(Please when answering, assume I’m not a beginner at privacy/programming :) I know where the good stuff at)

First off, shameful confession: I’m writing this on a dying yellow iPhone XR I bought second-hand three years ago (189€). I absolutely love the look of it: the screen, build quality, are all amazing. The only problem was the locked ecosystem (sideloading Spotify/Torrent client was sooo hard).

I saw the android phone of my mother dying really fast. She currently has a Xiaomi phone that’s ridiculously big for my hands, there’s advertisements in the stocks apps (?!!), the UX is janky and everything. It looks like a bloat, privacy nightmare.

So… because it’s impossible to find a jailbreakable phone nowadays I need to buy an android and ideally I would want:

• Good screen (vivid colors)
• Good build quality (not shitty plastic)
• Don’t care about the camera (I don’t want those ridiculously big cameras they make nowadays)
• Would want to install either GrapheneOS/LineageOS

The things that scare me off:

• I really need my bank app and I need it updated so I have to use Google Play Services but I don’t want it to plague my phone with privacy bullshit (I want to be degoogled)

The things that excite me:

• Customization possibilities
• Learning experience
• Even more privacy than a de-googled IOS phone :)
• F-Droid!! (Maybe I’ll find a beautiful IRC client)
• More choices for Mastodon & Lemmy clients
• Freedom of free software.
• client for open-source git providers :)

But to get all of that, I don’t want Google, I need shitty apps (non-free software) I have to install:

• Instagram (for non-technical friends)
• GitHub (job & open-source)
• No-Ad Modded Spotify from Balatan
• Discord (gamer friends)
• Telegram (cryptobros friends)
• Steam (because I still love gaming)

Any advices? Phone ideas? I’m so lost in this ocean of choice (freedom ✨)

My current phone: