🚨 Your Android is watching you!

Google has silently installed Android System SafetyCore on your phone without permission, and uninstalling it won’t stop it because it reinstalls automatically.
The only way to stop it is to disable it, preventing Google Play from reinstalling or updating it without your consent.

🔍 Why Does This Matter?

It may be scanning all your media files.

In October 2024, Google introduced "Sensitive Content Warnings" in Google Messages, which scan images on-device to detect nudity. Since SafetyCore is linked to Google’s content moderation systems, it’s likely scanning files to classify content without your knowledge.

Uninstalling is useless.

Even if you remove it, Google Play reinstalls it automatically.

No transparency from Google.

There’s no clear explanation on what else it does or why it reinstalls itself.

Honorable mention: it requires 2GB RAM 😳

🔒 How to disable it?

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ⭐ Non-Root

1️⃣ Enable USB Debugging
(Settings > Developer options).
2️⃣ Download & install ADB on your PC.
3️⃣ Connect your phone to a PC.
4️⃣ Open a terminal and run:

🌌 Windows Command Prompt:
adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.safetycore

🔟 Windows PowerShell:
.\adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.safetycore

🐧 Mac/Linux Terminal:
./adb shell pm disable-user --user 0 com.google.android.safetycore

ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ🎭 Root

1️⃣ Download & install Termux on your phone.
2️⃣ Open Termux and run:

su -c pm disable com.google.android.safetycore

Take control of your device. Disable it now.

📱𝗠𝗘𝗢𝗪 𝗗𝗨𝗠𝗣

https://support.google.com/product-documentation/answer/16001929

https://security.googleblog.com/2024/10/5-new-protections-on-google-messages.html

Android System SafetyCore (com.google.android.safetycore) provides common infrastructure that apps can use to protect users from unwanted content. The classification of content runs exclusively on your device and the results aren’t shared with Google.

As a system service, SafetyCore is only active when an application integrates with SafetyCore and specifically requests content to be classified. SafetyCore performs the classification on the device itself and doesn’t send identifiable data or any of the classified content or results to Google servers

For now there is no app that uses it. In future any app can use it to avoid setting up his system not on device.

Sensitive Content Warnings is an optional feature that blurs images that may contain nudity before viewing, and then prompts with a “speed bump” that contains help-finding resources and options, including to view the content.

Also only if you have play store it get installed automatically so is only for people that already trust google and have no problem using it. So far only know use will be an option to keep NSFW images distorted instead of automatically being displayed in messages app, if if the user don't want it can disable the option or change message app.
There is similar feat on TG too, some images are blurred before being manually shown.

GOS team stated they analized it and found out it does nothing more than what is described, for now (local scan, no data sent...).
Also on their sandboxes play services the auto-installation is blocked so is up to the user to choose what to do with it.

Another solution:
Uninstall the app and then install this placeholder app

https://github.com/daboynb/Safetycore-placeholder

A post from the developer of #WireGuard on the severe #security flaws and lack of trustworthiness of #FDroid:

https://bsky.app/profile/grapheneos.org/post/3lgq7wqwzpk26

The Bluesky link has GrapheneOS posts explaining

https://gitlab.com/fdroid/fdroiddata/-/issues/3110#note_1613430404

Stuff here but not to the point like the Bluesky link
https://discuss.grapheneos.org/d/18731-f-droid-vulnerability-allows-bypassing-certificate-pinning/

@NoGoolag #browser #alternatives with mitigations, patches etc.
Alpha version release March 6, 2025

FireFox browser options
- Tor Browser (all)
- Mullvad Browser (Desktop)
- IronFox (Android) Read the Known Issues section on the gitlab.
- LibreWolf (mentally ill devs)

Make your own #Firefox with mitigations etc...
- Phoenix / wiki
- Arkenfox user.js / wiki / gui / user-tool / mobile
- Narsil / Narsil Mobile
- Betterfox / Betterfox Mobile
- pyllyukko
- Compare some of the user.js files

Chromium based browser Options
- Ungoogled Chromium (all)
- Cromite (Android, Linux, Windows)

Browser extensions
- uBlacklist
- uBlock Origin or uMatrix (never both)
- LibRedirect (setup your instances for each service in the settings)

Links to block lists...
- Yokoffing
- Celenity/Phoenix
- FilterLists

Set your default search engine to a search proxy
- 4get instances
- Searx instances

Why your favorite browser is not recommended
- Celenity Firefox browser comparisons
- How to choose a browser for everyday use?
- is your browser spyware?
- Choose your browser carefully
- Browsers and the connections they make compared
- Fake Privacy and security

Additional reading...
- Wiki about extensions
- Multiple Extension Conflicts
- uMatrix for beginners
- Firefox user.js install guide
- Arch Linux Firefox Privacy wiki
- Bromite (for knowledge purposes)

Testing your browser
- Fingerprint.com
- How to test browsers for spyware
- Privacytests browser comparison
- Mullvad check
- Bromite fingerprint testing
- IP Leak
- List of test sites A
- List of test sites B


* Thunderbird users should consider taking a look at Dove - Phoenix's sister project.

Flatseal

Graphical utility for #Linux to review and modify permissions from your #Flatpak applications.

Simply launch Flatseal, select an application and modify its permissions. Restart the application after making the changes. If anything goes wrong just press the reset button.

Get it
https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.github.tchx84.Flatseal

For more details please visit the documentation page
https://github.com/tchx84/Flatseal/blob/master/DOCUMENTATION.md

https://github.com/tchx84/flatseal

Obtainium

Get #Android App Updates Directly From the Source.

Tired of waiting for updates in the Play Store? Obtainium lets you install and update Android apps directly from their source (like GitHub release pages) and notifies you about new releases. Cut out the middleman and stay up-to-date!

Key Features:

*   Direct Updates: Install and update apps directly from release pages.
*   Notifications: Get notified when new versions of your apps are available.
*   Open Source: Built by the community, for the community.

Learn More:

*   Video Tutorial: Obtainium 101
*   README: GitHub
*   Wiki: obtainium.imranr.dev

Recommended Tools:

*   AppVerifier: GitHub - Verify app authenticity.

Community Resources:

*   Crowdsourced App Configs: apps.obtainium.imranr.dev

Why Use Obtainium?

See the original motivation: Side Of Burritos - You should use this instead of F-Droid | How to use app RSS feed

Project Links:

*   Website: obtainium.imranr.dev
*   Source Code: GitHub

#apk

Olivia

Online and local #music player for #Linux Desktop

https://github.com/keshavbhatt/olivia

Stable and Nightly Build on any snapd enabled Linux Distribution can be installed using:
snap install olivia
https://snapcraft.io/olivia

Arch Linux User's Repository
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/olivia

Features
Olivia helps you discover new music and videos like no other service do.
Smart Music recommendation, can get you songs related to any song.
Allows organise music and videos at one place.
Olivia can save track while you are streaming it, this saves your bandwidth.
Olivia never stops playing song for you with its smart playlist feature it automatically starts playing related songs for you once your playlist ends.
Watch or Download Video for any song in different audio video formats and quality.
Allows search YouTube and add result to library, sort results and all other #YouTube features like browse channels.
Plays audio only of YouTube streams (saves data bandwidth).
Support themes , Dynamic theme based on album art.
Intelligent Music Search suggestions engine integrated.
Player Mini mode a minimal player widget with always on capability and allows set transparency and make it act like a desktop widget.
Switch to Smart mode and sit back, olivia will play songs for you automatically.
Internet radio, allows play more than 25k online radio stations, list them sort them according to most played , most voted, language wise, country wise and by tags .
Olivia lets you browse new music according to your location.
Olivia lets you discover music based on their genres, moods and more.
Its easy to discover new music - singles, albums etc easily at one place.
Top music chart, allows list top 100 songs country wise.
Top albums chart, allows list top 100 albums county wise.
Beautiful Client side Decoration.
Lyrics of playing songs and separate lyrics search.
Powerful audio equalizers and audio filters.
MPRIS protocol support.
Audio export with meta tags and album art.
More features like cloud synchronisation of your Liked Music is coming soon, so you will be able to get your music back no matter where you are.

#yt #spotify

Changelog : v4.7.0 (66)

• New app compatibility ratings powered by Plexus
• Improvements to blacklist manager
• Ability to change auto-update restrictions
• Minor bug fixes and improvements
• Translation updates; additional strings localized

NAPS2 - Scan #documents to PDF and more – https://www.naps2.com/

NAPS2 is free and open source scanning software for Windows, Mac and Linux.

Easily scan with devices from Canon, Brother, HP, Epson, Fujitsu, and more. Then save to #PDF, #TIFF, #JPEG, or #PNG with a single click.

#Scan #Floss

PeerTube 7.1 brings Podcast 2.0 support, enhanced identification and Mastodon verification | AlternativeTo

PeerTubePeerTube has launched version 7.1 of its open-source, decentralized video-sharing platform, introducing a range of new features and improvements. A key update is enhanced platform identification, which now highlights the hosting platform's address for each video. Users can click on this address to learn more about the video's origin and explore all videos hosted on the remote instance.

Version 7.1 also advances its support for #Podcast 2.0, enabling users to subscribe to channels and play video audio streams through traditional podcast applications like #AntennaPod and #Podverse. Additionally, the podcast feed is now compatible with Apple Podcast, broadening accessibility

PeerTube v7.1 is out! | JoinPeerTube
https://joinpeertube.org/news/release-7.1

#PeerTube

Healthy Battery Charging
https://f-droid.org/packages/biz.binarysolutions.healthybatterycharging

Healthy Battery Charging alerts you when to plug or unplug your phone from the charger to improve battery life. The app itself is optimized for low battery consumption, running in the background and checking the battery level every 15 minutes. The exact timing of these checks depends on the Android operating system, which may schedule them alongside other tasks or delay them in sleep mode. As a result, the battery level may slightly exceed the high threshold while charging or drop slightly below the low threshold while discharging before you receive a notification.


For those who want to know more about the technical details of Li-ion batteries:
https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/how_to_prolong_lithium_based_batteries

#Energy #Charge #Battery #LiInOnBattery

microG unofficial installer

Flashable zip created by ale5000 for a simple installation of #microG on Android.

IT FEATURE ALSO NON-AROMA LIVE SETUP (now working on all phones).

Download
microG unofficial installer v1.3.2 beta - Full (Android 2.2 - 15) - MIRROR
microG unofficial installer v1.3.2 beta - OSS (Android 2.2 - 15)
Google sync add-on v1.2.0 beta (Android 4.4 - 4.4.4 and 7 - 8, probably even newer versions)

NOTE: Devices with a MIPS CPU aren't supported.
IMPORTANT: The installer isn't supported by the author of microG so installer related bugs should be reported to me instead app related bugs should be reported there.

Contents
See here.

Official threads
microG
UnifiedNlp

Credits
MaR-V-iN (for microG, a perfect application that works perfectly also on old phones).
YashdSaraf for building BusyBox (BusyBox is used only during the installation, nothing on the device is altered).

Contributors
ale5000
Source Code: https://github.com/micro5k


Version Information
Status: Beta
Current Version: v1.3.2
Release Date: 2025-03-22

It is simpler to use, more compatible and already come with updated microG; also all optional apps can be disabled using live setup (using +/- volume hardware buttons).

You can flash it from a custom recovery (that come pre-rooted), or from a running system with "zip-install.sh". So root is only required to install, it can be removed afterward.

#installers

Marginaila Search

Open source search engine. No ads, no AI. "Indexing the small, old and weird web"(c) Search blogs, forums, plain text sites and more.

marginalia-search.com

Power to the Projects - How do you power your electronics project? So many options, which is best?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtpqy966ejk

What is the best way to #power small #electronics projects?

Recently, I’ve been working on a lot of low voltage electrical circuits that typically use a microcontroller, sensors, lights and motors; but, what is the best way to power such projects - there are so many options, from batteries to USB!

In this video I give a brief overview of some of my favorite approaches, including some bargain options from AliExpress like USB Power Delivery, Buck converter and Boost converter modules. I’ll talk about the advantages and disadvantages of each approach and wrap up with an overview highlighting what approach I would use in a given application.

What are your favorite #RSS reader applications for each OS?

#microg Release v0.3.7.250923
https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/tag/v0.3.7.250932

New Features and changes:

Work Profile
You can now sign into various work accounts that setup a work profile when using microG. As microG does not comply with all functionality imposed by organization administrators, you need to enable this feature manually in microG Settings > Work profile. Together with this comes functionality to view and install apps suggested by the organization administrator through the Play Store.

Play Feature Delivery
Apps can request installation of additional languages or features from split packages. You can activate this from microG Settings > Play Store
Face detection

This release ships with initial support for Google's Face Detection API. This functionality is still very incomplete, but works for some apps using it.
Changelog

Maps: Various fixes for HMS Maps (#2737, #2754, #2778, #2825). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Vision: Improve Barcode Scanning APIs (#2735, #2787). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Vision: Add initial support for face detection API (#2793). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Location: Add support for moving WiFis in Eurostar trains (#2821). Thanks @TimoWilken.
Fitness: Add dummy for Recording API (#2760). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Auth: Various fixes for quick login and third-party Google sign-in (#2660, #2698, #2798). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Auth: Add support for work accounts (#2553). Thanks @fynngodau.
DroidGuard: Disable access to hardware attestation.
Vending: Fix handling of IAP for multi-account setups (#2681). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Vending: Add work app store (#2553). Thanks @fynngodau.
Vending: Disable access to hardware keys for play integrity (#2740). Thanks @DaVinci9196
Vending: Add dummys (#2759, #2791). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Various fixes to improve support for Google Apps (#2652, #2654, #2684, #2738, #2767, #2779, #2780). Thanks @DaVinci9196.
Various fixes for dynamic links (#2662), Fido (#2811), SmsRetriever API (#2786), AppSet dummy (#2781), web view handling (#2836, #2862). Thanks @DaVinci9196, @ale5000-git.
Version bumps (#2813, #2829). Thanks @DaVinci9196, @ale5000-git
String and location infrastructure fixes (#2693, #2755, #2781). Thanks @lucasmz-dev, @Fs00.
New/Updated translations