So my problem is that I don’t have money for a new phone and I also need my banking app. Rooting is not possible.

Steps I’ve taken:
-removed and deleted my Google account
-disabled all default Android apps and all Google apps except for Play Services (needed for location service and the banking app) -denied all permissions for Play Services except location and movement sensors (can’t be denied), phone and sms (needed for the banking app)

I figure Google can still track my phone and use its location for traffic analysis, etc. but has no way of targeting me with ads (their main business) or connect my phone to my identity (no access to my contacts, call logs, keyboard, calendar, mail, etc.). I hope it turns me into a nameless device ID.

Does this help at all? Is there anything else I can do?

  • superkretOP
    6•11 months ago

    I don’t have money for a new phone, and there are no custom ROMs for a Gigaset GX290.
    Correct me if I’m wrong.

    • @MasterBuilder@lemmy.one
      1•11 months ago

      Never heard of this device. If it came from manufacturer with Android 10, it likely can take a GSI, which is a ROM build based on the standard interfaces manufacturers should be using for their devices. Andy Yan’s Lineage 20 is an example, which I use on my 5 year old mid tier Samsung tablet.

      If you can get one of these ROMs, and use MicroG, you will get a few years of life out of your phone. The performance boost is almost like getting a new phone.

      Edit: found this article that suggests GSI might work on the phone. If so, you might get Android 13.

      • superkretOP
        1•11 months ago

        Another AI-written article that is the same for every phone and just drops “GX290” in a placeholder for “phone model”.
        There is no relevant info for my phone here.

    • @Ogygus@lemmy.world
      0•11 months ago

      If you can get to TWRP, or flash a custom recovery, you can absolutely remove Google services, and then flash microg!

      Now that I think about it, there are various ways to get microg, but the easiest is to flash a custom rom with it integrated