A series of blog posts going into great detail on how I left behind large-touchscreen smartphones and Google – and set up a lightweight, reliable but powerful Android phone that works for me rather than vice versa.
- Notes on the philosophy behind this … and what you can expect to get as the end result
- Backup, unlocking, rooting and replacing stock firmware
- Google’s stranglehold on Android
- Google does nothing for us: Eliminating all Google dependencies with MicroG
- Nothing in or out without my say-so: Firewall, DNS, Captive Portal and Ad blocking
- Location and tracking prevention
- Stock software de-bloating and permission lockdown
- Recommended open source software
- Untrustworthy App lockdown with Shelter
- Power saving and kernel tweaks
- T9 as good as 90s Nokia with Traditional T9
- Aesthetic tweaks: permanent dark mode, bootup logo, phone volume
- Launcher and custom icons
Some useful resources that inspired this work:
- The /r/dumbphones reddit channel
- The XDA developers forums
- This excellent series of blog posts by security expert Mike Kuketz – Android without Google: taking back control [in German]