1 Android:My Phone Configuration
2 ==============================
3 :author: Aaron Ball
4 :email: nullspoon@iohq.net
5
6 == {doctitle}
7
8 I rebuilt my phone this weekend so I could test out http://aospa.co/[AOSPA]
9 (Paranoid Android) for my phone, since unofficial support was just released a
10 few days ago.
11
12 During my rebuild, it occured to me that I haven't seen much documentation on
13 people's processes and software sets, especially for the folks who want to run
14 a phone on as much open source software as possible. I have found
15 https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy[one
16 post] written by the nice folks over at the Tor project, which discusses how to
17 harden an Android device and provides a similar set of information I am about
18 to provide, but it's slightly out of date. That said, here's how I run my
19 phone.
20
21
22 [[disabled-applications]]
23 == Disabled Applications
24
25 The first thing I do when booting my phone for the first time, is
26 disable several applications that come preinstalled on most roms or come
27 as a part of Google Apps.
28
29
30 [[android-applications]]
31 == Android Applications
32
33 * **Browser**: I disable this one becasue with Google Apps installed and
34 an account set up, it forces you to log in to all of Google's services. I use
35 https://github.com/anthonycr/Lightning-Browser[Lightning Browser] instead (it's
36 available on the f-droid market).
37
38 * **Email**: Disabled because I use https://github.com/k9mail/k-9/[k-9
39 mail] instead, due to its support for account backups, source code being
40 readily available, not being developed mainly by Google, etc. K-9 is also
41 available on the f-droid market.
42
43 * **Exchange Services**: This one I disable because I don't have any
44 exchange accounts on my phone. No sense in having it enabled if you aren't
45 using it.
46
47 * **One Time Init**: This is executed one time, on first boot, or so its
48 name indicates. If it's running more than that, I don't want it running, so it
49 is disabled.
50
51 * **Sound Recorder**: I disable this one mostly because I don't use it,
52 and disabling it removes its icon from my application drawer, thus saving
53 space.
54
55
56 [[google-appls-services]]
57 == Google Appls Services
58
59 * **Google Backup Transport**: I don't back up my phone to Google's
60 services.
61
62 * **Google Calendar Sync**: I don't sync my calendar through Google
63 anymore.
64
65 * **Google Contacts Sync**: I don't sync my contacts through Google
66 anymore.
67
68 * **Google One Time Init**: It's a one time init. No sense in leaving it
69 enabled once it has run once.
70
71 * **Market Feedback Agent**: I don't give market feedback on my phone.
72
73
74 [[installed-applications]]
75 == Installed Applications
76
77 These are the applications I have installed on my phone. The majority of them
78 are open source and can be found on the https://f-droid.org/[f-droid market].
79
80 * **And Bible**: Open source Christian Bible for android.
81
82 * **Barcode Scanner**: Useful for scanning all kind of barcodes. Open
83 source and available on f-droid.
84
85 * **Conversations**: This is my chat client. It supports encryption end
86 to end, and has a very friendly interface. Open source and available on
87 f-droid.
88
89 * **DAVdroid**: I currently host all of my contacts and calendars on my
90 own hosted Owncloud instance. This provides support for caldave and carddav
91 syncing, which allows me to no longer keep my contacts or calendars on Google's
92 services.
93
94 * **Duolingo**: One of my favorite language-learning tools. Closed
95 source though (I wish they'd change that, but oh well).
96
97 * **f-droid**: Exclusively open source Android market. I have to
98 download all these applications somehow after all.
99
100 * **spaRSS**: Open source rss stream reader based on Flym and Sparse rss.
101
102 * **K-9 Mail**: Open source fork of the stock Android email client.
103 Supports backup of all accounts so they can later be re-imported (useful for us
104 flash junkies)
105
106 * **Kore**: Open source Kodi (or xbmc) remote control client. Available
107 on f-droid.
108
109 * **Lightning**: Open source and lightweight browser. Very smooth and
110 fast. Available on f-droid market.
111
112 * **oandbackup**: Application backup software. I don't flash a new rom
113 without first using this to back up each individual application. Available on
114 the f-droid market.
115
116 * **Open Camera**: With the introduction of the lolipop camera, it has
117 gotten much "dumber". I like all the advanced settings, so I have this
118 installed.
119
120 * **OpenKeychain**: Imports pgp keys. Integrates into Password Store and
121 K-9 mail for encrypting/decrypting passwords, and encrypting/decrypting and
122 signing emails, respective.
123
124 * **Orbot**: Open source Tor client. Available on the f-droid market.
125
126 * **OsmAnd~**: Open source map application. Fair replacement for Google
127 Maps. Available on f-droid market.
128
129 * **Password Store**: Password manager. Uses pgp to encrypt/decrypt
130 password entries. Also has clients for Linux, Windows, and OsX. Available on
131 f-droid market.
132
133 * **Syncthing**: How I backup my phone, off-phone. Open source
134 peer-to-peer synchronization client. I have mine set up to sync
135 /storage/sdcard0 and /storage/sdcard1, which gets all the necessary data from
136 my phone, onto my laptop. Available on f-droid market.
137
138 * **Google Voice**: This is the one last Google application I haven't
139 been able to replace yet, open source or no, free or no. It seems the majority
140 of competing services in this arena are all tailored to business voip
141 customers. I just want one phone number with text messaging support, and thus
142 can't justify $40 or more per month for this kind of service. I'm still on the
143 hunt though and will update this post if I ever manage to replace this
144 application.
145
146
147 // vim: set syntax=asciidoc:
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