Guides on DGdroid

Guides on DGdroidhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/Recent content in Guides on DGdroidHugoen-usGalaxy Z Fold8, Fold8 Ultra and Flip8 privacy guidehttps://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-z-fold8-flip8-privacy-guide/Fri, 16 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-z-fold8-flip8-privacy-guide/<p>Samsung launched three foldables on July 22, 2026, and they went on sale on August 7. The Galaxy Z Fold8 Ultra ($2,099 at launch) is the tall book-style Fold with an 8-inch inner screen and a 200MP camera. The Galaxy Z Fold8 ($1,899) is the new wide model: a 5.5-inch cover screen that opens into a 7.6-inch 4:3 tablet. The Galaxy Z Flip8 ($1,199) is the clamshell with a 4.1-inch FlexWindow on the outside. All three run One UI 9 on Android 17, use the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 5 for Galaxy, and sit on Samsung’s monthly security-update list.</p>Galaxy A17 5G privacy guide: every setting that mattershttps://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-a17-5g-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-a17-5g-privacy-guide/<p>The Galaxy A17 5G is the Android phone Americans buy most. Counterpoint ranked it the best-selling Android phone in the US in the second quarter of 2026, and fourth among all phones. It launched in January at $199.99; Samsung.com lists it at $269.99 as of mid-October. Buyers want a cheap Samsung with long support, and many pick it up at a prepaid or carrier store.</p> <p>Here is the honest privacy picture. You can’t unlock the bootloader on a US Galaxy, so GrapheneOS, LineageOS and other private systems are off the table. What you can do is harden One UI 8.5, Samsung’s own software, and cut back what Samsung, Google and your carrier collect. This page is part of our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">series on the 10 best-selling Android phones in the US</a>, and it covers every setting that matters on this phone.</p>Galaxy A37 5G privacy guide: mid-range settings and AIhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-a37-5g-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-a37-5g-privacy-guide/<p>The Galaxy A37 5G is Samsung’s middle child: more phone than the A17, half the price of an S26. It reached US stores on April 9, 2026 at $449.99 and sells for $489.99 at Samsung.com today. Its predecessor, the A36, was a global top-10 seller, and the A37 is the model Samsung counts on to sell in volume. The buyer is someone who wants a decent camera and long support without paying flagship prices.</p>Galaxy S26 privacy guide: lock down Samsung's flagshiphttps://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-s26-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-s26-privacy-guide/<p>The Galaxy S26 is the flagship for people who want monthly updates and the full Galaxy AI package without paying Ultra money. It was a top-10 seller worldwide in the second quarter of 2026, according to Counterpoint. It launched in March at $899.99 and costs about $999.99 after Samsung’s October price rise.</p> <p>Privacy-wise, the S26 gets nearly everything its big sibling gets: seven years of monthly security patches, One UI 9, Knox Vault and the switch that keeps Galaxy AI on the device. Like every US Galaxy, though, it can’t unlock its bootloader, so a private OS such as GrapheneOS is not an option. This guide works through the settings step by step. It belongs to our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">10-phone privacy series for US buyers</a>.</p>Galaxy S26 Ultra privacy guide: Privacy Display and Galaxy AIhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-s26-ultra-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/galaxy-s26-ultra-privacy-guide/<p>The Galaxy S26 Ultra is expensive, and people buy it anyway. Counterpoint ranked it the best-selling Android phone worldwide in the second quarter of 2026, and about 71% of US Galaxy S26-series sales go to the Ultra. It went on sale in March at $1,299.99; after Samsung’s October 1 price rise, the 256GB model costs $1,399.99 at Samsung.com.</p> <p>For that money you get Samsung’s strongest privacy toolkit: monthly security patches for seven years, a screen that hides itself from the person next to you, and a switch that keeps Galaxy AI on the phone. What you don’t get is a way out of Samsung’s software. US Galaxy phones can’t unlock the bootloader, so GrapheneOS and other private systems won’t install. This guide hardens One UI as far as it goes. It’s one of ten in our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">privacy series on America’s top-selling Android phones</a>.</p>Moto g 2026 privacy guide: what to turn off and what to keephttps://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-2026-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-2026-privacy-guide/<p>The moto g 2026 is Motorola’s mainstream budget phone: a 6.7-inch 120Hz screen, a 5,200 mAh battery, a Dimensity 6300 chip and Android 16, usually around $250 to $300 on Amazon. Motorola is the third-biggest phone brand in the US, with about 11% of the market, and this is the model a lot of its buyers pick when they want something better than the cheapest option without paying flagship prices.</p>Moto g play 2026 privacy guide: a cheap phone, set up carefullyhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-play-2026-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-play-2026-privacy-guide/<p>The moto g play 2026 is Motorola’s cheapest phone this year. It launched in November 2025 at roughly $170 to $180, with a Dimensity 6300 chip, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a 6.7-inch 120Hz screen and a 5,200 mAh battery. People buy it at prepaid counters, as a first phone for a kid, as a phone for a parent who just wants calls and photos, or as a spare.</p>Moto g power 2026 privacy guide: set it up once for the long haulhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-power-2026-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/moto-g-power-2026-privacy-guide/<p>The moto g power 2026 is the battery phone in Motorola’s 2026 lineup. It launched in January 2026 at $299.99 with a Dimensity 6300 chip, a 5,200 mAh battery and Android 16. Its best privacy feature isn’t a setting at all: Motorola lists security updates for it until January 2029, the longest window of the three 2026 moto g models.</p> <p>That makes it a phone people keep for years, so it’s worth setting up properly once. It also ships with the longest list of preloaded apps of the three, including TikTok, Booking, Amazon Music and the Perplexity AI app. No private operating system supports it, so everything below happens on the stock software. For the other nine phones in this series, see our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">roundup of popular US Android phones and their privacy limits</a>.</p>Pixel 10 privacy guide: tame the AI or switch to GrapheneOShttps://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-10-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-10-privacy-guide/<p>A year after launch, the Pixel 10 is still selling steadily on Amazon, often below its $799 launch price. It runs the Tensor G5 chip and Android 17, and Google guarantees OS and security updates until August 2032. It also happens to be the phone GrapheneOS points people to right now: when the project declined to support the Pixel 11, it called the Pixel 10 “cheaper with similar hardware and MTE.”</p>Pixel 10a privacy guide: harden it or install GrapheneOShttps://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-10a-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-10a-privacy-guide/<p>The Pixel 10a is Google’s mid-range phone for 2026. It launched in March at $499 and now costs $599 at the Google Store after Google’s October price rise. Inside are the Tensor G4 chip and Android 17, and Google promises seven years of OS and security updates, to March 2033.</p> <p>For privacy, the 10a has one big advantage over almost everything else at this price: you’re allowed to replace the software. An unlocked 10a can run GrapheneOS, CalyxOS or LineageOS, all with official support. So this guide gives you two paths. Path A keeps Google’s own software and switches off what it can. Path B installs GrapheneOS. The 10a is one of ten phones in our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">privacy series on the best-selling Android phones in the US</a>.</p>Pixel 11 privacy guide: the most private setup without GrapheneOShttps://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-11-privacy-guide/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/pixel-11-privacy-guide/<p>The Pixel 11 went on sale in August 2026 at $899 for the 256GB model. It’s Google’s current flagship, with the Tensor G6 chip, the new Titan M3 security chip, Android 17 and seven years of updates, to August 2033. If you bought one, or one was handed to you at work, this guide gets the stock software as private as it goes.</p> <p>That last part matters. Unlike the Pixel 10 and 10a, the Pixel 11 can’t run GrapheneOS today, and no other private OS supports it either. So everything here is about hardening Google’s own Pixel software, and the single most useful switch is Advanced Protection. It’s one of ten phones in our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/">US best-seller privacy series</a>.</p>Privacy guides for the 10 most popular Android phones in the UShttps://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/Wed, 14 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/most-popular-android-phones-privacy/<p>Most people don’t buy a privacy phone. They buy whatever is popular, on sale, or offered by their carrier, and then wonder how much of their life it reports back. This series starts from what Americans actually buy. We took the 10 most popular Android phones on sale new in the US in October 2026 and wrote a privacy guide for each one, built from the maker’s own support pages and Google’s documentation.</p>Block internet for unwanted apps — firewalls without roothttps://dgdroid.com/guides/block-internet-per-app-firewall/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/block-internet-per-app-firewall/<p>Part of the <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/">max-degoogle any Android phone</a> series.</p> <p>Debloating removes what you don’t need. A firewall handles the rest: unwanted network access from apps you keep but that have no reason to be online (gallery, calculator, keyboard, file manager, offline games) and system apps you <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/remove-bloatware-with-adb/">couldn’t safely remove</a>. Blocked from the network, they can’t upload analytics, crash reports or anything else.</p> <h2 id="how-a-no-root-firewall-works">How a no-root firewall works</h2> <p>Stock Android has no “Network” permission you can switch off per app (GrapheneOS adds a real one — see its <a href="https://grapheneos.org/features">Network permission toggle</a>). The only way to build a firewall without root is Android’s VPN service: the firewall app creates a <em>local</em> VPN on the phone, every app’s traffic flows through it, and it drops the traffic of apps you’ve blocked. Nothing is sent to a remote VPN server unless you configure one.</p>Install apps straight from GitHub with Obtainiumhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/install-apps-from-github-with-obtainium/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/install-apps-from-github-with-obtainium/<p>F-Droid covers a lot, Aurora Store covers the Play catalog — and then there’s the third pile: apps whose developers simply publish an APK on their GitHub releases page and call it a day. Molly, Cromite, Brave’s builds, the newest versions of half the open-source apps in our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/apps/">private app picks</a>. You <em>can</em> download those by hand and remember to check for updates every week. Nobody does.</p> <p>Obtainium fixes that. It’s a small open-source app that watches a project’s releases page, installs the APK straight from the source, and notifies you (or updates on its own) when a new release lands. No store in the middle, no account, no middleman rebuilding the app.</p>Max-degoogle any Android phone — no flashing requiredhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/<p>Not every phone can be flashed. US carrier Samsungs, most phones on a payment plan, work phones, and plenty of perfectly good handsets simply have a locked bootloader or no degoogled OS that supports them. That doesn’t mean you’re stuck with the full Google-and-OEM firehose.</p> <p>This guide is the series overview: how to max-degoogle the phone you already own, with no root and no flashing required. Each step links to a deep-dive with the exact settings and commands.</p>Privacy habits that actually matterhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/privacy-habits-that-matter/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/privacy-habits-that-matter/<p>Part of the <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/">max-degoogle any Android phone</a> series.</p> <p>Settings and firewalls cap what the phone leaks. Habits decide how much there is to leak in the first place. Here’s what actually moves the needle, roughly in order of payoff.</p> <h2 id="start-with-your-threat-model-two-minutes">Start with your threat model (two minutes)</h2> <p>Ask: <em>who</em> do I want to keep <em>what</em> away from? For most people the honest answer is “advertisers and data brokers, plus whoever steals or finds my phone”. That’s what this guide is for. If your answer includes a stalker, an abusive partner, or a government, the same habits still apply, but you need more — talk to a specialist organisation, and treat the phone as a <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/install-grapheneos-from-your-browser/">GrapheneOS</a> candidate.</p>Private DNS, permissions and settings lockdownhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/private-dns-permissions-settings-lockdown/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/private-dns-permissions-settings-lockdown/<p>Part of the <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/">max-degoogle any Android phone</a> series.</p> <p>Menu names differ between Pixel, Samsung, Xiaomi and others. When a path below doesn’t match your phone, use the search box at the top of Settings — every setting here is searchable by the name in bold.</p> <h2 id="1-private-dns-block-trackers-for-every-app-android-9">1. Private DNS: block trackers for every app (Android 9+)</h2> <p>Every app looks up domain names before it connects. Private DNS, added in Android 9, sends those lookups encrypted (DNS over TLS) to a resolver you choose. Choose one that refuses to resolve ad and tracker domains, and those connections fail in every app — including system apps you couldn’t remove or firewall.</p>Remove bloatware with ADB — no roothttps://dgdroid.com/guides/remove-bloatware-with-adb/Sat, 10 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/remove-bloatware-with-adb/<p>Part of the <a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/max-degoogle-any-android-phone/">max-degoogle any Android phone</a> series.</p> <p>Preinstalled apps, the bloatware your phone shipped with, are the first thing to go. You can’t delete them from the system partition without root, but Android lets you uninstall them for your user (user 0) or disable them — which, for privacy purposes, is what matters: they stop running, stop updating and stop phoning home.</p> <div class="callout warn"> <span class="callout-label">Before you start</span> Back up your phone first. Everything here is reversible with one command — except removing something that stops the phone from booting, in which case the fix is a factory reset. A factory reset also restores every package you removed, so you’d start over. Go slowly and use a curated list. </div> <h2 id="what-you-need">What you need</h2> <ul> <li>A computer (Windows, macOS or Linux) and a USB cable.</li> <li><strong>Android SDK Platform-Tools</strong> — Google’s official <code>adb</code>, from the <a href="https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools">official Platform-Tools download page</a>. Unzip it; no install needed.</li> <li><strong>USB debugging</strong> on the phone: Settings → About phone → tap Build number seven times to unlock Developer options, then Settings → System → Developer options → <strong>USB debugging</strong> on. (The menu path varies slightly by brand — search Settings for “Developer options”.)</li> </ul> <p>Plug in the phone, accept the “Allow USB debugging?” prompt, and check the connection:</p>Degoogle your life in one weekendhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/degoogle-your-life-in-one-weekend/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/degoogle-your-life-in-one-weekend/<p>You don’t need to become a different person to get Google out of your life. You need one focused weekend, a plan that does things in the right order, and permission to leave a few Google services running while you wind them down. Here’s the plan we’d hand a friend.</p> <h2 id="the-rules">The rules</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Don’t delete anything this weekend.</strong> You’re building the new setup alongside the old one. Account deletion comes a month later, once nothing breaks.</li> <li><strong>Perfect is the enemy of done.</strong> Keeping one Google service (say, YouTube in a browser) doesn’t undo the rest. Google going from seeing <em>everything</em> to seeing <em>one thing</em> is the win.</li> <li><strong>Export first, switch second.</strong> Every step starts with getting your data out.</li> </ul> <h2 id="friday-evening--inventory-and-export-1-hour">Friday evening — inventory and export (1 hour)</h2> <ol> <li>Go to takeout.google.com and request an export of Contacts, Calendar, Photos, and Mail. Big photo libraries take hours to prepare — that’s why this is Friday’s job.</li> <li>Write down every app you actually used in the last month (phone Settings → screen time / battery list is honest; your memory isn’t).</li> <li>Note which of those apps are tied to Google sign-in. Those need a password set at each service before the weekend is over.</li> </ol> <h2 id="saturday--the-phone-24-hours">Saturday — the phone (2–4 hours)</h2> <p>The phone is the highest-value target: it’s the device that follows you around broadcasting.</p>Do you actually need a Faraday bag?https://dgdroid.com/guides/do-you-need-a-faraday-bag/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/do-you-need-a-faraday-bag/<p>A Faraday bag is a pouch lined with conductive mesh that blocks radio in and out: no cellular, no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, no GPS assist, no NFC. Phone goes in, phone goes dark. They’re cheap, they genuinely work when built well — and they’re also the most over-sold item in the privacy-gear catalog. Here’s the honest sorting.</p> <h2 id="where-a-faraday-bag-earns-its-keep">Where a Faraday bag earns its keep</h2> <p><strong>Car key relay theft.</strong> The unglamorous best use case. Thieves amplify your keyless fob’s signal from outside the house to unlock and start the car. A fob-sized Faraday pouch by the front door kills the attack completely. If you own a keyless-entry car, this is a real, common crime with a €15 fix — buy one for this even if nothing else on this page applies to you.</p>Install GrapheneOS from your browserhttps://dgdroid.com/guides/install-grapheneos-from-your-browser/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/install-grapheneos-from-your-browser/<p>GrapheneOS has the best install experience of any custom OS, full stop. The official web installer runs entirely in a browser tab: you click buttons, the phone reboots a few times, and twenty minutes later you’re running the most secure consumer operating system that exists. No ADB setup, no platform-tools download, no terminal.</p> <p>Here’s the whole process, including the parts the official docs assume you already know.</p> <h2 id="what-you-need">What you need</h2> <ul> <li><strong>A Pixel 6 or newer</strong> (6, 6a, 6 Pro through the 10 series). Carrier-unlocked — the US Verizon variants with locked bootloaders won’t work. Our <a href="https://dgdroid.com/check/">phone checker</a> tells you in ten seconds whether yours qualifies.</li> <li><strong>A second device with a Chromium browser</strong> — Chrome, Brave, Edge, or Vanadium on Linux, Windows, macOS, or even another Android phone. Firefox won’t work; the installer needs WebUSB.</li> <li><strong>A good USB-C cable.</strong> This is the number-one cause of failed installs. Use the cable that came with the phone, plugged into a USB port directly on the computer — not through a hub or monitor.</li> <li><strong>15–20 minutes.</strong> The flash itself is mostly waiting.</li> </ul> <div class="callout warn"> <span class="callout-label">Before you start</span> Installing wipes the phone completely. Back up photos, chats and 2FA codes first. If this is a brand-new phone, boot it once, skip setup, and check for a bootloader update under Settings → System → Software update before flashing. </div> <h2 id="step-1--enable-oem-unlocking">Step 1 — Enable OEM unlocking</h2> <p>On the Pixel: Settings → About phone → tap “Build number” seven times to become a developer. Then Settings → System → Developer options → OEM unlocking → on. If OEM unlocking is greyed out, the phone is carrier-locked and can’t be flashed — that’s a return, not a workaround.</p>Private phones for small teamshttps://dgdroid.com/guides/private-phones-for-small-teams/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/private-phones-for-small-teams/<p>Most degoogling advice is written for individuals with infinite patience. A business has different constraints: phones must work on day one, the setup must survive an employee who doesn’t care about privacy, and someone has to be able to say what it costs. This is the playbook we recommend for teams of roughly 3–15 people — a composite of the setups we’ve researched and tested, with real numbers.</p> <h2 id="why-a-small-business-would-want-private-phones">Why a small business would want private phones</h2> <p>Three reasons that aren’t ideology:</p>The private app starter pack, 2026https://dgdroid.com/guides/private-app-starter-pack-2026/Sun, 20 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/private-app-starter-pack-2026/<p>Every phone we set up gets the same first hour of apps. This is that list for 2026 — not the 40-app “awesome privacy” dump, just the ones that survived actually living with them. All free unless marked, all available without a Google account. (Looking for a specific Google service instead? The <a href="https://dgdroid.com/apps/">app-by-app replacement directory</a> covers all of them, service by service.)</p> <h2 id="first-where-to-get-apps-without-google">First: where to get apps without Google</h2> <ul> <li><strong>Aurora Store</strong> — an anonymous front-end for the Play catalog. Anything you’d normally install from Play, you install from here without signing in. This is the workhorse.</li> <li><strong>F-Droid</strong> (or the faster Neo Store client) — open-source apps only. Get Aurora from here first.</li> <li><strong>Obtainium</strong> — installs apps straight from their GitHub releases and keeps them updated. For the handful of apps that live outside both stores. (<a href="https://dgdroid.com/guides/install-apps-from-github-with-obtainium/">Ten-minute setup guide</a>.)</li> <li>On GrapheneOS, you also have the option of real sandboxed Google Play — the compatibility of the Play Store without the privileges. Use it for banking apps that verify their installer.</li> </ul> <h2 id="messaging">Messaging</h2> <p><strong>Signal.</strong> Non-negotiable first install. Works flawlessly without Google services (it falls back to its own push system), and it’s the one private app your family might already have. Molly, a hardened Signal fork, is the enthusiast option — same network, extra protections.</p>GrapheneOS vs CalyxOS vs /e/OShttps://dgdroid.com/guides/grapheneos-vs-calyxos-vs-eos/Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/grapheneos-vs-calyxos-vs-eos/<p>Every degoogled phone runs one of three big operating systems, and people burn weeks researching a choice that usually comes down to one question: how much convenience are you willing to trade for how much privacy? Here’s the honest version.</p> <h2 id="the-one-paragraph-answer">The one-paragraph answer</h2> <p>GrapheneOS is the most secure consumer OS in existence, and thanks to sandboxed Google Play it’s also — surprisingly — the most app-compatible. If you’re buying a Pixel, pick it and stop reading. CalyxOS is for people who want privacy defaults handled for them, on a wider range of hardware (including cheap Motorolas). /e/OS is for people who want an iPhone-simple experience with a matching cloud, and would rather buy the phone preinstalled than flash anything.</p>What Is a De-Googled Phone? (And Who Actually Needs One)https://dgdroid.com/guides/what-is-a-degoogled-phone/Tue, 01 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0300https://dgdroid.com/guides/what-is-a-degoogled-phone/<p>A de-Googled phone is an Android phone running an operating system with Google’s services stripped out — no Google Play Services running in the background, no Google account required, no telemetry flowing back to Mountain View. The hardware is usually the same phone you’d buy anyway (most often a Pixel, ironically). What changes is the software layer that decides who your phone talks to when you’re not looking.</p> <h2 id="what-actually-gets-removed">What actually gets removed</h2> <p>Stock Android ships with Google Play Services — a privileged system component with access to your location, contacts, microphone permissions and network activity. It can’t be disabled on a normal phone. De-Googled operating systems replace or sandbox it:</p>