So as you may know, i’m an iPhone user and a hater of Google. Recenly, it has came to my attention that i am somehow being spied on, as this has been appearing lately every single day:
Now i did not open the camera at all, and somehow it’s saying that’s being used.
Not only that, but basically i had a qr code saved in my camera roll. Every time someone scans it, i get a notification. However, randomly at 12 am, somehow i got a notification saying that someone scanned it. The QR code was not shared anywhere or posted, and the phone was offline at that time too. Now i think that its probably the time to switch from iOS to android.
Why is android superior then iOS, why, and how is it safer then iOS and what phone should i buy? (no pixel tho)
If you want privacy you either do graphene on a pixel (cake and eat it too), or linux phone (huge downgrade in usability and reliability)
Stock Android is not acceptable, it’s even worse than Apple.
Maybe fully reset/restore your phone first to wipe any malicious apps?
If anything, use a degoogled OS instead of android.
This is the answer. No way you get MORE security switching to Google. (There’s loads of Apple Haters here though, so watch out). I’m also an Apple hater. I just hate Microsoft and google more.
You can easily get far more privacy with Android than iOS, even using a factory, unrooted, rom.
Though I’d say iOS is more private out of the gate than Android.
Once you start installing apps, it’s arguable which is worse - while Apple restricts a lot of stuff, I’ve had apps on iOS that eat battery to pull ads constantly (specifically one Solitaire game, but others too) and lots of Android apps are notorious for wanting every permission and to run at boot. “Free” games on both platforms are notably guilty.
At least with Android you can choose a lot of apps that don’t collect data, and don’t even want a network connection. Unrooted, you can use a VPN full time, that can block network access for apps, or even specific network connections (NoRoot Firewall is one, and ThinkDNS can do this too, IIRC). Like free games - on Android (even unrooted), I can block their network access. And I know it’s effective because it breaks some games.
I’ve used a stock, unrootable phone, and stripped down a lot of stuff using the Universal Android Debloat Utility. It can disable bloatware like all the Facebook components.
Though if OP wants to have a more private and more secure device, I’d go Android with a custom rom, especially Graphene, but Lineage and DivestOS can get you close to Graphene, especially is you manage your layers of privacy and security.
Buy an Android phone that you can flash to change the OS to remove all Google dependancies and use F-Droid to get all of your apps.
Why is android superior then iOS, why, and how is it safer then iOS
It isn’t superior or safer. Whatever you did to your phone to install spyware will not project you any bette by using android.
I’m not even sure what you could have installed that would break out of the app sandbox. It’s likely to I have some device management profile installed, but even that seems unlikely. It’s also possible your phone compromised but that’s typically requires a state level attack.
I’m actually leaning towards drug use or carbon monoxide poisoning. Yeah, it is that weird and you sound that paranoid.
This being displayed as “Unknown” is likely just a bug or an app you (very) recently uninstalled. And you probably opened the camera app by accidentally swiping right to left on the lock screen. Even just a slight swipe will launch the app so it’s ready when you’re done swiping.
And I’m not even sure what you’re talking about regarding your QR code.
Android is not de facto superior to iOS, nor is the opposite the case.
If you’re really that paranoid, even GrapheneOS on a Pixel shouldn’t calm you down because it also requires proprietary firmware by Google (and possibly other vendors) to run on these proprietary devices. In this case my advice would be to stop using smartphones altogether and rely on open source computers (couple of RISC-V options out there I think) for your computing needs.
Have you tried wiping the phone and being careful about what apps you install?
The camera specifically says it was accessed by the camera app which seems perfectly normal. The microphone being unknown is odd.
You can’t get notifications while offline, so that sounds more like a bug of some kind in an app you have installed maybe?
iOS has Lockdown Mode which it sounds like you could benefit from.
Pixel + Graphine OS works great and easy to install. However, it does add a slightly steeper learning curve to Android. Not too bad, just a few more options to poke at.
It doesn’t cut you off from the play store, instead sandboxing it. This is important if you need specific apps for work, bank, etc.
For open-source apps F-Droid app store is your friend.
Lineage is not fully degoogled, they just give you the option to not install Google services, AFAIK, and leave the hardcoded google deps be. So, if you need something graphene-ish on a broader range of devices, you should go with divestos (developed by the same guy who makes mull/mulch). Although, it’s a bummer there’s no storage/contact scopes, those are pretty useful at times (sandboxed play services are cool, I just don’t have a purpose for them)
Yea, I’ve moved to DivestOS on a couple phones, and I really like it.
Some things it does differently, like allow you to choose your Internet Heartbeat provider, so your phone isn’t constantly pinging Google to check the internet connection is up. There are about 10 options, including none.
*GrapheneOS
Thanks.
These things you are experiancing are not normal. A spyware may have got to your phone somehow and if you dont know how did that happen it will likely happen again with your new android phone. What I would do if I was in your place is taking the phone to apple and ask if they coukd scan it for me.
are you someone politically important? Someone in comments mentioned israeli spyware called pigasaus and it can target both iphone and android
*pegasus?
If someone scanned that QR code, it means they have a copy. If they, or someone else then scanned it (or copied the text from it and pasted in a browser), it would function as if they scanned it.
I mean really, this is how QR codes work. It’s shorthand for text, typically used to URL’s.
About the QR code, the code itself can’t tell whether its being scanned or not. I assume the QR code is a URL to a website and the server sends you the notification. So if somebody scanned the QR code and opened the link in their browser but then closed their browser without closing the tab, each time they reopen the browser and the tab automatically refreshes it would seem like a new scan. Even if the URL itself is supposed to forward the user after the notification, some browsers screw up the forwarding process or open the forward address in a new tab, depending on the user settings.
You say that as if Google’s platform isn’t also riddled with spyware. “Spying,” AKA advertising, is Google’s bread & butter.
When they said Android I assumed they meant degoogled or a custom ROM, but it’s good to point that out I suppose.
Have you rebooted? The current Israeli malware all the state actors use allegedly can get in sans interaction but can’t survive a reboot…
For the camera app, it could be as simple as accidentally swiping left on the Lock Screen even just a tiny enough amount to activate the camera, even if released before the full quick shot mode is displayed. That at least is plausible from within a pocket and is not a security concern. Other apps cannot pretend to be the camera app when accessing it.
Non-google android is the way to go unless you’re looking to be even more adventurous. Which phone you should look for depends which of the OS options you prefer. No pixel means no grapheneOS. LineageOS is the one I chose, runs on quite a few mostly older phones. There are many others.
