this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
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Privacy

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ive been using expandroid, but sadly it stoped working for the stuff i most need it for.

now i found texpandapp(.)com. its really nice cuz it works my browser and note taking app.

most home calling can be stopped via dns blocking i guess (?), but it still has those questionable permissions:

  • view network connections πŸ˜’
  • use fingerprint hardware πŸ‘Œ
  • run foreground service with the type "dataSync" πŸ₯±
  • run at startup πŸ‘Œ -ask to ignore battery optimizationsπŸ‘Œ
  • have full network access 😳😳😳
  • prevent phone from sleepingπŸ€”
  • Advertising ID Permission πŸ™„
  • run foreground service πŸ‘Œ
  • Google Play billing service πŸ‘Œ
  • Play Install Referrer API πŸ€”

how bad is all of that? keylogger-level bad?

(cannot block all internet access, bad phone and the vpn slot is occupied)

edit: turns out split tunnelling with "block all connections without vpn" does the job, nice.

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[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Why do you use a separate Android app with all of those hostile permissions instead of the built-in personal dictionary and its shortcuts? I have thousands of shorthand lines in Android's personal dictionary, like wdyl = what do you like (type the first part and the second part appears in the autocorrect pane for you to touch if you want).

[–] birdcat@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

i dont seem to have that function. anyway cannot rly see the harm with that app and the vpn block solution.

[–] Flagstaff@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Your Android device doesn't have a personal dictionary section in the Language & Input page? What phone do you have? Yeah, keeping it offline is probably fine, but I'm just surprised since this has been a thing for at least 7 Android versions now, as far as I know.

By the way, HeliBoard (an offline fork of the now-defunct OpenBoard) seems to have its own private, built-in personal dictionary; I migrated to that since finding out.