When I was playing with settings on my Nokia 6.1 Plus running a stock ROM Android 10 with bootloader unlocked and rooted with Magisk v21+, I noticed that Firebase App Indexing that comes under Google Account Preferences was collecting all of my personal data. Of course, GMS was the culprit.
Here's the proof: This was the message that I received from the bank for the transaction that I made yesterday.
Every message that I sent and received had been collected in this given format. Also, many apps that use Firebase API sent these kinds of information.
I'm a guy who thinks about user privacy all-day, so I've used:
- Nuked_Script Magisk script that is used to disable trackers and ad services.
- AFWall+ for Firewall (root).
- Bouncer - Temporary App Permissions.
- AdAway for nullifying ads (root) - ads on Gmail, Twitter, Instagram still exist though
- Bromite webview and browser (Webview Switcher module).
When I turned the developer options off, Firebase App Indexing options also turned off (I mean hidden). So, does it mean that it stopped collecting my data? I still doubt that.
How can I stop this from happening?
P.S: I'm used to using Google Apps. But I don't want to give them such personal data.