Im not sure when the update came out but I've had two forced updates in the past 3-4 months for my Pixel 6. Im assuming thats when it changed. I am very meticulous about checking settings after updates but It looks like this was only online settings for your google account, not local to the phone, which is probably how I missed it.

It's a system app? I was able to uninstall it directly on my Pixel 8. Unless it's only a system app above that.

Went to turn it off.

Apparently I already did. Marvelous.

I updated my phone last week ad now I cant uninstall samsung pass whatever the fuck that is. God I am so sick of tis game of cat and mouse with modern tech.

I'm okay if it has access to everything, makes it easier to find the porn I was looking for.

the launcher might become a very similar but stripped down version.

if you liked to have more features, try the lawnchair launcher from f-droid. its a fork with readded features. you need to have the izzydroid repo activated to find it

„Lawnchair“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

Homescreen based on on Launcher3 from AOSP

IzzyOnDroid Repo Browser (apt.izzysoft.de)

Isn't that a pixel only OS?

Unfortunately yes, there are technical reasons I don't fully understand. I think has to do with how it's locked down, and that it can be relocked after graphine is installed.

Graphine takes security seriously, so leaving the boot loader unlocked is not acceptable to them.

Although, that may change with google removing pixel specific code from the android source.

I don't like to be reminded of the porn I was looking for. Google showing me ads based on my porn habits is what sent me down the privacy and security path I've been on since.

Its because of the hardware. Pixel phones have a chip dedicated exclusively to security, therefore why GrapheneOS is buildt arround those phones