INFECTEDROM What your phone logs, and how to limit it

Method and limits

Where the data comes from

The steps were not tested on handsets. Treat every setting path as a likely route, not a confirmed one. Menu paths may differ by device and version.

The set covers 25 systems, 35 kinds of logging, 443 system and setting pairs and 74 tracker families.

The exposure score

Each logged item has a sensitivity from 1 to 5. Each system has a default state for it: on, varies, ask or off. The score adds sensitivity weighted by that state, scales it to 100, and lowers it as you tick settings you have changed. It is a guide for comparing changes, not a measurement.

What it cannot tell you

  • What your particular handset does after carrier or maker changes.
  • What individual apps collect beyond the general tracker families listed.
  • Whether a vendor has changed a setting since the lists were made.

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