Using VPN and the IP Leaking? Is GrapheneOS make more suspicious?

Mr-potatoL

Am using GrapheneOS for like 3 months form now, And i use Always-on VPN & Block Connection, and edit the sittings on apps for more private.. How i see ads from my country in Apps? Isn't that leaking?

Is what am doing enough for hiding from ISP?

Other Q is grapheneOS and VPN make more suspicious?

I read a lot from other people here and watch a lot of videos but i need more explanation to understand what i missed.. ;(

de0u

Mr-potatoL Am using GrapheneOS for like 3 months form now, And i use Always-on VPN & Block Connection, and edit the sittings on apps for more private.. How i see ads from my country in Apps? Isn't that leaking?

It's hard to say. Note that even if you use a VPN to look like you are in a different country if you visit enough "foreign" sites (in your real country) that pattern could be detected.

[deleted]

Mr-potatoL

https://inteltechniques.com/book7a.html

https://inteltechniques.com/book7d.html

Buy those, they're cheap and are updated constantly for only the one time fee of initial purchase. Since you seem to take the time to research stuff, I think those will cover most of what you're looking for.

[deleted]

Mr-potatoL There are lots of ways to be tracked beyond just a VPN, security is about layering. A VPN is one step of multiple steps to hardening. There are firewalls, browsers, tightening general settings, avoiding certain software all together, using PII to pay for services, fingerprinting, where you ship to, etc, etc. You're on the right track, so I recommend those books above which are specific to mobile and VPN's. If you're more generally interested in privacy, he has a good book on that too on his website and Amazon. There are helpful people here as well as some YTers (Naomi brockwell for example).

This type of stuff takes a lot of time and research, it's a marathon not a sprint so don't get discouraged.

Mr-potatoL

[deleted] thanks for answering my wondering,
Am just using this phone for social media apps; that not related to me on any thing except the Wi-Fi(IP) this is my huge issue..

[deleted]

Mr-potatoL I would tell you if you're going to use social media to use it through a hardened browser instead of using apps. Most social media apps these days are essentially spyware in their permission request and data collection. Look at the privacy policy for tiktok for example and you'll see what I mean. Even though your VPN is on, apps are still sending out telemetry (which is why some people use customs DNS filters like nextdns.io) on top of a VPN. VPN and Firewall/DNS aside, are you using emails and real names when creating these accounts? Are you restricting app permissions and settings? Are you connecting to a VPN server in your country or outside of your county? Are you uploading contacts? There are too many variables to discuss, I encourage you to read the two PDF's I have suggested above.

Side note: understand that just by participating in certain types of things (like social media), it is the nature of the beast regarding data collection.

de0u

[deleted] Side note: understand that just by participating in certain types of things (like social media), it is the nature of the beast regarding data collection.

Very plausibly that's enough data to generate ads related to the country the social-media user lives in.