Own your Android device and protect privacy

By Gabriel, 31 May 2019 , updated 26 Aug 2023

In this post I'll describe my experience re-installing android on my phone and "regain" control on it.

Following up on https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/android.en.html I very much like the idea of “regain control” on my android device:

Here are the main reasons why:

• restrict permissions access to some apps
• restrict my contacts list to only apps that need it. really
• avoid un-easy situations where my google account remember that i fly last year with my friends to that place and that maybe i want to go again this year… using this on-sale airlines

I did it for my 2 previous android plus another android device for my brother. But it is not easy: I had 1 failed Because of the protection on the phone preventing to unlock the bootlaoder.

Reluctant to go through the same painful and time consuming process (and finally unsuccessful!) it was important for me to choose a model whose bootloader can officially be unlock.

I intend this post to people that can still be hesitant about it. By choosing the right, supported device, the whole operation is easier…

WIP