Hey guys! I’m looking fot a new aripod and i just discovered that they collect A LOT of data actually. There is any TWS airpod that don’t collect a lot of data? How can i have more privacy with airpods?
You got a bunch of replies itt about different alternatives but not a lot dissecting what the problem is and what the feasible extent of the “solutions” are.
You asked for true wireless stereo airpods so I’m gonna assume you’re in the Apple world. If that’s so, I’m a privacy minded person who uses the old g2 airpods and has accepted the tradeoffs involved. When you need replacements the website therightpod.com is a fine place to go.
The airpods themselves arent really a huge vector for data collection, it’s the os that’s doing that. Apple is insane for telemetry because it’s how they find and fix bugs. The idea is to have a separate pathway for technical crash data to get to the qa and development people instead of relying on customer support for that. From the perspective of a developer, a support rep and a customer it’s a much better experience. You can turn a good portion of it off in settings.
True wireless earphones use Bluetooth. Bluetooth was never designed to be secure and has to support a large variety of mechanisms for pairing that are inherently insecure. Bluetooth must also support a truly enormous number of devices whose idea of a hardware shared secret is the Indian certificate authority “4”. Bluetooth cannot be “secure” and therefore cannot be private. The word is in scare quotes because there’s some cool stuff but people are constantly bypassing bt so how cool or safe some new method happens to be is up for analysis.
Don’t have conversations over Bluetooth that would implicate you. Don’t have conversations over a device connected to the known compromised cell network that would implicate you.
Actually i meant earphones. I realized airpods are a Iphone thing, so my bad.
No worries. All the same advice applies with the additional caveat that unless you’re on graphene you should trust an Android handset less than an Apple one.
You can’t get private tws headphones and even going wired isn’t any real solution because you’re sending the unencrypted signal up what amounts to an antenna in order to get it to your ears. And all the data collection is done on device so even if you’re using wired headphones you are still being telemetried.
If there’s a specific thing you’re concerned about or want to avoid, spell it out and I can try to help. I use graphene and ios daily.
“Wired wired wired”
Meanwhile phones: “3.5mm what now? Never heard of it.”
I’m not ditching Graphene to get a phone with more spyware to replace my headphones with wired to avoid the headphone spyware. Seems counterproductive.
There’s always the option to get a USB-C headphone adapter.
And put wear and tear on my only charge port, no thank you. If they’d give me two usb-c ports I wouldn’t bitch about the lack of 3.5mm as much though, tbf.
There’s some adapters that split into headphone and charging. Certainly less clean than just having another port on the phone itself but it’s an option if you like wired headphones.
Yeah but my issue isn’t charging while listening (though now that you mention it, that too lol) but the undue plugging and unplugging on my sole port, for the dongle to solve that I’d need to leave it connected 24/7 which would be madness lol.
The new FairPods? Heard something coming out soon
Get a nice pair of IEM’s for audio quality. If you need Bluetooth get a fiio Bluetooth DAC or smtn similar
This is the way
If you want to be 100% sure no data is being collected by your headphones your nest bet is going to be going back to wired. I assume that is not an answer you want but anything that uses a Bluetooth connection can be used as a vector to collect data on you. The only thing I can think of is either having your data off while using them, but that’s probably just postponing the data collection. Do you have a source on what data is being collected? Would be much easier to find places you can help reduce the amount of data being collected.
AirPods have data collection built into the OS. Only thing you can do is to use different headphones.
If you’re shopping for Bluetooth ones, skip the app. It’s guaranteed to have a bunch of data collection. But most of them will work fine with just a Bluetooth connection and you’re guaranteed safe. The apps are completely unnecessary.
Someone gave me some Anker Soundcore, then Tue changed the app to require network access to use the features and a cloud sign in, plus AI garbage to record voice. Thankfully there is an OpenSource app for it that works without network
Really? I have the same ones and the app update is disappointing. Do you have a link to the open source version? Edit: a quick search brings up https://github.com/Oppzippy/OpenSCQ30
Yep, I think that’s the one I downloaded. You can block network access in permissions, and just leave nearby devices on. And everything works. Even managing dual connections with toggles so you can have several pairing and decide which two to connect with.
I agree with what @chickenf622@sh.itjust.works said. Fortunately a friend of mine introduced me to IEMs when I was thinking of buying new audio gear and I ended up buying a pair for about €80 (Letshuoer S12).
Since the day I got them I’ve used them daily, the audio quality is amazing, they sound better than my airpods 2 and I also don’t have to deal with Bluetooth shenanigans.
Maybe !audiophile@lemmy.world or !audiophile@lemmy.ml can help you decide what to get if you’re interested. My advice would be not to go crazy with the price if it’s your first pair so you can get an idea of what you do and don’t like.
Hell yeah IEM’s are the best
I have a pair of $5 wired iem’s and they’re fine. Besides privacy, there’s also fewer things to go wrong with pairing, less audio latency, less batteries to keep charged and to fail, etc. And they’re cheap. No idea what an airpod is but if you mean those ones with a separate radio and rechargeable battery for each ear, with the additional carrying case with its own rechargeable battery, I’d just stay away.
