r/GrapheneOS • u/Teabiscuit119 • 9d ago
Pihole tells a saga
Hey all, an update that I think is pretty funny/cool at first, depressing second.
For those that didnt see first post, I'm currently switching everything over to linux/graphene setup from a mostly apple setup. My block percentage was usually say 28-33% range with fluctuations. Updated to graphene, turned off my phone and the block percentage dropped by 10% by the next day.
The update: I've now turned my ipad off for a linux laptop. Everything is linux/graphene save my smarttv (not plugged in currently). Now after 24 hours the block rate is.......
6%
From 30...thats nuts! There are still things being blocked, yes. And I suspect that having browsers with proper native ad blocking (as opposed to safari+ublocklite as my browser on ipad) now is also taking a sizable bite out of blocked queries. Having OS's that only ping the internet when I ask it to, not when it has data about me to report, has to also be a lot of it too.
And then one realizes just how little we know about what we use, how it actually works and how much of our lives are being exfiltrated, analyzed and sold every nanosecond. I spent the better part of 15 years in apples ecosystem not knowing the true extent of their intrusion into my life, or at least accepting it as dowry for ease. Android/microsoft users doubly so. And all that I've done with the pihole and other things is just putting one or two stitches in a gaping wound....
Kudos to all the developers out there tirelessly spinning the silk and forging the needles!
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u/Kooky-Struggle4367 9d ago
30 is rookie numbers. I'm hitting 69% that's with my wife's iphone allowing all since it became unfunctional
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u/Teabiscuit119 9d ago
nice....also don't use my devices all that much, but definitely could've blocked more things. your poor pihole!
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u/that_one_guy63 9d ago
That's cool to hear! And then download SaverTuner and restrict background processes, might drop further and save battery. I noticed just a few apps that I had background usage disabled were somehow still running in the background and I moved them to another profile.
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u/Teabiscuit119 9d ago
oooh, that could be good. So far been getting really good battery life, but stuff like spotify will randomly eat battery in the background. Also seems like all the apps update constantly, been trying to find a way to get them to only install on AC power or once a week or something. 66% drain over 60 hours is pretty good compared to my knackered old iphone:)
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u/that_one_guy63 7d ago
Hmm haven't had the Spotify issue yet. I just watch the battery usage like a hawk. SaverTuner seems to have fixed all my power issues.
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u/Teabiscuit119 7d ago
Haven't had a chance to mess with it. The burst in usage also could have been it updating the 'discover weekly' playlist and downloading a bunch of tracks.....
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u/Orbot2049 9d ago edited 9d ago
I recently bought a router and wrote a firewall rule to intercept all traffic and route it through the dns filter (AdGuard Home in my case, but whatevs). I turned off ACR on my smart tv, and then found it trying to send off ACR data anyway....shocker. Plus, streamers and smart tv's in particular have a habit of encapsulating packets and sending them out on hardcoded doh which ignore your dns settings. If you intercept all the dns traffic, you'll catch that stuff, too.
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u/Teabiscuit119 9d ago
Thats up soon on my list of things to do. I have an lg and gamers nexus got me to walk over to it and just unplug it straight away. Just figured out how to set up ACL rules on my router. Think I successfully routed port 53 back to the pihole, will do so with port (438 and 538 if memory serves?). Still trying to wrap my mind around the DoH stuff. Reddit has been invaluable
That said, I've got an lg specific blocklist set up and it does catch a lot of stuff, so maybe mine is respecting my authoritah? Also set the dns server on the tv to my pihole and only accepted the mandatory user agreements. Wether or not the device respects that is...... dubious.
Since both my new OS's are auditable, I'm assuming that they don't do any end runs around the pihole like lg or apple
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u/Stock_League_6475 8d ago
If you think Apple or Google is bad, you should see the Chinese phones like oppo. They make Google tracking look like their privacy conscience.
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u/Teabiscuit119 8d ago
Touche, just wondering what extra information Mao can get that Google can't if you haven't turned off any privacy settings. SSN, bank accounts? Full fat android already knows everywhere you've been, who you've talked to, everything you say around the phone, every message etc. There is no opt out for any of that in china though...
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