Lineage OS

I installed Lineage 22.2/MindtheGapps yesterday on my Pixel 3a, but I cannot get Wi-fi calling (or messaging) to work. I can see that VoLTE is available/provisioned. But when I try to toggle the "Wi-Fi calling" option under Verizon it toggles back and says that the "Carrier Setup keeps stopping."

I was running vintage Sargo until yesterday on this phone, and Wi-fi calling worked fine. I live in an area without cell coverage and so I depend on Wi-fi calling, but I haven't found any solutions online.

Any leads? I probably shouldn't go back to Sargo...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31842407

https://kevinboone.me/lineageos-degoogled.html

In an earlier article I wrote about my attempts to remove all trace of Google from my life. Part of that process, which is still ongoing, was to install Lineage OS on all my Android cellphones and tablets, replacing the original, vendor firmware. Doing this removes the egregious Google Play Services although, of course, this severely limits my ability to run Android apps. That’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make, although not without some regrets.

I’ve subsequently learned that hard-core de-Googlers eschew Lineage OS, because it remains too close to the stock configuration of the Android Open-Source Project (AOSP) on which it is based. There are certainly smartphone ROMs, like GrapheneOS, that are even more Google-free.

But I’ve grown to like Lineage. I don’t know what kind of future it has, but it works well for me, and it’s easy – as easy as can be expected – to install on all the devices I own. Installing and setting up Lineage is fiddly enough; I don’t want to make my life even more complicated, if I don’t have to.

Those of us who are divorcing Google worry most, I think, about Google’s intrusive data collection. Of course, Google is by no means the only business that engages in such practices – “surveillance capitalism” is big business. But Google presents a unique challenge because, not only does it collect a lot of data, it has a lot of clever ways to process it, and find connections between disparate data elements. Before my Google separation, it always amazed me how Google seemed to know where I was all the time, even with location services disabled on my smartphone. And Google’s advertisers seem to know what I’ve been shopping for, even when I’ve been doing my shopping in person at retail outlets. How Google does this, I don’t know; but I do want to reduce their opportunities to do so.

So I need to know what information my cellphone is sending to Google, even having removed all proprietary Google stuff.

I have to point out that I’m not talking about additional, 3rd-party apps that I might have installed on a Lineage OS device – all apps have the potential to create privacy problems, but I’m free not to use them. Here I’m just thinking about the platform itself.

Note
I run Lineage with no Google apps or services of any kind. If you do run Google services, you have to accept that absolutely everything you do with an Android device will be known to Google. There’s simply no point worrying about the trivial privacy breaches in this article – that would be like taking a cyanide pill and then worrying about your ingrown toenail.

In this article I’ll be describing various data leaks of which Lineage OS has frequently been accused, reporting which ones seem still to be present, and suggesting (well, guessing) how serious they might be.

The captive portal test

“Captive portals” are often found in hotels and entertainment venues. In a captive portal, all Internet traffic gets directed to the venue’s network filter, which ensures that the user has paid for a service or, at least, consented to some usage agreement.

Android performs a captive portal test every time the device enables a network connection. This test is a simple HTTP or HTTPS request on some publicly-accessible webserver. The request is expected to return a success (2XX) code if the server is reachable. In a captive portal, the service-providing organization will capture the HTTP(S) request, and return a redirection code to its own webserver. This server will provide a web page with further instructions.

By default Lineage OS uses Google’s webservers for the captive portal test. This means that Google knows every time a device raises a network connection.

Is this a problem? Google doesn’t get to find out anything except the IP number of the device, some limited information about the type of device, and the time of day. I’ve looked at the source code, and I don’t see any information other than this being sent – the code just uses the standard Java HTTP support to make the request. It’s plausible that, with a wide-area connection, the carrier might add additional information to the request, and Google might be able to infer your location from the IP number.

If you consider this to be too much of a risk, you can change the captive portal connectivity checker. Lineage provides no simple interface for this, but you can do it at the command line (e.g., by running a terminal app, or adb shell). You don’t need to root the phone to do this.

$ settings put global captive_portal_http_url http://my_server 
$ settings put global captive_portal_https_url https://my_server 

Unless you want to disable the captive portal check completely, you’ll need to identify a public webserver that can provide the appropriate response. There are many such servers; some Android replacements that focus more on de-Googling, like GrapheneOS, default to using one of these rather than Google. Even then, they usually have Google’s servers as a fall-back, because an outage of the conectivity check server could otherwise cause serious disruption.

On the whole, I regard this (captive portal check) a relatively harmless breach of privacy. It isn’t telling Google anything they’re not going to find out about in other ways.

DNS

Every time you use a hostname to identify a remote server, there’s going to be a DNS lookup. This lookup translates the hostname into a numeric ID for use with the TCP/IP protocol.

Internet service providers and mobile carriers operate DNS servers, but so does Google. DNS is potentially a privacy problem because the DNS server gets to learn every site you visit. It won’t see the actual URL of a web request – just the hostname. Still, that’s enough information to be concerned about. But it’s worth thinking about who the “you” is in “every site you visit”. To track you, personally, as an individual, the DNS server needs a way to relate your IP number to something that identifies you. There’s no definitive way for Google (or anybody) to do that; but there are statistical methods that can be very effective. They are particularly effective if you happen to use Google’s other services, because these will link a small number of personal Google accounts to an IP number.

Is this a problem for Lineage OS? While it might have been in the past, I don’t think Lineage now uses Google’s DNS, except perhaps as a fallback. Both WiFi and carrier Internet connections are initiated using protocols that can supply a DNS server. On my Lineage devices, I’m sure that these are the DNS servers that are being used. Still, there are references to Google’s DNS server – 8.8.8.8 – in the AOSP source code. So I can’t prove that Google’s DNS will never be used.

If you want, you can supply your own DNS server in the network configuration in the Settings app. But, unless you run your own DNS in the public Internet, you’ll be putting your trust in one mega-corporation or another. I suspect most are less worrying than Google, but perhaps not by much.

By the way – Lineage OS supports encrypted DNS. While that will prevent third-parties from snooping on your DNS traffic – including your mobile carrier or ISP – this won’t protect you from snooping at the DNS server itself. So encrypted DNS is no protection against Google, if you’re using Google’s DNS.

Assisted GPS

It takes a long time for a mobile device to get a robust fix on GPS satellites – a minute in good conditions, or several minutes in a weak signal area. Assisted GPS (A-GPS) primes the satellite fix using environmental data. This data might including a coarse location from a cellular network. With A-GPS, a satellite fix might take only a few seconds.

A-GPS data is processed by a remote server, that has the storage capacity to handle the large amounts of data involved. The main operator of such servers is, again, Google.

What can Google learn about a device using Assisted GPS? As in any Internet operation, it will find the device’s IP number, and it might find the coarse location. The Internet traffic associated with A-GPS can be encrypted but this, again, won’t protect it from Google. To determine the location of a specific individual, Google has to be able to relate the IP number to the individual. As discussed above, that can be done with a reasonable degree of confidence.

On recent Lineage versions, A-GPS is disabled by default. If enabled, it uses Google’s servers – so far as I know there are no widely-available alternatives. I just keep it disabled, and live with the disadvantage of longer GPS start-up times.

Time synchronization, NTP

At one time, Lineage OS used Googles’ time servers to set the time on the device. So far as I know, this is no longer the case – a general pool of NTP servers is used. Even if that were not the case, I can’t worry too much about leaking time synchronizing data.

WebView

I believe that WebView is the most troubling source of privacy concerns for Lineage OS, and the one whose ramifications are the least well-understood.

WebView is a component of Android that renders web pages. Of course, a web browser will do this, but many Android apps and services have a need to render pages without actually being a browser. The ‘captive portal’ support I described above is an example: the device needs to render a page for user to log in or purchase Internet access, even if no web browser is installed.

Lineage OS uses the WebView implementation from the AOSP, which is based on Chromium. Chromium is Google Chrome without the proprietary Google stuff, and it’s undoubtedly less of a privacy concern than Chrome would be. But Chromium, even though it’s open-source, is still primarily a Google product.

There are many known instances where Chromium will provide some user data to Google servers. For example, we know that Chromium downloads lists of ‘unsafe’ websites to support its ‘safe browsing’ feature. This will happen however Chromium is used. When used as a regular web browser, Chromium might send data to Google for its ‘hot word’ detection, for example.

When Chromium is only used to provide a WebView implementation, I’m not convinced that these minor privacy breaches are significant. It’s worth bearing in mind that the Jelly browser that is shipped with Lineage OS is just a wrapper around the Chromium WebView – if you use this browser, you’ll have the same privacy concerns as if you use Chromium itself.

There are a number of Google-free WebView implementations, like Chromite. GrapheneOS uses a WebView implementation called Vanadium, which is essentially a de-Googled Chromium. Installing one of these implementations on Lineage OS is not straightforward, or so it seems to me.

I don’t use Jelly or Chromium itself as a web browser – I install a browser that is not based on Google code, like Firefox. This limits my exposure to Chromium to occasions where WebView is used other than as a browser. In my normal usage, I don’t think there are many of those occasions, so I’m not too worried about WebView.

Nevertheless, it remains a slight concern and, if I could replace it without a lot of effort, I would.

Are we in tinfoil hat territory now?

I don’t like Google knowing so much about me, but I don’t believe Google’s data collection is directly harmful to me. My disapproval of Google’s activities (and I know Google is not the only culprit) is mainly one of principle. I don’t want to be a source of revenue for Google, or to legitimize their behaviour by my own inaction. I don’t want Google to make the Internet more of a hellscape that it currently is.

But I’m not paranoid. I don’t think Google is out to get me, or is in league with people who are. My rejection of Google falls short of doing things that will make my life hugely more difficult.

I am aware, all the same, that I have one foot in tinfoil hat country.

I know a few people – some in my own family – who eschew smartphones because they create time-wasting distractions. I certainly know people who don’t give smartphones to their kids, because of the well-known risks that social media poses to their mental health. But almost nobody avoids Google because they believe, as I do, that the surveillance economy is detrimental to society in the long term. Even those few who do believe this are mostly not willing to take action, because they believe (or convince themselves) that the benefits of a connected world outweigh the costs of a total lack of privacy. For me that’s like understanding the risks of climate change, and yet choosing to run two or three gas-guzzling cars because it’s a half-mile walk to the shops.

The few people who do believe as I do, and are willing to act on their beliefs, tend to be people who also believe that they’re being monitored by the CIA, or that Covid vaccines are implanting mind-control receivers. That’s not a gang that I want to run with.

On the whole, I’m satisfied that Lineage OS, as I use it, is preventing nearly all of Google’s data collection. I don’t install or use any Google services, I don’t enable A-GPS, I don’t use Chromium or the built-in browser. I could eliminate more arcane aspects of data collection – like the Internet connectivity check – if I wanted to take the trouble.

I don’t think that taking reasonable precautions to avoid becoming part of Google’s data collection economy makes me a tinfoil-hatter. Nevertheless, I would probably use GrapheneOS instead, if I had devices that supported it. Ironically, if I wanted to use GrapheneOS, I’d have to buy Google-branded mobile devices, which is an irony that really stings.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31808224

Please see the cross-post as it is updated.

What is the best degoogled tablet for an artist

what is the best tablet for iodeOS, GrapheneOS and LineageOS

• with smooth stylus support that is as good as apple pen
  • palm rejection
  • pressure sensitive stylus
  • works well for krita / excalidraw / xournalapp
  • latency
• at least 16GB RAM and 256GB storage

For iodeOS, it doesn't seem to support any tablet device officially

• iodéOS official supported devices - iodé

For GrapheneOS, the only choice is google pixel tablet (or maybe pixel fold). However

• pixel tablet have latency issue
  • based on Google Pixel Tablet Review - YouTube
• pixel fold does not support stylus
  • workaround This Stylus Pen works with the Google Pixel Fold - YouTube
• Can someone share their GrapheneOS pixel tablet experience on krita / excalidraw / xournalapp?

For LineageOS

• What tablet+stylus+LineageOS has the best performance?
• What tablet+stylus+LineageOS has the best balance between price and performance?
• Can someone share their stylus experience on krita / excalidraw / xournalapp?

Sincere thanks

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/31808224

Please see the cross-post as it is updated.

One thing I missed from my iPhone that was not really possible was to pay with a phone that runs Lineageos.

That has changed now since PayPal seems to finally offer a mastercard payments with NFC. And it works just fine on LINEAGEOS.

Jusf posting it here to everyone who are still carrying their other phones due to lack of possibly to pay easily with a phone.

Not sure who needs to read this, but if like me you're using Android Auto with your LineageOS/other libre OS smartphone, you probably need to go to Android Auto's development settings (click 10x on Android Auto's version number) > "Allow apps from unknown sources", so that apps from Aurora Store/F-Droid can connect correctly to Android Auto. I used to have "Media Unavailable" whenever I tried to play things on my car, and this fixed it.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/27843355

https://obzorje.kompot.si/apps/files_sharing/publicpreview/m7wX7xw7ybgHDyR?file=%2F&fileId=9275787&x=1920&y=1080&a=true&etag=c8736e55e40cf4ccb90eb316efa2423a
The left side of the image above shows how icons currently look in LineageOS even when the dark theme is enabled in the phone settings. At least when using the default launcher, Trebuchet (com.android.launcher3).
Right side is how I imagine that icons should look like with dark theme enabled.
Ideally, this change should take affect across whole system. So on home screen, in the app drawer and in all other parts of the UI where app icons get displayed.

My two questions for you:

1. Any ideas or suggestions for what options or workarounds could be used to achieve this right now?
   • Yes, launcher with support for custom icons could mitigate part of this issue.
   • Themed Icons affects just home screen and changes whole icons instead of just background.
2. What would be the development / contribution process for introducing this functionality into LineageOS by default?
   • LineageOS issue tracker prohibits submission of feature requests. Which part of the internet would then be most appropriate for discussion about how to make this happen?
   • Is this even within a scope of LineageOS? Should this feature be implemented within AOSP in order to get introduced into LOS?

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/25723462

I would have used https://farside.link/ to point to a privacy frontend instead of Youtube directly.
But current tests show that doing so almost never results in a playable video.
So for now you get to visit the nasty spyware-filled Youtube interface. I hope that you all use browser addons that help you mitigate that.

Hello. I have a Xiaomi Mi Mix 2S with LineageOS, rooted with Magisk. When I open the Kia Connect app, it tells me that I cannot use it because my phone is rooted. In Magisk, I have the Play Integrity Fix module and Zygisk Assistant installed. What I usually do when this happens is mark the app in the Magisk deny list, but even when I do that for this app, it still detects the root. How can I fix this? Thank you very much.

What do you think about this? I'm personally against anything enabled by default, especially if it can cause slowdowns. However I understand the importance of backups so this change makes some sense.

I am looking to replace the debug keys with custom keys in order to relock the boot loader. Has anyone done this? What do I need to do?

Whether it be phone, tablet or other, just curious if there are any e-ink devices that will reliably run Lineage

Thanks

Phone still works (for now) and the house spare is a Samsung A50.

If you were going to update today, what's the best LOS platform?

I just flashed LineageOS 20 on my LG V20 (H918) phone. All seems to work except I cannot encrypt the device. When I go into the device settings and tap on "Encrypt Phone", nothing happens. I even have my phone plugged in and charging with the battery at 100%.

Hello! on the wiki it is written that OnePlus Nord models are supported, but does this means any Nord XX model is good? like the OnePlus Nord 2T for example

I just upgraded my LG V20 (H918) phones to LineageOS 19.1 and I tried to format my SD card in my Android storage settings and it failed every time I tried. I can still boot into the Android OS, but when I go to boot into the TWRP recovery, it will always freeze on the TWRP boot startup screen. Therefore I cannot reflash LineageOS onto the device, or even update the ROM.

I cannot reflash TWRP or even flash LineageOS recovery in fastboot mode since I always get an error.

Does anyone know a way to solve this? To my understanding, trying to format the SD card caused this issue as the recovery was working before.

I have a Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e (gts4lvwifi) using LineageOS 20.0 and certain apps (mostly apps for QR scanning) does not work. The official camera app works, but apps like QR scanners, cryptocurrency wallets, etc. Any app that uses a camera for scanning a QR code will just show a black screen an crash or display an error after 10 seconds or so when trying to use the camera in the app.

I have ensures these apps camera permissions are enabled and that camera access is enabled.

I just upgraded my LG V20 (H918) phones to LineageOS 19.1 and all is working great except when I restart my phone when using a VPN with the “Always-On VPN” setting and “Block connections without VPN” setting is enabled, my phone cannot access the internet. Therefore my VPN cannot connect to its VPN services and connect to a VPN server. The only way to connect to my VPN from this point on is to disable “Always-On VPN” setting and “Block connections without VPN” setting and reboot my phone and then it will be able to connect to the VPN server.

I did not have this issue before. And I do not want to disable “Always-On VPN” setting and “Block connections without VPN” setting since this acts as a built in Android VPN kill switch.

Just why. This was like the third time it reminded me that I shouldn't have the phone I have.

I really don't understand the public desire to make these AIs like this.

Someone flashed their phone with lineageos and magisk ?

My phone is now very buggy, apps are crashing all the time, geolocation is lagging as well as network connectivity. I wish to know if I can make it more stable.

I am currently running Graphene OS and I am very happy with it, but I am not so happy with my Pixel phone. I am wanting to switch hardware that Graphene does not support.

Would I be losing many privacy & security advantages by switching to Lineage?

Every night I get a popup that asking me to allow phone to send SMS messages. It comes seemingly out of the blue and it kind of scares me

I own a Nexus 5X for testing purposes. I like to try out different roms and alternatives to Google's Android, so I had installed Lineage OS and other ROMs, and some months ago, flashed with stock Android.

But now, I lost these files to reinstall Lineage OS, and since the Nexus 5X is an unsupported device, there's no files on the website. Is there an alternative to get "cached files" from lineageos.org?