Smartphones That Help You Bust Out of the Android/iOS Ecosystem

Smartphones go pretty much everywhere and are used for almost everything. But as is the case for anything that becomes a ubiquitous part of our daily experience, these mobile devices are capable of leaking a lot of information about our online activities, personal preferences, and physical movements.

You can take steps to reduce your risk, but you might need to take more extreme measures to protect your privacy — say, if you're an Android user fed up with Google's ad-blocker blocking or an iOS user concerned about Apple's data collection activities. So one solution to consider is picking a phone from outside the Android-iOS duopoly.

Moving away from Apple-Google isn't easy, but it is possible with a little work. A number of makers sell "de-Googled" phones that emphasize security features, like anti-tracking software, sandboxing, and hardware kill switches, that can disable network or camera access with a flick.

Check out these handsets that keep you off the ad-tracking radar, with nerd cred preinstalled.