does changing the device name give any privacy benefit?

DeletedUser338

i know that apps and websites can fingeprint a device or user based on many things (ip,hostname,performance,gpu and all sort of things)

if i change the device name to something generic like 'user' or 'john smith', would that make my device more fingerprintable?

GrouchyGrape

DeletedUser338 leaving it as the default is the most generic choice. I haven't looked into fingerprinting using device name specifically, but fingerprinting in general is simply finding what's different about the way your device responds to requests. Changing anything away from the default is one way to generate these differences. So, depending on various factors, in general it's best to leave everything at default value if you're attempting to "blend in".

n3t_admin

DeletedUser338 I have not looked into tracking by hostname/device name. I just ran with "Galaxy S24+", the most generic s*** I could come up with. That should blend in pretty well, given device dimensions are quite similar and the Pixel is basically a Samsung phone under the hood.

de0u

DeletedUser338 if i change the device name to something generic like 'user' or 'john smith', would that make my device more fingerprintable?

If there are 20,000 GrapheneOS users with a Pixel 8a called "Pixel 8a", and exactly 1 GrapheneOS user with a Pixel 8a called "john smith", that name is a pretty solid fingerprint.

DeletedUser338

de0u that's a good point!