Debloating and Configuring my Phone, Android (SM-M10)

this guide will help you to debloat and configure the SM-M10 device. i mostly take this guide as a reference for me, mostly so that i can remember my preferences. you can change anything you want as you wish and as your needs. we start from the beginning, from the moment you first boot the phone.

DisablingList :: My personal purging list.

Fdroid APK :: for downloading your stuff

SimpleKeyboard APK :: you'll need a keyboard. yes, we remove that much.

– Check Out Some Info To Get Started –

here, you are only obliged to accept the 'End User License Agreement' and the 'Privacy Policy' so just accept those two

(x) End User License Agreement

(x) Privacy Policy

– Choose a WI-FI Network –

skip this for now…

– Copy Apps & Data –

choose don't copy

– Google Services –

disable it all

• location:

(unmark) use location

(unmark) allow scanning

• device maintenance:

(unmark) send usage and diagnostic data

install updates & apps (you are obligated to accept)

– Get Recommended Apps –

unmark every recommended app

– Sign in to you Samsung Account –

Skip this. And Skip…

– Done –

here you go, you have a full bloated and surveilled phone :) but we are gonna improve it a bit. let's see what we can do

Install the Basic Packages:

adb install fdroid.apk
adb install simplekeyboard.apk

configure the keyboard

connect to the wifi – wi-fi settings

IP Settings: static

dns: 82.117.252.6

2nd dns: 138.197.140.189

(some openNIC dns servers)

metered network: treat as unmetered

configure what you need and proceed to install your apps

• User Apps List:

  (this is the list of the applications i use, can be used as a reference)

  Basic, Important ones:

  KISS Launcher

  one of my favorite launchers, of course you don't want to use the samsungs default one.

  T-UI

  my new favorite one, an alternative to kiss using an approach similar to a terminal.

  Simple Keyboard

  a simple keyboard that won't spy on you, update if necessary.

  Simple File Manager

  or Little File Explorer, the last works without the optional apps in the disabling_list

  Camera Roll

  if you don't install the optional apps this will only work if you open the images directly from the file manager

  Download Navi

  the only free download manager i could find, too bloated in my opinion though.

  Exodus

  shows trackers and permissions on apps

  (optional) App Manager

  is an app manager of course, and can also help you to find trackers and so. still, optional

  Fdroid

  update if necessary.

  Netguard

  one of the most important ones, this is the firewall that will block other apps, and even system apps from accessing the internet.

  Other Miscellaneous apps that i like to use:

  • Audio Recorder
  • Calculator++
  • ccgt
  • Flash Deck
  • Librera Reader
  • Loop Habit Tracker
  • Markor Text Editor
  • Monocles Browser (privacy browser fork)
  • PipePipe or LibreTube (depends on the mood ;b btw, LibreTube uses a piped instance as a proxy (ie: a little harder for youtube to spy on you))
  • RetroBoy
  • Robot36
  • Simple Camera
  • SimplyTranslate
  • SSTV Encoder
  • Termux
  • Termux:API
  • Termux:Styling
  • Time Clock
  • Orbot

Once you have installed all of your apps, quickly turn off your wifi or whatever you have you don't want them to keep using your precious and maybe even expensive internet connection to track and spy on you, do you?

we are about to configure the FireWall, which ideally will do as much as it can to try to block internet connections to some specific apps which we will specify later, this will help you to keep applications that shouldn't have access to the internet from doing so. this isn't perfect tho, i don't have root access so it probably won't block every single system app, leaving that aside it works pretty well for me. (this will also help you to prevent some apps that might be abusing of the internet connection from draining your battery)

Open Netguard

(press the tree dots at the top right side of your screen)

• Settings.

  • Defaults

    (Block WI-FI, set to on)

    (Block Mobile, set to on)

    (Apply 'when screen on' rules, set to off)

    (Block Roaming, set to on)

  • Options

    (Use Dark Theme, on)

  • Advanced Options

    (Manage system apps, on)

  • just choose another domain to validate the connection, don't even make contact with those creeps. or better yet, do, DoS them with your pings (just kidding ;3 (or not?))
  • Watchdog, optional.

now, come back and choose only applications that you trust (preferably libre ones) and you know will use an internet connection. i will only unblock them from using 'wifi' because i don't use mobile data nor have a sim card whatsoever.

i only unblocked: Download Navi, Exodus, F-Droid, the Web Browser, PipePipe, SimplyTranslate Mobile, and Termux because i know they all use internet. you might find 'root' unblocked, block it from wifi and data.

after you are done whitelisting your apps press the switch to start the vpn, say ok.

now go to the settings of your phone Connections -> More Connection Settings -> VPN press the gear to configure the vpn and set the option "Always-on VPN on" so you will always stay connected to that VPN and will reconnect itself on boot.

if you are done configuring you can now turn on your wifi

go ahead and configure the rest of your apps now. some advice might be to use orbot to connect to the internet, netguard can be configured to use socks5 and filter the traffic through tor. if you do it that way you might experience dns leaks although you can choose a different dns, i recommend using some opennic server (opennic.org) as your dns ideally one which doesn't keep logs.

even after doing all of this you're still not safe from the prying eyes, some other measures you can take is cover the microphones(both) and the cameras with tape(i've taped the phone cover, and i take the cover off whenever i want to use the camera) and some cotton which for the microphone won't stop all the sound but might help a little bit. other option might be to physically remove the cameras and microphones.

also you could use a faraday cage (you can wrap your phone with aluminum foil) whenever you don't use it.

now, my ultimate advice if you want to be completely safe is not to have a phone. you can just tell how hard phone vendors, google and others involved work to make it impossible for the average user to avoid their efforts to track spy and collect information from them. even after doing all of this, this phone still won't be safe, even if i had root and changed the OS for a fully libre alternative, even yet, it wouldn't be completely safe.

anyways, this can help a lot if you still want to have a smartphone but want to avoid most of the trackers and bloatware it comes shipped with. you will also notice that your battery will last way longer now, why could that be huh? blink ;3