P7M13]

My 2022 Moto Edge bricked last week. It rebooted several times during the day, completely froze when a call came in. I tried to do a reboot, but it never started up again and I cannot power it back on.

I bought another Moto because I like them more than the Samsung.
That said, I'm astounded at the level of intrusiveness of Google software and the bloatware that comes with unlocked phones (not as bad as Samsung phones, though).

Hence the question: when you are concerned about the cycle stealing software running on your phone that you don't want there, what do you disable, uninstall or block?
Thanks in advance.

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[Nosferatu]

All of them.

Despite a psycopath developer, GrapheneOS is still the privacy winner.

 

[Alexx1401]

Last couple phones I bought I deleted every damn one it would let me delete. They come with a TON of crap now. Lot of them you can't delete, so I just got rid of everything I could. As for them spying? Hell never cared about that. Lead a pretty mundane life.

 

[MannyGlocks]

With so much concern...why own such a phone?

I don't own one.

I own a flip phone (and yes, it can be tracked too, just not as easily as a smart p) that I carry once in awhile, though not often as I just don't 'need it' as many claim they do...that, that, oh my gosh, without my s-p I might have an emergency...

Of course, I've lived during a time (actually for quite some time) when cell or s-p's hadn't been invented and somehow we managed...

If you're sincerely concerned about being tracked, get you a small 'faraday cage' and put that device in it and only retrieve it when absolutely necessary...sure you can still be tracked when using it, but not 'all the time' like most are now.

 

[Alexx1401]

With so much concern...why own such a phone?

I don't own one.

I own a flip phone (and yes, it can be tracked too, just not as easily as a smart p) that I carry once in awhile, though not often as I just don't 'need it' as many claim they do...that, that, oh my gosh, without my s-p I might have an emergency...

Of course, I've lived during a time (actually for quite some time) when cell or s-p's hadn't been invented and somehow we managed...

If you're sincerely concerned about being tracked, get you a small 'faraday cage' and put that device in it and only retrieve it when absolutely necessary...sure you can still be tracked when using it, but not 'all the time' like most are now.

The "tracking" thing is mostly a lot of hype. Unless you are doing something like drug dealing no one cares. The phone does sell your info which is how they make money. Again for me? Could care less. Many criminals do make the Cops job FAR easier with a phone. Telling them they were in the area of the crime, texting about the things they did, so forth. So if you are a criminal the simple solution would of course be to not carry the damn phone with you.
As for "need" very few use the phone for actual work. For most of us its just a great thing to have. Carry a computer and video camera in your pocket. My vehicles do a LOT of stuff I do not "need" too, Got along fine before they were invented. Now that they have been I sure enjoy them.
I joke with younger people are work a lot about the TV. Many of them are shocked to hear it used to have 3 channels to watch and if you wanted to change them you had to get up and walk over to the set to do so. We got along great with this but, I don't want to go back to it for sure.

 

[Flopsweat]

Look for a Lenovo Phone or Android Phone forum.

Maybe search for one or more of these:
"What to uninstal motorola phone"
"What to uninstal lenovo phone"
"What to uninstal android phone"

I wasted a lot of time looking up each app on my phone that seemed useless and uninstalling them one by one. I should have just looked up what to ditch.

 

[CamoDeafie]

You'd think that there should be an enormous market for basically stripped to the bone Android/Linux based phones that comes with only the calling/texting, calculator,camera/video, calendar apps and then have all that memory space available for any third party app install by the user

 

[Flopsweat]

You'd think that there should be an enormous market for basically stripped to the bone Android/Linux based phones that comes with only the calling/texting, calculator,camera/video, calendar apps and then have all that memory space available for any third party app install by the user

Loading up apps makes them money.

 

[Nosferatu]

You'd think that there should be an enormous market for basically stripped to the bone Android/Linux based phones that comes with only the calling/texting, calculator,camera/video, calendar apps and then have all that memory space available for any third party app install by the user

There is, but the phone companies won't sell them because there isn't enough money in them and their contracts with established brands don't allow it, so those phones won't get any real market share outside of 'enthusiasts'.

About the best thing you can do is get a Google Pixel and install GrapheneOS on it. You then at least have granular control over what level of privacy you have.

 

[CamoDeafie]

Loading up apps makes them money.

Or sell the apps/subscription plans to use their apps?

There is, but the phone companies won't sell them because there isn't enough money in them and their contracts with established brands don't allow it, so those phones won't get any real market share outside of 'enthusiasts'.

Sad truth. On the other hand, some apps just won't work on mine because my OS is apparently "too new"

 

[L84Cabo]

Well any app you delete can be added back at any time. So I would start by deleting everything you're not currently using and/or familiar with. Make a list of what yo delete if you want.

 

[Provincial]

I stripped all the games off my smart phone. I am reluctant to take off the ones I don't use, but seem to do something. There are so many apps intertwined with the normal operation of the phone that it is hard to determine what is necessary for simple use.

My voicemail doesn't work like it should, and no one can figure it out. Maybe I trash-canned something it needs, but I at least can listen to them if I remember to check them. It doesn't alert me when they come in.

 

[ZigZagZeke]

There's a reason I buy Apple devices.

 

[P7M13]

I stripped out everything and added the ones I use, like Basemap and Signal.
The general speed improvement on my phone was noticeable. Other, quirky things that kept happening don't happen anymore, like the screen waking up every few minutes.
Sometimes text messages wouldn't come in for hours. I will see if that improves.
Why do I purchase such a phone? i like video calls with my kids. Signal is great for that. I surf the 'net and read this forum from it regularly.

 

[MannyGlocks]

Nos,

"You then at least have granular control over what level of privacy you have."

What does 'granular control' mean...?

Thanks!

 

[Nosferatu]

Nos,

"You then at least have granular control over what level of privacy you have."

What does 'granular control' mean...?

Thanks!

Meaning you have control over every aspect of the phone.

Most specifically Graphene lets you completely disconnect from ALL google services and you don't have to have a Google account at all to use the phone.

Now if you want to use Gmail (which would pretty much remove most the point of installing Graphene, but is just an example) you could, but you'd have even some control over what data gets sent out to Google. Same goes for maps, contacts, browsers, etc.

You pick and choose exactly how locked down your phone is. Graphene is used by most people who are trying to completely Degooglefy their lives, but have concerns with the Apple data hogs as well.

 

[jayR]

Universal uninstall tool.

 

[JustShoot]

https://www.silentcircle.com/looking-for-blackphone/

 

[bradsteen]

The Light Phone

Light is a radically different technology company. We design beautiful tools that respect and empower our users and our first product is The Light Phone.

www.thelightphone.com

 

[Flopsweat]

The Light Phone

Light is a radically different technology company. We design beautiful tools that respect and empower our users and our first product is The Light Phone.

www.thelightphone.com

It's a phone, it calls and texts. There is a customizable menu of simple tools, and a dashboard website to manage everything. There is a headphone jack, bluetooth, and it can be used as a personal hotspot.

What is a "dashboard website"? Website implies that it talks to a web server, which seems unnecessary.