You joke but a (NZer) family member on an overseas holiday got into an argument with a local over the existence of NZ. Family member, being a tourist, was asked where they were from and said New Zealand. Nothing strange there. Local said that NZ was a state in Australia. Confidently incorrect. When my family member tried to correct them, they argued they were right and the person who was from the actual country was utterly wrong 🤦‍♀️

If you want to get really technical, each Signal account actually has a ‘secret’ account number that the phone number is linked to. The phone number requirement is actually a means to reduce spam and scam accounts.

And why I replaced my phone with a Pixel and installed GrapheneOS straight away.

I stopped using it when I learned they censor search results. My beliefs aligned with theirs but I don’t want a search that’s censored. I’m adult enough that I can decide for myself what links I will or won’t click on.

Ironfox for Android

I’ve switched to a Google Pixel with GrapheneOS as part of my continuing deGoogle. Thanks for this, its further ideas to work on. One recommendation I would add however is that people use Obtainium instead of F-droid. This article is a pretty goof summary of why: https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/

Its definitely more friction to get apps installed but once they are installed, I find Obtainium better for automatic updates than F-droid.