The answer is Dont Root Your Phone.
System-level ad-blocking is not on that list, so looks like I still need to root 🤷🏻♂️
Ever since Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, you’ve been able to disable (and sometimes even uninstall) many pre-installed apps without rooting.
That statement is just gaslighting. T-Mobile’s first-party bloatware is un-removable and un-disableable without root. One of the unremovable bloatware app is just an app that installs / “recommends” more bloatware.
Private DNS really helps with that. Although it does rely on an external entity for your blocking
Yeah, on my un-rootable work phone I have a wireguard connection just for DNS to my pihole, but I’d prefer the phone just not make those connections in the first place. There’s a noticeable battery life improvement with hosts file based blocking since it doesn’t have to make a network connection at all.
Take Screenshots
Silly me, I thought this list would be relevant.
Some apps disable one from taking screenshot, with root, one can bypass those restriction.
Imagine if windows disable you from using the “Print Screen” button!
“Use VPN”
Mhm, but not for hotspot, unless you’re rooted or use a custom ROM with such feature. Otherwise best you can do is one of those hotspot apps that uses legacy Wi-Fi direct group and runs a proxy server, but that’s still not as good.
“Change font”
Depends on device. Can’t do that on mine.
What do you mean, is it not possible? I use VPN with USB tethering just fine. Is the same not true for wireless hotspot? I assumed they work similarly.
But the connected device won’t use your phone’s VPN connection. It connects directly.
It does for my OpenVPN connection. My laptop was able to remote to my home PC over my mobile data. Not sure if it works differently from commercial VPNs.
All this list does is prove that the rooting community is indirectly contributing to the mainline distribution by innovating where Google and OEMs won’t bother.
Also, stock Android still doesn’t let me customize my hard/soft buttons, so I’ll be sticking with LineageOS.
