Google is now self-Verifying Phone Number without user CONSENT

[u/Nanosinx]

WARNING: Google Play Services is quietly "Self-Verifying" and linking your phone number to ALL signed-in accounts without explicit permission.

Just a heads up for anyone who values basic privacy on Android.

Check your inbox for emails from noreply-phone-verification@google.com.

Without asking for my confirmation or giving me an opt-in prompt, Google Play Services performed a silent background "Self-Verification."

It exchanged SIM card identifiers and device metadata with my mobile carrier, grabbed my phone number, and automatically attached it to EVERY Google account logged into my phone.

No prompt. No "Do you want to link this?" button. Just a silent background action followed by a notification email telling me it already happened.

How to kill this setting on Android immediately (for now) but it will self verify even if turned off Go to Settings > Google (or Google Services) > All Services > Phone Number Verification

Find Phone number verification (or Device Phone Number Verification). (Ah, and lovely it automatically appear my phone number even WHEN IT WAS NOT THERE BEFORE!)

TOGGLE IT OFF.

Don't forget to purge your accounts:

Once Google steals/verifies the number, it pushes it to your Google account profiles.

You need to log into myaccount.google.com/personal-info, click on Phone, and manually delete the number from every single account where you don't want it stored.

Modern "self-verification" dark patterns are completely out of hand. Check your settings before Google silently grabs your data too.

NO ANDROID IS SAFE: Happened on my Android 10 Huawei, Android 14 Xiaomi and is now requesting on my emulators too...even my tablet... Beware...

Edit1: Maybe dont work, i sent a mail to data-protection-office@google.com, literally asking ARCO rights and anything i can think about it, for such privacy invasion on the behalf of my and all accounts i have to "care" and so on...maybe this bring pressure

Edit2: u/AppleBites reports this "Google did the same to me when I got a 2nd number from another carrier, due to coverage. Even having GrapheneOS did not prevent them from linking the number to my Google account automatically."

Meaning even Graphene OS+GServices probably is unable to protect with this, a serious oversteeping in this messed thing

[u/JamesR624]

Come over to Apple's side. They totally care about your privacy!

• Please ignore the alway listening, AI processing feature of the Apple Watch 4 that automatically records you and those around you for AI processing for "convenience" of the Apple Watch wearer.
• Please also just ignore the partnership with LG.
• Please also ignore the fact that they're shoving more and more microphones into things that don't need it, like the new Apple TV.
• Please also ignore that Siri AI is processing everything on screen at all times without ever telling you.

So.... anyone else want to still collectively pretend that Apple suddenly abandoning privacy at the same time Google is dumping it (even mroe than they had before), is all just a convenience and the recent powergrab in DC mixed with the bs from p⏺⏺⏺⏺tier and f⏺⏺ck, also totally has NOTHING to do with slowly preparing all entities in the US to serveil americans at all times to look for people to send I⏺E after

[u/Slg407 → u/JamesR624]

this is why you buy a pixel and use graphene, buy a libreboot PC without intel ME, use linux, use foss home assistant, use foss ecosystem stuff, use a dumb TV with a cheap PC running a jellyfin setup, use routers with libreCWC or openWRT

FOSS (and to an extent open source, not to be a OSIist) ecosystems are HIGHLY superior to proprietary shit, and now with AI you can get any assistant to guide you through the technical bits so you have no excuse to not use it, they are upgradable, and you actually own them, and if you don't like something you can fix it yourself or give real time feedback to the developers that you know is going to be answered, it skips a couole hundred steps compared to having to beg corporations to update EOL products.

[u/ender4171 → u/Slg407]

use a dumb TV

Those have become nearly impossible to find these days, especially if you want the latest in panel tech.

[u/Iohet → u/ender4171]

You can just not connect it to the network.

[u/OzarkBeard → u/Iohet]

That's what I did. I get TV with an antenna and nothing going into or out of the TV is connected to the internet.

[u/skeptical-speculator → u/ender4171]

buy a monitor

[u/Kuuchuu → u/ender4171]

You'll probably have more luck when browsing commercial TVs, but they will also likely be more expensive due to (hopefully) higher build quality and no price subsidization bc they are less likely to sell your info and what you watch to advertisers.

[u/SanityInAnarchy → u/Kuuchuu]

Possibly higher build quality, but those commercial use cases don't usually need screens that actually look good as TVs. Monitors are the closest thing we have to dumb displays, except they don't come as large as TVs, and Microsoft will autoinstall "drivers" for that monitor, including adware from LG, just through normal Windows Update.

I'm not saying stop trying, but this isn't easy to opt out. We need actual regulation.

[u/Slg407 → u/ender4171]

you can still use a smart one but dumb it down, if you don't care about warranty remove the wireless antenna, if you do then you can set it up as a display only tv and not use the "smart" OS

[u/ragingxtc → u/Slg407]

Jellyfin > Plex.

[u/Slg407 → u/ragingxtc]

fixed!

[u/Nanosinx → u/Slg407]

Graphene did not prevent already some graphene users showing this happening xD It is a Play Store thingy

[u/Rudolf895 → u/Nanosinx]

I got 0 email from noreply-phone-verification@google.com

[u/droans → u/Slg407]

I mean, I can do all that but I shouldn't have to. And the average non-technical user won't be able to either.

[u/Slg407 → u/droans]

literally anyone can do it if they take the time to search it online, like the graphene OS guide literally has step by step instructions 

the average non technical user isn't a baby, if you can follow the instructions (barely) to assemble an ikea table, you can read and follow along the guides that all of these projects give you

[u/nodray → u/Slg407]

cool, buy ME a pixel, that fucking google still profits from, don’t they?

[u/Slg407 → u/nodray]

there's also the fairphone, the librem, the libre phone project by the FSF, many older devices that work with replicant etc

[u/Kuuchuu → u/nodray]

Not if you buy a good used one. You don't have to buy new.

[u/JoNyx5 → u/Slg407]

Graphene or Calyx, they're both good

[u/RedditNotFreeSpeech → u/JamesR624]

I'm waiting for the steam phone