Short answer: The lowest risk of access to your data is when communication takes place on a Mobi smartphone in a messenger on the blockchain.
Other communication options—standard messengers such as Telegram, WhatsApp, and regular smartphone text messaging, access to communication data is obtained to varying degrees by big tech companies: Google, the instant messenger companies, and telecom operators.

Access to data varies, but these services may put at risk data on (1) the identity of the person communicating, (2) the identity of the second person communicating, (3) the date and time of communication, (4) the content of communication.

Detailed answer:

Standard messengers are centralized, meaning that they have specific servers on which all correspondence is stored. These include many popular messengers, such as Telegram, WhatsApp, VK, OK, etc. There are also decentralized messengers that use the blockchain instead of centralized servers, and some messengers have end-to-end encryption, the keys to which only you have.

Communication in standard instant messengers on a regular smartphone Centralized messengers such as WhatsApp, Telegram, VK, OK, etc. involve three additional parties in every conversation on a regular smartphone: (a) the American tech company Google, through its Android operating system installed on the phone, (b) the messenger company, for example WhatsApp or Telegram, and (c) a telecom operator—the cellular or other internet provider.

Big tech companies—Google and the messenger company—have access to the largest volume of personal data of the communicating parties. In particular, Google may have access to data about (1) the identity of the person communicating (since both the phone and Android must be logged in), (2) the identity of the second person communicating (through contacts in the phone to which Android has access), and (3) the date and time of communication. Furthermore, the keyboard developer company may have access to (4) the content of the communication. This is usually also Google, but there are other keyboards, such as Microsoft's SwiftKey. Such keyboards may contain trackers that collect and transmit input data to the company that developed the keyboard.

Regarding voice conversations in messengers, audio recordings cannot typically be made, since this requires separate software compatible with the phone, the installation of which requires the user’s consent.

The messenger company has access to a comparable volume of personal data. By linking an account to the phone number and contacts in the messenger’s contact book, the messenger company has access to data about (1) the identity of the person communicating, (2) the identity of the second person communicating, and (3) the date and time communication. As all messenger companies claim, they do not have access to (4) the content of the communication, because communication is encrypted with end-to-end encryption, that is, encryption in which the keys to decryption are only on the user’s smartphone and not the messenger company.

But it should be noted that although the messenger company does not have the keys, the encryption algorithm was developed by the messenger company and the content of all messages is stored on company servers.

The telecom operator has access to a smaller amount of personal data. This is the cellular or WiFi internet provider. The telecom operator has access to data about (1) the identity of the person communicating (since the SIM card or WiFi is tied to the identity of its owner), and (3) the date and time of communication, but does not have access to data about (2) the identity of the person to whom the message was sent or (4) the content of the communication (other than the amount of data transferred).

Communication in standard instant messengers on a Mobi smartphone The main advantage of the Mobi smartphone is that it completely deprives Google of the ability to have access to any data regarding communication. Google does not have access to data about (1) the identity of the person communicating, nor (2) the identity of the person with whom they are communicating, nor (3) the date, time of communication, nor (4) the content of the communication.

The messenger company still has access to data about (1) the identity of the person communicating and (3) the date and time of communication. This access is eliminated only if communication on the Mobi smartphone is carried out using a decentralized messenger. Communication in decentralized (that is, on the blockchain) messengers on the Mobi smartphone In this case, Google still has no access to anything regarding communication, and the messenger on the blockchain only has a record of the date and time of communication, but no information about any party involved or the content of the communication.

For clarity, see the two illustrations below:

On a regular smartphone with standard messaging apps, Google, the messenger company, and the cellular or WiFi provider have access to some information about your communication. When communicating via a blockchain messenger on a regular smartphone, you eliminate the risk of the messenger company having access to your data, but you do not eliminate the risks associated with the fact that Google, through the Android operating system on your phone, has access to data about your identity, as well as the date and time of your correspondence, and through the keyboard can have access to the contents of the correspondence. With Mobi's smartphone, neither Google nor the keyboard developers have access to anything at all.

On Mobi, just like on a regular phone, you can do two things using a SIM card that cannot be done on a WiFi network: (a) place and receive voice calls over a cellular connection, and (b) send and receive SMS messages. In this case, the cellular operator has access to all data related to calls and SMS messages, including the content of calls and messages. Other things (working on the Internet, in instant messengers, in applications, etc.) can be done both using a SIM card and on a WiFi network. When using a SIM card, you always use one provider for Internet service; accordingly, this provider will collect more statistics about your use of the Internet connection. When using WiFi, you may change providers in different locations, and each will have less information about your behavior. The provider sees the volume of data transferred, but not its content. If you try to access a site that does not use encryption, the browser will warn you that the connection is not secure and your data may be stolen, and in such cases you need to take this risk into account.

Apps for banking, government services, Avito, navigation, and other typical applications can be used, but you should only install apps from companies you trust, since these companies will store data about your work in these applications on their servers.

Control the data you enter in these applications, such as correspondence, photos and other data. This data is transferred by the application to the server of the company that created this application or service.

Monitor the permissions you grant to these applications, as applications often request access that is not directly required to provide you with the stated services (for example, access to your phone book or location). You can control application permissions in the “About phone” menu. To open this menu, press and hold the application icon for 1 second. An additional menu will open, where you can select “About the application” and then “Permissions”.

Separately, it is worth noting that applications with taxi services require authorization through a link to a phone number, so it will not be possible to avoid having your data connected to you through this information.

And most importantly, you should only download applications from the websites of the companies that released them, since when downloading from the Google Play store, you will need to log in to the store and share significant personal data with Google.

Mobi comes pre-installed with the Jelly browser, a lightweight open source browser.

This browser allows you to visit Internet pages without transmitting unnecessary information to sites and without giving search engines the opportunity to obtain information about you and your activities, only allowing them to collect query statistics without reference to an individual. You’ll see that the Jelly browser uses the Google search engine as a default. It can safely be used to search the Internet, since in this case all that Google will collect isrequest statistics (what was requested and at what time), but information will not be available about who requested, from what location, etc.

Google can also be replaced by installing any other search engine in Jelly. There are search engines that do not collect user data, such as DuckDuck-Go.com and StartPage.com. There are also other browsers that prioritize data security: Chromium, Vivaldi, Bromite, Mulch, and Mull, all of which are open source.

Mobi comes pre-installed with the mailbox aggregator Mail K-9. The application is open source and does not track your activity. This application does not provide a new mailbox, but is an aggregator of existing mailboxes you already have. You can connect our existing email mailboxes to this aggregator (for example, gmail, Yandex mail, Proton mail and others), and conduct mail correspondence with any of your accounts.

All messages sent from K-9 Post will technically continue to be sent from your existing mailboxes, and your address as the sender will remain the same. That is, nothing changes externally. You will be able to send and receive email messages as normal, nothing more or less, and no third-party email application development company will be able to to collect any information. Your email will be as secure as it is originally with your email provider.

You can use standard navigation apps, but it’s important to control the permissions you grant to these applications (access to the phone book, for example) since all information to which the application has access is transferred by the application to its server. For navigation to work, we need to provide access to our current location and target destination. This information is transmitted to the company whose navigation we use. But the risk here is negligible when using navigation that does not require linking to a phone number.

For example, Organic Maps is an open source offline map app that values your privacy and does not contain trackers. It can be used without the Internet.

In the case of taxi applications, it will not be possible to avoid your account being linked to an individual, since all taxi services require authorization through a phone number.

YouTube is part of the Google ecosystem and does not work without Google Frameworks, so on Mobi (which has Google Frameworks removed), YouTube will not work directly. To watch YouTube on Mobi, you need to install an alternative client. Then you can watch the same YouTube, but without Google tracking. Here are some options for alternative open source clients (without trackers or other data collection):

PipePipe,
Sky tube,
LibreTube,
Clipious

You can download applications on your smartphone through the APKUpdater application market. The APKUpdater store is open source, does not contain trackers and does not require the creation of an account. You can download almost any application on it. This market uses the repositories of all major markets that are alternatives to Google Play and collects a huge collection of applications. This gives you access to a huge collection of different programs. When searching for applications, all versions of applications in all markets are displayed (if you do not limit the list in the settings), not just the latest one, so pay attention to the version numbers at the bottom of the application icon.

By using APKUpdater, we eliminate the main risk to our data that Google Play has—collecting data about us and our activity.

You can also install applications manually. We highly recommend that you only install applications downloaded from reliable sources, such as the websites of the companies whose application you want to download, and not from Google Play or similar proprietary markets that collect information about you and your activity.

The language is selected in the initial setup menu when you turn on the phone for the first time.

To change the interface language of a Mobi phone based on Cubot p80 after the initial setup, go to the phone settings (Settings) - (System) - (Languages & input) - (Languages) - (Add a language), and add the language you are interested in from the list. On the line with this language, press and hold the sign (two lines) and move this language to the first place.

If applications were installed from the APKUpdater market or are available there, they will update through APKUpdater. To do this, go to the “Updates” tab in APKUpdater. There will be a list of programs that are installed on your phone and which have updates available. Often more than one version of an application will be visible, as APK Updater is updated from different sources.

The numbers at the bottom of the icon indicate the version of the application. We recommend selecting the icon with the largest number at the bottom. The icon in the upper left corner indicates the source of the application, and clicking on the sign in the upper right corner will begin installing/updating the application.

If you installed the program manually, and not through APK Updater, and the application does not have a self-updating function, you’ll need to go to the website of the developer company (most likely this is the same site where the application was originally downloaded) and download the update.

Updating the software of the phone itself (that is, the firmware) takes place in an automated mode via a PC; all instructions and files for updating can be found on the website in the appropriate section. At the moment, there are no updates, as the firmware is current.

Use Wi-Fi points you trust. On networks that you do not trust, do not transmit confidential data, as in open access points, data can be intercepted by attackers.

It is also possible to change your MAC address (device number on the Internet). To do this, find your Wi-Fi network and enter the password. After connecting, go to the network settings and look for the “Random MAC address” option. To activate it, you need to activate the Developer Menu: go to the phone settings, select the “About device” menu item, and click on the “Build number” item 7 times in a row until you receive a notification that you have become a developer. After that, go back to the main settings menu and go to the “System” item. You will see a new item there - “For Developers”, where the function of activating a random MAC address will be available.

Yes, it's safe. As always, connect only to trusted devices

Yes, it's safe. The Mobi phone does not collect your data and has no hidden features.

Mobi's phone has a proven, specially assembled version of Lineage OS with additional programs installed to improve the user experience: a safe market for installing APKUpdater applications, the mail aggregator K-9 Mail, and a secure messenger. It also has improved compatibility with programs that require Google Frameworks, which are not installed on Mobi, since they contain trackers.

You receive the current version of the software with the latest security patches, updates, and most importantly, technical support—firmware updates, answers to questions, recommendations from specialists.

This firmware was compiled specifically for this phone model and has been fully tested many times. The security and stability of firmware made by enthusiasts and posted on various sites, as a rule, can only be verified experimentally, for which you must have the appropriate knowledge and skills.

The MicroG module is a free implementation of some of the proprietary functions of the Google Frameworks, but without tracking or being tied to an individual. It is open source and does not transmit sensitive data, and also removes all identifying bits.

The main role of MicroG is that it (1) allows push notifications to work on a phone with an open operating system (in our case, Lineage OS), (2) helps geo-location work, reducing the time for connecting adjustments based on your geolocation (then geolocation works more accurately and faster), and (3) helps in launching programs that require Google Frameworks for their operation when Google Frameworks are not on the phone.

The only risk from MicroG is that when the “Cloud Messaging” function is activated (that is, the ability to receive push notifications in applications), the text of the push notifications passes through the Google server and can be recorded by Google. But this risk is insignificant, since Moby is not tied to your identity.