What’s Your Story? How Did You Find /e/?

Hello everyone, happy to be here!

When Apple announced they were going to start IDing everyone’s photos before they uploaded to the cloud it was clear to me they no longer cared about user privacy, despite what their commercials tell us. I watched a video by pizzalovingnerd who said the Esolutions was on to something great. I’ve purchased 2 terecube phones, one for me and one for my wife to replace our current iPhones, we’re part of the 2nd batch and I can’t wait to hold the BEAUTIFUL OS in my hands.

Happy to be here, what’s your story?

Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online servicesphone

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Because of the rise of pervasive surveillance-capitalism over the last couple of decades, I’ve tried to protect myself in every digital way possible: in my computing, use of services, and on mobile. When I eventually migrated from Nokia Symbian to Android, I blocked everything Google I could in the OS, never created an account, and always used F-Droid FOSS app store instead of the Play store. (That’s not enough to protect you from Google, by the way). Being a Linux guy, I’ve always avoided Apple, as well, because of the lack of control and independence afforded the user. (Good decision, right?!)

I had been wanting for a long time to install a custom Android ROM, but it always seemed too complicated and scary. I’ve kept abreast of LineageOS developments, though, and when I learned about /e/OS, I knew it was exactly what I had been waiting for. Once their U.S. devices went on sale, I considered ordering one, but then I found a thread here for my present (and loved) Sony, and the maintainer’s instructions seemed clear enough for me to follow, so I took the plunge.

It turned out to be easy, and took only a few minutes to install. Now I have a more trustworthy, privacy-respecting device, plus, a more recent version of Android than the manufacturer ever provided, and greater battery life and performance. I’m very impressed with what /e/ has accomplished here.

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I discovered /e/ by chance. I have played around with quite a few custom ROMs but was getting weary of the dominance and control Google was having so I started using microG in my custom ROMs. Just by searching for Google-less ROMs did i come across e foundation. On my S9+ I switch between /e/ and iodè ROMs as both are focussing on control and privacy.
I’m not a ROM builder but I connected with a guy on Telegram who has built two versions of unofficial /e/ for my Samsung Tab A tablet which I continue to test. I have found /e/ is very good on battery life which is great when you only use secondhand devices. I live in New Zealand so /e/ is not well known at all!

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I, having been a long time CyanogenMod/LineageOS user, came upon an article about /e/ at www.theregister.co.uk and never looked back.

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I don’t care that much about privacy myself, at least not as much as I should. But the fact that it was becoming more and more difficult to opt out, paired with the fact that users couldn’t customize their phones to fit their needs led me to look for other solutions.

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Similar to others here. I always favored iOS, believed the privacy hype (to a certain extent), hated Android (due to the lack of privacy), but loved some of the Android phones. This new thing with Apple is just the thin edge of the wedge. Privacy on iOS will cease to exist. Of course no sane person condones CP, but cracking down on that, is how they sell the invasion of privacy, which will continue to different political opinions etc.

I did some research, saw there were a few deGoogled roms, liked this one as they have an installer (my days of spending weeks learning and attempting to modify gadgets are long gone - too old). I bought a second hand Galaxy S9 (great condition and price), and used the installer. It didnt go to plan, but eventually I got it working (it is beta software).

For me e/os is missing (unless I cant find it), the ability to restrict apps access to mobile data, and or wifi. That is essential for database/document apps that you dont want going on line, for your privacy and to meet any GDPR obligations. This feature is available in Calyx OS. They also have an installer, monthly OTA updates, but it is restricted to Pixel phones, which I cant get here and at the moment, I prefer my Samsung.

I think e/os should charge for the software, and share the income with the other developers whos software they use. I am happy to pay, to assure the ongoing development of this platform.

Another plus for this platform - longer battery life!

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One way to do this is in Settings. Click on your mobile network, then App Data Usage, and you’ll see the apps that currently have access to the internet. Clicking on any one of those will display its current data permissions (including WiFi), which you can toggle on or off. (This is for Android 10 builds; the settings might be slightly different for other versions, but similar.)

You can also check in Apps & Notifications for the heading called Permission Manager to adjust permissions for any app.

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And you can do it on a per app basis: EDIT #1: actually this is just another route to the same direction described by Taurus above :sweat_smile:

Settings > Apps & notifications > select: See all apps > press on an app > select: Mobile data & Wi-Fi > to see lots of toggles

EDIT#2: I use a Omega Launcher instead of Bliss. Here you can long touch an app icon on the home screen or app drawer to go directly to the app information in settings. ~Saves 1 click!

This is what I like about android , /e/, and the forum: learn something new every day.

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Searching, reading, searching, reading and so on for quite a while. Methinks it was an article in I read in one of my RSS feeds by chance.
Mr. Duval gave the credentials that covinced me to give it a try.

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I’m in the “give me the software to the hardware” camp. Mostly then it’s up to the wider community when electrical circuits enter their end-of-life. Smartphones are “complexifiers”, but on the other hand I’m curious and intrigued on a technical level.

I used Cyanogenmod or at least flashed it for friends in the past so when it came to myself to run a handheld, I read of /e/ from forum.fairphone.com and gave it a go.

I think the project is excellent, despite any weaknesses, I think Manoj helps alot to direct the community communications, the project works mostly in the open, employs the team, offers bugtrackers and buildsystems, this forum. I wish them success.

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Thank you so much Taurus and chrisrg, for the quick feedback. Having the standard launcher I used the method explained by Taurus.

That has made my day, so happy that I can control network access.

The app I have is Collabora Office, in the app store it says it wants full network access, but so far it hasn´t been online. Its a shame you have to wait until an app has gone on line before you can modify its behavior, but great news that I have control.

I have a personal and business phone, so will be getting another phone for me and my other half may want to join me on the other side.

Hope the installer starts to support more devices, I look forward to the day when the Z Fold 3, or maybe the Pixel 6 are up-gradable by the installer!

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I have been interested in custom ROMs for a long time but I did not have the time to tinker or the ambition to tinker to get one to work. Getting up in age has made me want to do more quickly and not spend precious hours in the day getting my phone to work. This is both a blessing and a curse as we allow companies to control our lives in the guise of easy or quick.
I have been using a work phone as a primary phone for years. Work never bothered with what I did or used on it. Couple of months ago they would be installing software to watch what we use and restrict apps. This was the final straw. Did some searching and found /e/. I had an old Samsung A5 (2017) kicking around and decided to give it a go. After about an hour of struggling to get it to work, I finally got it working. Have been using it since and even have received to OTAs during that time without issue.
Sorry for the long post, but I’m grateful there are people out there making OSes and software with privacy in mind. Glad to have made the switch and am working on letting friends and family know there are alternatives out there.

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tldr: came for the Easy Installer, stayed for the people and the user experience of /e/

I had played around with cyanogen mod back in the early android days and photon torpedo to root. Also always been interested in alternatives and privacy related tools.

More recently my wife who is completely non technical saw some videos about privacy and tracking and degoogled phones. I figure I would get her one for her birthday. I started looking around and didn’t find anything I could buy. I do embedded linux for my day job and didn’t really want to go down the rabbit hole of playing with android and maybe bricking her phone.
So I looked around for something to buy and really didn’t find much. A few were selling Pixels but they were either old or very expensive. I did land on the /e/ store but last Spring I didn’t see anything available for the US. So DIY it is.
It looked like the Motorola G7 Plus was one of the more recent phones that could take alternate ROMs and bhphoto had NEW ones for $150 I bought one to try. I started with Lineage as I figure that seemed the most stable and well supported as the Debian of the AOSP world.
Being new to it I ran into n00b problems with getting started and found /e/ again with the Easy Installer and it looked nice with the google replacements and out of box usability. Turns out the Easy Installer isn’t for Moto but I joined this forum and was able get quick response to my questions and got /e/ installed in time for her birthday.
Along the way I got a couple more Moto phones and converted and sold a few to other people. I also took her old G4 phone and that is now running /e/ (and for sale for $50…)
In addition to donating enough to get an /e/ shirt I wanted to contribute more and joined the R testing for the lake and river phones. Maybe I will jump into the code at some point and help out with bug fixing.
I still am too invested in the Goog and so far no one supports AOSP for Ulefone but I do have a spare G7 I am using as a second phone to get more familiarity with /e/

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“CP/drugs/terrorism is the root password to the constitution”

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I googled, how to get rid of google on my phone.

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I don’t particularly like the coverage of Ars Technica, but I do peruse it every so often and happened to do so the day they ran a feature on S9s being available with /e/ preinstalled.
I had messed around with Cyanogenmod back in the day, but fell out of the habit as phones became harder and harder to root/unlock/etc. I was interested in the concept of a deGoogled Android and always enjoyed the custom ROMs running on my phone, so I gave it a shot.
As @Taurus and @egx470 discovered, the Galaxy S9 wasn’t the best device to experience /e/ on, and I briefly went back to stock Android, but dug up a 256GB OnePlus 6T to experiment with and bought a G7 Plus off @newts to give the OS another chance. I’m glad I did! I’m still not crazy about having to use the Aurora Store to get some of the apps I need, but I have almost no gaps, better battery life, fewer distractions, and overall a better experience.

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I waited several years before buying my first Smartphone as I could not resolve myself to accept digital surveillance while I would not have accepted it in the real world.
I even bought an old school Nokia TA1034 in 2017 as I still could not trust smartphones.

Then came /e/. I patiently waited for the launch of the refurbished Samsung S7 which I bought 2 years ago. Still doing great!

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My story starts almost two years ago. Earlier I have discovered that Google is spying on me more than I would like to. I started reading and in 2017 I have bought new version of Nokia 3310. Cute small phone for calling and texting. I could check my (g)mail in the web browser. After around a year browser stopped reading most useful sites, like for example buses and trams in the city where I live.

I came back to the smartphone. It turned out that even after my refusal to port my contact list to Google cloud … it was loaded to that cloud. This was too much for me. I started an Internet search on how to save my contacts on the device directly. I did not find it, however I decided to try with custom roms.

At first it was Ubuntu Touch as it has its own installer app on the computer. I was missing possibility to backup my SMS messages.

Few months later I installed LineageOS on my Motorola Moto G7 Power and this was it. With F-Droid on board I have everything I need.

However I was still in search for the phone with removable battery and 4.5 - 5.0 inch screen so it would be more handy in small woman hands. Unfortunately, nowadays the only really handy phones with 4.7 inch are iPhones mini and I do not want them due to privacy not being respected enough.

I found out that Fairphone has a removable battery and /e/ on board. It seems that I like /e/ more than LineageOS. However I really like my Moto G7 Power (ocean). I will keep looking for /e/ for Moto G7 Power to be official at least in beta mode, so I could switch to /e/ os on my daily driver phone.

I think I could ditch my Motorola only for the phone with 4.5 - 5.0 inch screen and at least 4 400 mAh removable battery with /e/ on board. That would be the phone of my dream, convenience and really good, privacy respecting phone in one device.

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What Omega launcher do you mean?

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