…within reason. I know that the top answer will be to flash a different OS on your device. A lot of us are not at that point right now.
So I was texting with my wife in Spanish and suddenly a system bubble popped up, “would you like to translate this to English?” At a minimum, this means that Google is reading the words on my screen at all times to detect the language. I don’t know if this is possibly done on device, but translation certainly isn’t. I’ve already changed my system translation app to Translate You.
I’ve noticed other times that Google watches or listens in the background. It has a feature to detect ambient songs playing, for example.
What other standard settings should I check for to prevent Google from watching and listening to my phone in the background?
Edit: I was not using a Google messeging app at the time. It was detecting the text from another app. The specific setting in this case was to switch off “Live Translate,” in System settings.
If it’s Android with Google apps, it isn’t your phone.
If you run Windows, it ain’t your PC
Indeed.
…within reason. I know that the top answer will be to flash a different OS on your device. A lot of us are not at that point right now.
As long as you know the real answer already.
Do a factory reset on the phone, disable EVERY app you don’t want to use (app info, disable works in modern AOSP even for apps you can’t uninstall like youtube)
Don’t link your google account to the phone.
Test your phone by saying “OK Google” and making sure it doesn’t respond.
Slowly install the apps you want / need, testing the “ok google” and spanish text to see if it triggers some data-scraping service.
interesting idea, would test on an old device or spare device before wiping my phone though, you may not like the results and puts you back at square one with all your stuff gone and have to reset it all anyway.
but translation certainly isn’t [done on device]
Google Translate has downloadable language packs and runs on device, including offline in foreign countries without roaming data. Including the live video OCR and replacement.
That’s not to say that what you experienced isn’t creepy, but it’s not necessarily cloud-driven.
Fair enough. I’ve also been using an incredible on-device translator, RTranslator, which is truly next-level, and FOSS. If anyone else out there has translation needs, I highly recommend it!
RTranslate is great, though it did sometimes not translate sections of the German text I gave it.
I’m guessing you’re using a Pixel phone? My partner’s phone does the same background music detection, I think it’s gross. These are some of the things I’ve done to help prevent the most obvious examples of spying on my Samsung:
Disable all permissions except ones that you absolutely cannot live without, set those to “ask every time.”
Use a physical camera cover whenever you’re not taking a photo.
Turn off location anytime you’re not actively using navigation.
use a VPN with always-on settings enabled.
stop using Google apps entirely (Chrome, Mail, Maps, YouTube, etc.) Switch to web browsing on Firefox with unlock Origin installed
There’s probably some way to directly uninstall other Google bloatware on your phone. I recently followed this tutorial to delete Samsung’s voice assistant from my device, I’m sure there’s a similar process for the Pixel
I only use Google Maps because it warns of police speed traps. Do other apps have similar warnings?
I believe Waze does. But I use google maps sinply because it has the most accurate real-time info because of the sheer volume of data it crowdsources.
Waze does, but it’s also owned by Google. IIRC, Waze is where Google gets the data for police locations in maps.
No idea, but it’s a sacrifice you need to make to un-Google yourself. I personally use Waze (owned by Google apparently, but still) with location services set to ask me every time
Are you using Gbord? Changing your keyboard app is easy and may be painless depending on how you type. I like Heliboard, there are many others though https://f-droid.org/packages/helium314.keyboard/
You can also use something like RethinkDNS https://f-droid.org/packages/com.celzero.bravedns/ and block connections to Google (or anywhere else)
Those would be a start
Heliboard is excellent. I’ve been using the privacy focused FUTO keyboard, which meets my needs a little better. It’s not open source, but it is source available, so I trust it as long as that’s the case. Otherwise, heliboard would easily be my top choice.
I don’t know how helpful it will be, but probably the best thing to do is to just find ways to decrease its use. For me, I made two big changes:
- Bought a step counter.
- Bought an alarm clock.
Those two purchases mean I can turn my phone off at night completely and only have to have it on during the day when I’m actually using it.
That’ll help cut down on the data collection. Technologically, I don’t think there’s a way to have it on 24/7 and completely turn off its native data collecting elements.
If you do need to have it on 24/7, the two biggest changes you can make are turning off location services and mic/content access on all of the apps you use.
It’s not a 100% solution, but it’ll cut down on a lot of the nonsense.
Now if only there was a way to make it quit nagging me to turn on location every time I try to use maps. I fucking know location is off you stupid fucking “smart” phone.
I have mine set so I’m prompted to enable my location ‘this time only’, so I get a popup to prompt me whenever I open a maps app. The other options I have are to enable it ‘when app is in use’ and ‘always’, neither of which I like, personally.
I’m not sure if that’s a universal thing though.
You could avoid Google messaging apps, avoid Gmail, avoid Chrome and replace the Google keyboard with something else. But I don’t think you can really stop Google watching and listening on stock Android. That’s why the replacement OSs exist.
If Google play service is running… Yeah, you are fucked, GPS owns your phone and it allows you to use it.
Even if location services are disabled?
Yeah… Think of them as super user on your devide…
You are just a user
Anything that runs the Android version that came with it will gather data on you and short of permanently disabling the data connection, you will not be able to escape it. Google gives back door access to everything it wants, constantly sends encrypted data packets to its servers that only they know what they contain and doesn’t give you the ability to stop any of it.
If you have a Pixel phone installing GrapheneOS is incredibly easy. It gives you full control over what the apps installed on it are allowed to do on your phone, including Google’s if you wish to install them (unlike on other phones where the privacy options are grayed out for them and permanently enabled). Mind you, you will lose some functionality if you block everything. But you are empowered to decide which apps you trust to do what on your own phone and disable what you don’t need.
If you have something else than a Pixel, LineageOS is an option, however the installation process might be more complicated.
Mind you, with the FOSS alternatives you will sometimes experience some jank or advanced features that don’t work. But it is a tiny price to pay to know you’re not giving your data away. It has gotten far better in the last few years as well, at least from my experience with GrapheneOS
Try using Signal first, in addition to a FOSS keyboard.
Heliboard for Foss purist.
Futo if you need local voice processing
Disable apps
Google exists for selling ads. All their tech exists to support them doing just that. You’re the product.
GrapheneOS and kiss your live maps goodbye.
Faraday bags for phones.
FWIW, music detection happens on device with a relatively small library of hashes.
When music plays nearby, your phone compares a few seconds of music to its on-device library to try to recognize the song. This processing happens on your phone and is private to you.
That’s for Pixels. I believe the result also stays on your phone.
Wow, I had no idea. that’s pretty impressive. I know that it also keeps a record of every song detected. I’m not sure if that stays on device or not.
TrackerControl is an effective firewall. Blocking internet access to most google apps, like google framework. It should suffice for most of your needs. Even if it detects something, the data won’t be sent to their servers.
Do test to see if any other services end up broken while blocked.
How is the battery draw on that? I see it uses a local VPN which I imagine would affect it somewhat.
I’ve just charged my phone so I’ll look at the battery usage after a couple of hours, but it’s likely very low
You can download AdGuard (it’s not in the Play Store, download it from their website) and block Internet access, selectively, for pretty much any app (even system apps) and to any domain name. I’ve been using it for years to block ads. It’s not free, it’s like $10/year, but it’s better than something free like NextDNS.
