If I get a Murena Fairphone with e/os preinstalled, is it useful without a Murena account?
In the same way I don’t like being locked into Google services I would rather not be dependent on Murena; I don’t intend to use their email or docs. I am wondering if it is possible to easily use an alternative app store.
Can I get away with having no Murena account and still have a usable phone?
Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/OS the deGoogled mobile OS and online services
@eddie
You do not have to use any of the options offered by /e/ Murena (e-Account, e-Mail, e-Drive, etc.). Your device can also be fully used without these “features”.
Thank you! This is good to know.
Is it possible to remove apps that are not needed tha come preinstalled? Ideally I would like to have my own mail, drive etc and remove anything preinstalled which I don’t want to use.
@eddie
The Syst/e/m apps cannot be officially disabled or uninstalled, but - it’s still largely possible. Use the forum search (top right - magnifying glass) and you will find hints.
I have it for three years now without a connected e-cloud account.
It depends on how you use your device, if you need to have contacts, calendar events and pictures and other stuff in the cloud. I say: my device owns it’s data, and there’s definitely not much on it except contacts and calendar. My picture folder is mostly empty. I use my mail servers for decades.
In my opinion the idea of having a smartphone always connected to a cloud by default and doing automated synchronizations is rather strange. It leads to idiotic data traffic and energy consumption (in the entire chain!). The inventors of that, big global companies, have their own motivation for providing such mechanisms: data.
An account with someone must be required for notifications?
I like to back up my contacts, but that’s all I keep on my Murena account. It’s nice to have that email too, but I don’t use it at all. In any case you don’t have to connect to Murena or any cloud service at all. The phone will work just fine. Though you’ll need to work out some kind of back up if you keep any important data on the phone.
I exported my contacts into a single vcf-file and saved it on a safe place. I have also exports of some other data, for instance my three e-mail-accounts including all their settings to be able to restore them in a second.
If you don’t want to use the cloud services for privacy reasons (no cloud use at all), I think that’s always a fair reason, but there is no reason to fear a ‘vendor lock-in’ with Murena - as all core components are open source. The cloud structure for instance is based on Nextcloud which relies on open standards (https://nextcloud.com/)
I’ve thought about doing that as well, but it’s nice to avoid another chore so I just take the path of least resistance.
There’s a big difference between storing data at Google and storing it at Murena. On the one hand you know Google is going to be reliable, on the other hand they could be and probably are scanning your data.
It’s funny Google has a range of privacy settings and of course I have everything set to off, but sometimes I wonder if those settings are just a placebo and Google is lying to us. I think it’s more like what’s yours is yours and what’s yours is mine.