My OnePlus 2 (latest official android was 6, it's running lineageos android 11 though) also got its assistant swapped with Gemini so idk

Verizon branded pixels are unable to unlock the bootloader, I.e, mine. No amount of phone support will change this.

I remember getting flamed so hard for saying that Google/android was incredibly invasive tech. I was laughed at, called an apple fanboy and accused of schilling.

Sadly, it looks like I’m the one laughing now.

I haven't turned it on. Am I safe?

Lol and Apple doesnt do any of that?

Show me evidence they do.

They haven't done anything with that data yet*

While clearly the lesser evil in this moment, I wouldn't count on that lasting forever.

Ok

How do i get graphene os

Or anything at all.

It's absolutely there,it relaced assistant...

No proof.
But even the US is scared of encrypted exfiltrated data because their adversaries could crack the encryption later on.

Same here.
They have the data and for now decided to not yet do do anything too bad with it.
But Google also had the motto "Don't be evil" at one point.

So…. No proof.

Look up a YT channel called Tech-Bore

Privacy-conscious Indians are gonna have a nightmare. Indians excessively use whatsapp.

laughs in LineageOS

Same for you. Proof that Apple isn't using it to analyze your (usage) data.
And it's not okay just because it's the 1st party analyzing it because they arent selling it.

I am really tired of the hypocrisy of some lemmy users advocating for maximum privacy to the detriment of everyone around them but on the other hand just saying "yeah, that's totally fine" and basically breaking all their principles.

As every user at some points mentions: They are a public company and once they can't satisfy their shareholders, they will turn on the data faucet to 3rd parties. They already have the an advertisement CDN.
They already have everything in place to achieve that situation.

Everyone outside of the US uses whatsapp.

I found settings for it in my phone's settings menu, so yeah, no standalone app you can disable or remove. They baked it into the OS.

I have Android 16 on a Pixel 8 but no Gemini. Is it not installed if I chose "No thanks" when I got the info screens about it?

Apple absolutely does collect huge amounts of data from the users. The difference is they don't directly 'sell' that data to advertisers. Instead they get paid to personalize the ads themselves and wear that as a badge for 'advocating privacy'.
Stock Android is horrendous compared to what Apple does, yes. However you usually have the option to ditch it for a more privacy respecting Android.