Windows 10 Phone App Link Info request

[Wally J]

Think they've changed it for Win11
<Loading Image...>
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No way past ... you either have to use an existing a/c or create a new one.]

Thanks for that confirmation that a Microsoft Account is required.

I noticed one thing in Microsoft's instructions which was they didn't
mention the account, or, at least not in the list of the requirements.
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/phone-link-app-requirements-and-setup-cd2a1ee7-75a7-66a6-9d4e-bf22e735f9e3>

Thanks for showing there's no way to use Link to Windows without creating a
Microsoft Account, which, well... how shall I say this delicately... means
I wouldn't use it under any circumstances - especially as it probably
doesn't do anything I can't already do with what I have already running.

BTW, all Apple-garden stuff is done the same way, which is you can do all
sorts of neat stuff if you're always logged into the mothership servers.

So I guess Link to Windows, when it copies a file, for example, the three
feet from your phone to your PC, actually goes a thousand miles (or so).

Who wants that? Not me. If I'm gonna copy a file three feet, I only want it
to go three feet and not to someone elses' computer in the middle.

As for the emulation, whenever I emulate Android on Windows, all the apps
work just fine as does the Internet but I never can get the hardware to
work such as the bluetooth of the emulator (but my PC is AMD, not Intel).

[Paul]

Post by Wally J

Think they've changed it for Win11
<http://andyburns.uk/misc/phonelink1.png>
<http://andyburns.uk/misc/phonelink2.png>
No way past ... you either have to use an existing a/c or create a new one.]

Thanks for that confirmation that a Microsoft Account is required.
I noticed one thing in Microsoft's instructions which was they didn't
mention the account, or, at least not in the list of the requirements.
<https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/topic/phone-link-app-requirements-and-setup-cd2a1ee7-75a7-66a6-9d4e-bf22e735f9e3>
Thanks for showing there's no way to use Link to Windows without creating a
Microsoft Account, which, well... how shall I say this delicately... means
I wouldn't use it under any circumstances - especially as it probably
doesn't do anything I can't already do with what I have already running.
BTW, all Apple-garden stuff is done the same way, which is you can do all
sorts of neat stuff if you're always logged into the mothership servers.
So I guess Link to Windows, when it copies a file, for example, the three
feet from your phone to your PC, actually goes a thousand miles (or so).
Who wants that? Not me. If I'm gonna copy a file three feet, I only want it
to go three feet and not to someone elses' computer in the middle.
As for the emulation, whenever I emulate Android on Windows, all the apps
work just fine as does the Internet but I never can get the hardware to
work such as the bluetooth of the emulator (but my PC is AMD, not Intel).

Nothing says you have to use "features" on a computer.

It works as a computing device, just fine, with a very basic setup.

If you expect to link a series of machines, that may not be
in the same physical premises (home and cottage and Starbucks), then the MSA
has that covered. As then, the network details can be disparate,
and the interconnect schemes work fine.

These are your choices.

This machine has an MSA. I picked Win11Home for this experiment, so
I would experience as many "rough edges" as possible. However, I don't
do email on the machine, and "my address book is blank". Companies hate
it, when that happens :-) There are supposed to be scraping processes
on the machine, to harvest those.

Paul

[Wally J]

Post by Paul
This machine has an MSA. I picked Win11Home for this experiment, so
I would experience as many "rough edges" as possible. However, I don't
do email on the machine, and "my address book is blank". Companies hate
it, when that happens :-) There are supposed to be scraping processes
on the machine, to harvest those.

Connectivity between devices & privacy doing it are near & dear to me.

Thanks for running tests and explaining a minimalist approach using LTW
where it's refreshing that you're aware of the privacy implications of both
email and contacts on a device - which is easily overcome - if we're smart.

Contacts & email are super critically important for privacy reasons,
where most people, in my humblest assessment, are sheep led to slaughter.

With respect to email and contacts, on my Android, I would never use GMail
because I know, like you do, what most people don't know - simply because I
do what you do, which is empirical tests (most people are afraid of them).

In my empirical tests, using the GMail app, for example, _creates_ an
account on Android - which is a forbidden act so if I were to check my
email (which I don't do on a phone because of the screen & typing issues),
it would be using FairEmail, which has no problem with Google Accounts
(and it does not need 2FA/2SV/MSV to connect - just the OAuth2 web req.).
*FairEmail*, privacy aware email by Marcel Bokhorst, FairCode BV, FOSS
Free, ad free, gsf free, 4.6 star, 24.3K reviews, 500K+ Downloads
<https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=eu.faircode.email>
<https://email.faircode.eu/>
<https://github.com/M66B/FairEmail/releases>
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/eu.faircode.email/>

Also in my empirical tests, as Paul noted, the default contacts sqlite db
is hoovered by just about every application that wants to know who you
know, even the Google Maps app of all things.

For that, I populate the default contacts sqlite db with garbage using this
*Fake Contacts*
Create fake phone contacts, that will be stored on your phone
masquerading as your real contacts. The idea is to feed fake data
to any apps or companies who are copying our private data to use
or sell it. This is called data-poisoning.
<https://f-droid.org/packages/me.billdietrich.fake_contacts/>
<https://github.com/BillDietrich/fake_contacts>
<https://archive.org/details/github.com-BillDietrich-fake_contacts_-_2021-01-31_19-04-27>
<https://apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid/index/apk/me.billdietrich.fake_contacts?repo=main>

And then I use only messaging/contacts/dialer apps which can import/export
my personal contacts db (which is kept as a VCARD vcf & not as sqlite).
This app saves contacts in its own database separate from default
android contacts. This way no other app would be able to access
your real contacts. It can even be used in place of your default
phone (aka dialer) app. We can export/import contacts from Android
contacts app into this app. Maintains call log as well with the
name of the contact & shows the contact name when receiving calls.
<https://f-droid.org/en/packages/opencontacts.open.com.opencontacts/>
<https://github.com/sultanahamer/OpenContacts> (old github)
<https://gitlab.com/sultanahamer/OpenContacts> (new gitlab)
(aside: /What's the difference between github & gitlab?/)