Oneplus gathering user data

[WrathofKhan]

I was thinking about getting the new Oneplus 5T, but this article (and others) are now leaving me on the fence.  Apparently, Oneplus gathers data on you phone usage, some of which can be disabled in the advanced settings, others cannot.  The real issue is the lack of anonymity while doing this.  Hacker News claims to have a work around to disable data transmission.  Oneplus also claims they will alter their data collection upon the public being aware of this.  What I want to know is will this work?  I don't have a Oneplus device to try this out on.

 

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15441430

 

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/oneplus-data-leak-fix,news-25968.html

[Tabs]

That service was identified as being the one causing data to be sent, so removing it with ADB should work yes. 

 

One thing to consider is that most Oneplus devices are relatively quick to get third party roms - so if you wait a few months, you could check what options are available for running custom roms on it that are unlikely to have this specific data collection in place.

 

Or even waiting to see what kind of response Oneplus makes - like giving the option to disable it's collection entirely, instead of being able to disable some of it but not all.

[WrathofKhan]

I haven't tried installing a rom on my phone before.  Do custom roms tend to have firmware that can drive dual cameras in the way they were intended to be used?

[dizmo]

I had other issues with the company before, but still would have considered it.
Now, with the information harvesting, and the fact that there's back doors created by programs left on their devices, I have absolutely no interest in OnePlus anymore. They either simply don't care about their consumers, or they're too stupid to make a device secure. There are other options. I'd go for one of those.