Firewalls are a great way to tell if new apps are secrely installed
Btw what is the key verifier thing?
this post was submitted on 04 Mar 2025
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Privacy
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It often feels like I am just a user of someone else's device.
Even from the stuff that is shown like "Your device has new features" and "Settings changed by carrier". And how Motorola tried forcing updates by using non-dismisable (they would re-appear immediately) full-screen notifications, and trying to disable the app led me to "Blocked by your IT admin" (I returned that phone).
Also when I connect any modern phone to Wi-Fi not manually set as metered it starts downloading a bunch of random shit automatically.
It keeps killing apps I want running (I had to use a cheap dumb phone as alarm clock with the past 2 smartphones), but keeps all Google services conveniently spending data and battery.
This shit is why I buy carrier agnostic, bootloader-unlockable phones with a healthy ROM dev scene. Rocking a Pixel 9 Pro XL, currently on stock ROM (rooted of course), but will be moving to Calyx or Graphene at some point.
Unfortunately, especially with lower budget, that often ends up being choice between hardware and software.
I didn't want to run custom ROM on the X3 Pro due to warranty. I had the motherboard replaced thrice, on average surviving for 9 months each... But there were theoretically options.
Armor 24 doesn't seem to have any custom ROMs available, as seems to be usual with MTK devices, but the hardware is quite unique. I already had numerous strangers ask me what that phone is, how often it needs to be charged, or "what can that thing do" and "I am not surprised it has such strong light anymore" (it's a massive 85.14Wh brick).
To be honest I like how it feels in hand compared to a fragile thin slab.
But the only ones making crazy devices like this seem to be brands like Ulefone, Oukitel and Unihertz (they even have a projector phone like Samsung did, but modern) which most likely won't see custom ROMs, and I am too dumb to try building and maintaining something myself. I don't even know how it works with device-specific drivers.