Buying Pixel phone from Google store?

Bootlace1170

I'm looking to buy a new pixel phone and generally google has great deals. Is there an issue with buying it straight from Google and installing GOS on it, from a privacy point of view, given that Google won't actually have access to the IMEI (with GOS installed)?

secrec

Well, if you can find somewhere else that will sell it to you for cash, then google won't know that you own it until you tell them by oem unlocking it (which can only be done by a network connection to google), aside from that, no issues, its coming from them anyway.

Bootlace1170

secrec Thanks. I was going to do OEM unlocking away from home (which I've done in the past) or by first sideloading a VPN.

lcalamar

secrec Hmmm - Hadn't considered that Google is tracking when I OEM unlock the device...

Is disconnecting from the internet (mobile/wifi) -the best method to hide this - or are there some other steps I should be taking?

(I am also going to be purchasing the P9Pro (not XL) when it is available (as my P6P has a pretty cracked display) - typically Google store (actually the FI store) - offers some good combo deals the first few days (phone and watch)...

de0u

lcalamar Hadn't considered that Google is tracking when I OEM unlock the device...

OEM unlocking requires the device to call a Google server, present its serial number, and receive an unlock signal. Thus the Google server inherently learns your IP address and the device serial number (which is 100% correlated with the IMEI).

Is disconnecting from the internet (mobile/wifi) -the best method to hide this - or are there some other steps I should be taking?

An Internet connection of some sort is required for the "contact Google server" step.

Bootlace1170

lcalamar That's why I've always unlocked at public wifi places. I don't want my IP address in anyway revealed to google so that they then know who I am, which is the reason why I bought it in cash last time. But this time, if the deals are too good to pass up, might buy it from google still, and just unlock it at home.

N1b

Bootlace1170 if it's important to you to not link your personal identity to your device identifiers, you could still order from google, but

order to a friend, colleague, hotel, pick-up station...
OEM unlock at a very public WiFi, install GOS before going online again
never use a SIM or eSIM in your device

The question is how important this procedure is to you. I recommend you do a basic threat model to find out what you really want/need to protect and against whom. You might come to the conclusion that it's not that important for you to hide your device identifiers or that you need to show them anyway for some use case (e.g. by using a SIM).

Pick your battles wisely to get the best lifestyle for yourself, without getting exhausted along the way.