Your phone isn't secretly listening to you, but the truth is more disturbing

> User permissions for a large number of apps were all enabled

This says it all. Privacy is not by default, because of souless mega corporations, including HN which has an extremely invasive privacy policy. If you don't actively take steps to improve your privacy, they will continue to exploit it. Use GrapheneOS, it is the most private and secure mobile operating system. Nothing happens without your explicit permission, the way it should have been from the beginning

These discussions seem to come up frequently lately. Both /e/OS and Lineage with microG provide good enough privacy for those who can't afford high-end smartphones like the Google Pixels.

The ranking would probably be:

- Pixel on GrapheneOS

- Any Android smartphone on Lineage or /e/OS

- iPhone on recent iOS (the best choice for technically illiterate people)

People concerned with privacy should avoid stock Android phones. Additionally, software only goes so far in protecting privacy. Some hygiene is also required, especially with iOS, where everything is sent to iCloud by default and E2E encryption is either not enabled by default or not available at all in some countries.

When it comes to hardware, nothing really compares to the Titan and T2 chips found in Pixels and iPhones though.

>- Pixel on GrapheneOS

>- Any Android smartphone on Lineage or /e/OS

None of those operating systems does anything for tracking/advertising SDKs in apps, which is most of where the data leaks are coming from, not google/apple. Moreover unless you're willing to go no proprietary apps (ie. most apps people actually use), you'll need google play services, which means google can still collect data on you.