My dilemma is that I like the Blackphone but the price tag is horrendous (particularly when shipping and customs added). Unless a new Blackphone is announced at MWC at a decent price with decent specs ill stick with trying to customize a stock phone. I would like to build a guide for self customization guide for android (once my encryption guide is complete). The goal is to take an off the shelf Android phone and replace it with a friendly ROM (where Google Play and associated items removed or removable). Some of the core questions are: *Custom ROM to choose? *Permission control app (use xPrivacy) *Wifi control (eg. disabling wifi when away from home) *Browser *Texting application *VPN application? *Replacement for Google Play Other suggestions?
Yes seen the Guardian Project but think are going to be three ways to get the desired outcome 1.) Purchase a BlackPhone 2.) Purchase a Nexus for Guardian Rom (hard to assess option given current availability) 3.) Take a high end phone supported by ROM makers and replace ROM and then customize from there. Currently the third option makes the most sense because it is a known entity and offers broad range of hardware.
Good source, thanks mirimir. Does anyone know a good app for disabling wifi when you go outside of your home area?
Shouldn't that already be on there already. Something like don't connect automatically to unknown networks.
Slightly different to what I mean. The Blackphone disables wifi completely when you are outside of your home area. Presumably does this by roughly approximating your position through cell tower triangulation. Normally wifi will not connect automatically to unknown networks but it will let them know that you are there.
For: *Custom ROM to choose? May Be Cyanogenmod? Not as secure as Guardian or Blackphone. But better than Stock Android. *Permission control app (use xPrivacy) - Privacy guard in Cyanogenmod *Wifi control (eg. disabling wifi when away from home): Smarter WiFi Manager - Open Source (compiled app for Android is paid) *Browser : FireFox - Open Source, Non Profit *Texting application : Text Secure - Open Source, Free *Replacement for Google Play - as Zapjb mentioned: f-droid Additional: Android IMSI Catcher Detector - Catch fake base stations and stingray type devices - open source, free Customize the list of approved Trusted Root Certs - Manual process AdAway - Update hosts file from free sources for ad and malware domains - open source, free Guardian Project Apps (Multiple) Good luck
I agree with GreenStreetHoligan and would like to add https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy rom: cyanogenmod base or slim rom xprivacy is good + if their is a Privacy (app) guard is essential --- Browser: I love Naked browser personally because it is stripped down and the developer for now has the privacy of the users at heart, imho. Firefox is apparently good as well (about time). Orweb (w/ Orbot) is decent but it leaks your IP address thru HTML5 videos, even if the video is not played. http://xordern.net/why-you-really-shouldn't-use-orweb-anymore.html ChatSecure Also, if you post pics on the web I would definitely consider ObscuraCam.
RedPhone & TextSecure. Both are open source and coded by Moxie Marlinspike who is a really really smart guy and knows his crypto. Then maybe use CCleaner or some other Android cleaner and your on solid ground. But first thing is #1 on the list upgrade and install firmware updates to your phone.
Trying them out, but nobody in my contacts use them... Even after telling them about it, they don't really see the point.
Yes, unfortunately it's not yet Android 5.x ready as the Xposed framework is not yet fully compatible. There is an Xposed alpha version and an unofficial alpha for 5.1 but it seems that they still cause problems. For now I'm sticking with the CM privacy manager in combination with Adaway (with some additional hosts files), AdblockPlus (with acceptable ads disabled, of course) and AFWall+.
Well, I've been successful in convincing some people to use TextSecure in order to communicate with me. For all their other contacts they still use WhatsApp, though ...
LOL. People would look at me as though I went nuts even if I as much mention the word "privacy". I gave up.
I've had the same problem myself. TBH, it is hard to convince 'normal' folks to take privacy into consideration with regards to phones, cpu, etc. Yet, it was easy to get a handful of people a couple of years ago to use the Textra app (many regrets for that).
Since I have started turning into a big Qubes OS fan of late I have started wondering how this could be applied in the android environment. Is there any readily available virtualization for android?