GOS Phones Can't TX/RX to/from or Ping Wifi Network Peers, Including Themselves

snottnose

Thanks ICyScroll for your info about LocalSend. That convinces me to hang around GOS longer, because I dearly love it and have become critically dependent on it (GOS). As loyal as I've been to GOS, and for so long, the question remaining is very painful, "What do we replace GOS with if Google is successful in grinding them out?".

Do you have any idea what you would do without GrapheneOS? I consider their demise highly unlikely in the very near term. But the farther I look into the future, the spookier it gets.

userofgos

snottnose But the farther I look into the future, the spookier it gets.

We still have until April 2032 before support for the Pixel 9a (longest supported device) ends (not including additional security updates): https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-lifetime

See GrapheneOS latest tweets regarding the current state they are in: https://xcancel.com/GrapheneOS/status/1964810433992261960#m

GrapheneOS

snottnose What makes you think hobby projects based on AOSP which have never been able to keep up with updates are going to be able to do better? Why are you promoting highly insecure operating systems based on something you don't have evidence is tied to GrapheneOS specifically?

snottnose

Sorry, GrapheneOS. I didn't intend to either criticize GOS or promote any of the lesser ROMs. I'm deeply offended at how Google's tying as hard as possible to wipe out GOS & the entire custom ROM community. My problem is not with GOS, but with Google. If they're successful, I don't know what I or any of the other GOS users would do.

Obviously I offended you. Please forgive me.

userofgos

snottnose Obviously I offended you. Please forgive me.

I'm pretty sure they are not offended, even if it came across that way. They simply care about correcting inaccurate/misleading claims about security and privacy, especially when it comes to these alternative AOSP OS's that are constantly spreading misinformation, and causing harm to GrapheneOS (the OS, the Developers, it's users), and those that new/unaware of the nuances when it comes to security/privacy and data collection.

Quite often these alternative insecure AOSP OS's and their communities focus heavily on "de-googling" which tends to draw a lot of newcomers, in the name of reducing the data collection from Big Tech and enforcing the idea that "everything Google is bad", and also their goal should be to avoid anything Google on Android, which is incredibly nuanced and comes with a lot of hurdles that most individuals will give up on.

These alt AOSP OS's consistently berate GrapheneOS for only supporting Google Pixels, using Sandboxed Google Play instead of microg (which is less secure, but these alt AOSP OS's still use, so in that sense they are not "degoogled"), and yet they are all lagging behind on security patches and are based on AOSP so they are still dependent on Google regardless.

snottnose

It appears GOS is flanked by adversaries, Google from on high & the Alts nipping at their heels,

I'm working feverishly to backup my phone before reseting it. Documenting every setting of some fairly advanced apps is a huge headache. I hope I don't miss anything.

App Manager by Muntshir Al-Islam, on F-Droid looks promising for documenting my apps. If you know of anything better, I'd be thankful for any recommendations.

IcyScroll

snottnose App Manager is a great tool. Even for just viewing the most recently updated apps or verifying checksums of .apk files and signatures used to sign them. You can even get it from IzzyOnFdroid Repo.

userofgos

snottnose if you need a quick and simple solution to backup your SMS, MMS, Call Logs, Contacts, Blocked numbers you can use SMS IMPORT/EXPORT app; copy those files to USB, and then import them through the same app installed on GrapheneOS.

A useful tool I use is AppListBackup to create a list of all my apps which I then reference whenever needed. It allows you to also filter apps by the App Store they where installed with which can be helpful.

snottnose

Another similar, but with a totally different feature set is JINA Drawer.

If it interests you, as my thanks for your help here, I've adopted a lot of Michael Bazzell strategies for privacy. I use a Pixel 8a in my back pocket as a hotspot for my Pixel 8 Pro that has no SIM card. It gets wifi from the 8a unless I'm home. The 8a has location disabled and was purchased under a pseudoname from Amazon using a throwaway account and delivered to a dropbox. I was able to avoid KYC with US Mobile. My VoIP account is with VoIP.ms & I use Groundwire softphone. The cost is carrying around the 2nd phone, along with my text messsages chopped into 160 character SMS segments. But, except for maybe the NSA, I'm not geo-tracked.

I spend $44 for _unlimited data with US Mobile + ~$5/month with VoIP.ms. I burnt a few brain cells getting it all working, but I'm a lot more free as a citizen.

Extreme Privacy - What It Takes To Disappear - 5th Edition (2024), by Michael Bazzell

https://inteltechniques.com/book7.html

The digital book is a downloadable .PDF.

I use simplelogin for anonymous email forwarding with a 3-character .ME custom domain. They have a reverse alias that helps a lot.

BTW, I'm not connected to Bazzell, US Mobile, VOiP.ms, or simplelogin.

userofgos

snottnose Another similar, but with a totally different feature set is JINA Drawer.

oof that UX/UI is ancient lol. I appreciate the suggestion, but I'll stick with the default launcher.

snottnose I've adopted a lot of Michael Bazzell strategies for privacy.

I heard about him a few years ago and have gone through his site (not thoroughly), I have yet to read his books though.

I don't quite understand the security/privacy benefits of carrying a second phone with sim/esim and connecting the "offline from cell network" 8a to wifi via hotspot from the 8 Pro. I believe it would be much more secure/private to only use public wifi on the 8a with a VPN you've paid for anonymously, and never turn off Airplane mode.

Is your 8a in airplane mode? If not, it still still is sending signals regardless of having no sim/esim.

snottnose

With your airplane mode suggestion, you had my heart pumping. That would have been great to contain the broadcasting. But, sadly, when I turned on airplane mode, it turned off the 8a's hotspot.

For what its worth, I use a common SSID "xfinitywifi", using some Unicode "homoglyphs". Characters that look similar, but have a different character code (copy "xfinitywifi" between the quotes and check it out). Also I use the full 63-character limit of random characters for the hotspot password. Also check out Password Tech (https://pwgen-win.sourceforge.io).

Bazzell consults to celebrities on privacy & communications. I've benefited a lot from his book.

userofgos

snottnose when I turned on airplane mode, it turned off the 8a's hotspot.

Sorry I think I misunderstood your setup, I thought the 8a was the offline device, but it is the Pixel 8 Pro. The offline device is the one that you want to always have Airplane mode on. Also, that is the initial response of turning on Airplane mode, it will turn off of cellular, wifi, and bluetooth. However, you can still enable wifi and bluetooth while Airplane mode is still on (and the OS will remember that in the future)

snottnose

Airplane Mode + persistant Wifi & Bluetooth worked, just like you said. Thanks, userofgos for a great recommendation.

snottnose

As far as I'm concerned, Mods can close this thread. I learned that my phone was corrupt, and needed to be reset, which I did.

For all those who chimed in, please accept my deepest gratitude. Most of all to GrapheneOS and the entire team for all the stress they're enduring, the sleep lost, and how this is surely costing them money individually.

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