Re-posted because any new visitor that comes here should be made aware of the extent of their own bondage.
Do you notice that your handset still picks up audio cues for ads, etc? Even though the Google assistant is "off" on your phone?
The deep state has tabs on the populace-at-large, still. [They] use Google (and Facebook, Twitter, and other pre-loaded apps) to do it. [They] can listen to your most private conversations. And know exactly where you said it. Even if you've never actually "used" the app.
What we know:
The handset does not need a sim installed for Google to collect data.
The handset does not need wifi conectivity to collect data either.
Data is collected even with airplane mode on.
All offline data collected is sent to Google once a connection is established if Google has been granted permission to do so.
Here's how to stop allowing satan into your device.
Exit all of your apps and reboot the phone. Once the phone is to the home screen:
Go to google.app's info page.
Stop the google.app process.
Clear app cache
Clear app data
Go to app permissions.
Turn off all permissions listed in the google.app permissions section.
Disable Google.app.
Reboot the phone.
Enjoy not being monitored by Google.
<But why does this matter? I disabled it! WTF?
Research in the wild has shown that just disabling these apps is not enough; The preloaded apps cannot be uninstalled, being part of the ROM software. Being "disabled" just means that the icons have been hidden from the user in the interface; They are still useable by the system. Permissions matter; It's literally comparable to allowing satan into your house.
<But you're not a ROM h4x0rr. But it's not rooted. But they have [insert spooptool here]. But it doesn't matter because some other strawman. Nothing to see here. Other gaslighting.
None of that matters, because this becomes a legal problem. IF it is proven that Google's ROM software (marketed for it's security features, for Android 9.x) were to not honor user permissions settings, that could open up the parent company to millions, if not billions of dollars in damages in a class action lawsuit, and manufacturers would need to take a harder look at other, actual secure platforms or risk losing business and money.
<But the voice search is gone! WTF anon?! The phone sucks now!
Blame Google for installing their search app as the default provider. There are several options available, and instructions on how to change the default provider app also exist on the internet. So there's options out there if you truly need that feature and do not want Google scraping your data.
Anyway
The example is for google.app specifically, but it will also work with other pre-loaded bloatware, like facebook.app and twitter.app. Apple and Microsoft are no better. Same idea applies to those: Deny permissions first, and then disable the apps and reboot.
https://video.foxnews.com/v/5731183327001/#sp=show-clips
ps- If you're thinking of buying a new phone, DO NOT SET UP THE HANDSET WITH A GOOGLE ACCOUNT ON FIRST RUN. Doing this grants Google full access to everything on the phone by default, because it brands that user ID into the phone, until it is wiped and factory reset.
If you did make this mistake, fully wipe and reset the phone, and set it up without any account on first run, and set up email after. This prevents branding the phone to a user ID, and also forces the handset to ask for permission to data that would normally default to a new google user (ie- a gmail account.)