Yes and no. You need an unlocked or unlockable bootloader, which is becoming more and more difficult to find. So you’ll need speciality manufacturers, or ones with that feature. For example, in the US, Samsung has had locked bootloaders on all its phones since the Galaxy S7.

Obviously your point is correct (e.g. I have an older, but usable OnePlus 6 with an unlocked bootloader). You just need to be more deliberate when choosing a phone and keeping all of this in mind.

The feature is called DDNS (Dynamic DNS).

For reference, Brooklyn alone has over 2 million residents. NYC as a whole is 8 and change million. So yeah, we’ve got huge population density, and it shows in busy areas.

To be fair (as a Samsung Android and MacBook user), so do nearly all phones altogether. On a computer, you can just install Linux to have a Microsoft/Google/Apple-free OS. But nearly all smartphones run Android (if not iOS).

I guess then that we need more Linux phone development.

It’s not exactly difficult if you use Tailscale or really any VPN. So I really don’t see the value for the cost; if you’re even considering self hosting a Plex server/instance, there’s a list of basic knowledge you should have or learn (like what you mentioned).

If you can run tailscale or similar, your IP becomes a non-issue (CGNAT vs static IP)

Yeah but it’s like 100 devices, I think. And I believe 3 users (meaning under one account; sharing a device with someone who makes their own account doesn’t count as a “user”). You’re right, but they’re pretty generous.

I don’t think it takes many resources to provide the service to consumers; it’s not like you’re using any of their bandwidth (minus the tiny amount used for coordination between clients). Oh, or if you use their DERP servers (encrypted, but still).

In general, people should know there are self hosted, truly private options, though. So thanks for mentioning Headscale.

Thank you. I say it because I was genuinely asking the person who replied to me, in case I was wrong. In the context of privacy, it’s extremely important to know for sure.

Evidence/source? My understanding is you inherently cannot go back to BFU (before first unlock) state once you’re in AFU unless you reboot.

Again, I’m not talking about simply disabling biometrics unlock – BFU = your decryption key is not in memory yet (at all).

Do a restart (even if you have to hold the power button for 10 seconds). Because at initial boot state, the contents of your phone are encrypted. Any unlocks after the initial unlock, your phone is decrypted and the key is in RAM. Only a password/pin (no fingerprint/FaceID/etc) can be used to decrypt your data.

In lockdown mode, my understanding is that you’re simply disabling biometrics (but not encrypting anything).