Tech Tuesday: Control Your Phone

*(image from Rusty Foster’s Today in Tabs)*

You don’t need to use a phone that Apple or Google has more control over than you do.

You can just quit doing that.

I moved off of my last iPhone almost 2 years ago, and have been quite happy about it.

My phone is under my control, has some functionality that I could never get under Apple or Google and actually gets better when it updates.

It also costs way less, and reduces electronics waste by keeping older hardware useful for longer.

Though it is a bit more work to set up. But only a teensy bit more.

So, here’s a very short lesson on how to do this for yourself.

There are several projects that publish de-Googled versions of Android, that give you Android functionality without being tied in to Google’s control. I use /e/os, primarily because its default interface is very iPhone-like and that’s what I was used to at the time.

So, step one is to find a model of phone that is:

on the /e/os supported devices list and
on your carrier’s supported devices list (I use AT&T) and
available for cheap as an unlocked refurb (I usually get mine on eBay).

I chose the Google Pixel 4a 5g, because it was the smallest one that was still common enough to be cheap. That was two years ago, but they’re still common enough that I got another one when one of my kids wanted to try it.

So, now you have a new phone.

Step two is to get the non-Google Android system onto that phone.

/e/os has web pages giving instructions for each model that they support; here’s the page for the 4a 5g. As an older phone, it’s only supported via the “advanced” command-line install mode; they also support installing directly from your web browser on a bunch of phones too.

And now your new phone is ready.

Step three is to get a physical SIMM card for your existing phone. You may already have one, but the manufacturers and carriers are pushing hard for eSIMMs (which are completely controlled by the carriers).

With AT&T, this was just a matter of going in to an AT&T store and paying them $5 to initialize a SIMM card for my phone number.

Put that card into your old phone to confirm that it works.

And now you’re set.

You can move your SIMM card back and forth between your old corporate-controlled phone and your new self-controlled phone as much as you like while you’re setting it up and getting used to it. When you’re done getting settled in, you’ll be on a fully independent phone with no corporate controls or oversight.