I am planning on buying a Mudita Kompakt, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that it runs an OS which is a “custom de-googled AOSP” (Android Open Source Project), and should thus be free of Google’s spyware. If you support Mudita you probably already know that smartphones do an enormous amount of hidden spying on users, and Google is a quite big actor. If this sounds new to you, or if you’re eager to learn more, I think this article on app advertisements is a great resource, albeit a bit technical.
So I was wondering whether Mudita OS K is free of every possible connection to Google which was hidden inside AOSP.
Hidden Google connections? What do you mean?
One of the most popular Android-based alternatives, LineageOS, actually “calls home” quite frequently. For example, it does so every time you connect to a Wi-Fi network, because it performs a connectivity check by contacting a Google server (!!!). This means that Google knows your approximate location every time you connect to a Wi-Fi network.
In order to change this and other similar behaviours, one needs to “root the device” (that is, gain administrative privileges) and tinker with advanced settings: this is explained for example in this 2019 reddit post, which was reportedly still up to date in 2023.
Moreover, as this excellent comparison webpage explains, many of the most famous Android-based alternatives for smartphones, such as LineageOS, /e/, and CalyxOS, are not totally google-free. They are of course better than “Stock” Android, but they still have some connections to Google servers or use some Google-related services under the hood, and some of these settings can’t be changed even with administrative privileges!
Questions
For the development team
Has the MuditaOS K development team acknowledged and removed/changed all the “hidden” connections to Google servers and Google-related services which were present in AOSP?
How well would MuditaOS K score in a comparison such as the one in the page linked above?
In case some hidden connections are still present, I’m afraid that they can’t be changed by a user: a dedicated Mudita support webpage clearly states that “It is technically possible for advanced users to access the phone’s bootloader and flash a different OS. However, we advise against doing so and will not provide any official support for such attempts” and that in case one decides to root the device “We won’t be providing the ROM for MuditaOS K”.
So it seems that in the unfortunate case that Mudita OS K contains some unwanted connections to Google, we can’t do much to improve the situation as users.
For the community
Has anyone conducted a network analysis on the Mudita Kompakt?
Were you aware of the amount of data collection that goes on in smartphones and apps? What do you think about it?
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As a side note, I do believe in Mudita regardless of the outcome of my questions, and I hope that all my concerns are superfluous
Has anyone conducted a network analysis on the Mudita Kompakt?
I ran a pcap on Wi-Fi with disabled mobile data and from what I remember it was only kissing Sentry from time to time, it’s some debugging analytics discussed in another thread here (Mudita kompakt constant rf). I can run it again for a longer while to see if I spot any Google stuff but it doesn’t seem so.
Were you aware of the amount of data collection that goes on in smartphones and apps? What do you think about it?
Debug-like diagnostics is mentioned in one of those policies you never read and always agree and people got a bit upset when it has been realized. Opt-out option is en route to satisfy MK user base.
Hi buiosu! Sorry for my very late reply and thank you very much for the info!
I guess my concerns have been answered (at least partially) by this comment by Mudita Managing Director on another post about how Mudita K OS relates to AOSP.
The “Sentry opt-out” patch seems planned for Q1 2026, per their roadmap. I just hope that the Kompakt doesn’t enter planned obsolesence after some 2-3 years…
This is a concern only for people that log into an Android device with a google account.
Please correct me if this statement is wrong: Mudita OS K is based on android code but the kompakt phone is not an android OS device and it does not require logging into google.
If I’ve never created a google account, do I need to de-google myself to use a kompakt phone?
My experience with the Kompakt is less than 2 months, in this time I have found it inferior to any other phone that I’ve ever owned or used (that includes hard wired rotary landline phones). Not joking, Kompakt phone, out of the box. doesn’t satisfy my needs as a minimalist phone, presently my only consistent viable use that is for outgoing personal phone calls - this is off topic for this thread, I do share my experience in the forum.
I didn’t get this Mudita “phone” product to work on making it work.
Regarding de-google:
Okay, thanks for explaining that Kompakt’s Mudita OS, based on open system Android OS.
I asked about the Kompakt phone, when used out of the box, is it a de-googled device?
Is this a correct statement? As @urszula shows, I would be causing the Kompakt to become a “googled” device by sideloading and using apps that require a log in to google services. This is my understanding now.
I don’t sideload apps on the phone, I never relied on an Android device, I said no to creating a google account since its inception.
Ok? Not relevant to this thread indeed and everyone’s requirements are different. I have used many phones, and i believe the Kompakt does a good job of covering most bases, and is then open enough for people to tinker with as they seem necessary for their own specific needs. Making a minimal phone is an almost impossible task in terms of making everyone happy. One persons essential needs contradict and potentially undo the needs of another. I think its also important to not compare this phone or company to any modern Smartphone, as this is a smaller team that does not have the man power or purchase power of Google or Apple, and that’s a good thing.
You dont make the device a ‘Googled device’ by sideloading. You would need to go much further to install Google services on the device. She was simply illustrating that a specific app that requires Google services, does not work on the Kompakt, therefore illustrating that the phone does not have Google services.
To log in with a google account is one thing, but having telemetry / background connections to google servers is independent of that, as far as I understand.
Moreover, as another example, LineageOS has no preinstalled google services, but apparently (see the links in my original post) it has some hardcoded connections to google servers on some particular occasions.
However, as @buiosu reported, there seem to be no “hidden” background connections to google servers, so it seems that the Mudita did a good job degoogling the OS in the first place.
Personally I have sideloaded Rethink DNS as a firewall to filter out any unwanted connections, but I haven’t had the time to check whether some background system services try to connect to specific IP addresses. Might do that someday
I hope your view on the topic is clearer now, also thanks to @xer0’s comprehensive answers
