Due to a tragic accident, my old Google Pixel 3A is now pushing up the daisies. A new phone was not on my plan for this week, but I had the old one for five or so years, and had bought it used, so needing a replacement isn't a huge huge loss.
So yesterday I got on eBay, as is my usual method, and ordered a Pixel 8A, which will be here in a few days. I always try to get the smallest phone possible. The 8A is still too big, but it's what they had.
In the meantime I pulled out my very old iPhone 5C, which will text but not call for some reason. And of course I can't install any apps on it, because it's so old, so I am stuck with the basics. I actually love the tiny size, and it works well, (aside from not making calls).
So I am on an accidental digital detox. I don't have a horrible phone addiction, no social media apps, but still somehow spend too much time on it. Perhaps a few days with a minimal phone will help to reprogram me. And it's worth considering how to set up my phone so I can keep it as minimal as possible.
Fortunately my data was fairly well backed up. I had photo auto upload in place and just added an auto upload for voice memos. My text messages were auto exported to my Gmail account, but not synced with the main google drive, so I probably won't be able to restore the text messages. And I used Signal while conversing with my family, which is notoriously difficult to save data from, so that is all gone as well. I believe it is possible transfer a Signal database from Android to another Android, but since the phone died unexpectedly, I don't have a way to restore that original file.
In a way this is a good thing, because it is making me consider my technology more. Instead of worrying about a Signal backup in future, I think I will make a little "journal," so that when I get a text that I think is worth saving, I copy and paste it into a file in Joplin or the like. Then I can have a sort of running list of highlights from the text messages, and skip all the pointless ones.
I also would like to get into the habit of using my digital camera instead of the phone camera. That is hard, because the phone camera is so good, and very convenient. But I love a single use device, and there is no room for distraction with a camera. At least I have a few days to practice that, because I certainly will not take pictures with the terrible iPhone 5C.
My main uses for a phone are calls, texts, maps, Signal, photos, podcasts, voice memos, library audiobooks, email once in a great while and checking headlines (and feeling guilty about it, because it is depressing and just a distraction, not real study of any issues). I would like to minimize that further, because I don't like carrying my phone around with me, so the iPhone 5C is actually great for podcasts for that reason. Too bad I can't install Libby for audiobooks on that device.
Update: Actually the contacts app doesn’t work right, can’t add a contact with Google Play Services turned off. Finding a non-Google contact app to use that will integrate properly with the rest of the apps is still a goal for me.
I have disabled Google Play Services, and find that everything is fine, so long as you take the time to disable the notices saying the app won’t work without Google Play Services. It says “Phone will not work without Google Play Services,” but that seems to be a lie, because if I ignore the notification, Phone (and everything else I can find) work just fine.
I have not found out how to do that across the boards. Seems to be you have to update it for each app individually. It seems the way to do that is to go to Settings –> Apps and Notifications –> Notifications –> See all from last 7 days –> tap the three dots menu, and tap ‘Show system.’ Then it’ll show the notifications from things like Sounds and Emergency Information, and you can toggle them off, mostly.
Except it won’t let me turn it off entirely for Phone and Emergency Information, but I can change the notification to Silent, and turn on Minimize, so it doesn’t go bing every five minutes, and the notice isn’t so big.
This is how it works in my Pixel 3a with Android 10 anyway. Could be different for other phones, and I can’t promise it won’t change.
NetGuard is a critical piece of my strategy in mitigating the evil tendencies of Google in my Android phone. I paid for the pro version, and I am very excited about it. It gets you some nifty features, and supporting good open source projects like this is a very worthy cause!
Netguard lets you set which apps on your phone are given cell and wifi access. The paid version provides the option to show system apps too, so you can block internet access attempts from practically anything you like. I have the option for (almost) all apps selected to “Notify internet access attemps,” so I know when a process is trying to connect, and I can decide if that seems reasonable to me.
My current strategy with my phone is to have Google Play Services enabled, (because the contacts app stopped functioning without it), but block network access from Google Play Services, and everything else I can from Google. I block with a fairly heavy hand, and figure I’ll see what breaks - it’s easy to change settings. And thus far, nothing has broken.
I just know that if an app I’m is trying to log in or do something online, and isn’t working (it doesn’t give an actual error, just doesn’t work), it’s probably because I blocked it through Netguard.
I certainly don’t know that much about all the apps and processes in there - others will be more informed about how to go about this task in a more strategic way. But my whole nerdy life has been built on getting in just a bit above my head and experimenting and seeing what happens. I’m an artist, not a programmer, so I feel that this should be enough to make things better, if not perfect.
It’s clearly swimming upstream to have digital privacy with the technology structured as it is. But hey, I try, and that’s better than nothing! I’m pleased with my progress, such as it is.
