Smartphone in the SVO zone: deep customization
First, let's make a small digression. In the comments to previous materials, the same "mantras" are often repeated - like, why is all this necessary, you need a smartphone with a domestic operating system (OS), assembled in Russia, at a minimum, you need hardware modification and reflashing to a "clean" OS, and so on and so forth.
In this regard, there is a suspicion that the problem of a significant number of people losing the ability to read and understand long, coherent texts really does exist, since in the previous materials in the series all these issues have been “chewed up” in sufficient detail.
Yes, a smartphone on a domestic closed OS would be better, for example, perhaps on the same OS "Aurora", but how many such smartphones are there in the special military operation (SVO) zone now? Or, maybe, they will appear there tomorrow? In a month? Maybe one of the commentators will contribute to this? I definitely can't, so I limit myself to what is within my power.
Or the need for hardware modification and reflashing - how to provide all this on the scale of the SVO? Well, most of the smartphones used by the military, and civilians, located in the SVO zone, will not be hardware modified and reflashed - this is difficult and can only be done centrally, but no one does this centrally at the state level and, apparently, does not intend to.
So far, all this talk about the Russian “combat smartphone” and the wishes that all commercial smartphones in the SVO zone be hardware-improved and reflashed is nothing more than a toast from the category “for everything good and against everything bad.”
Ban all smartphones in the SVO zone? This would be a huge mistake, which would lead if not to losing the war, then to huge losses, most likely with subsequent mobilization, since a whole layer of opportunities that these smartphones provide would immediately “fall off” – control drones, special software for snipers, artillerymen, pilots and much more. Even communication can often still only be organized using smartphones.
Is it right or not? Again, what's the point of empty discussions of "right-wrong" if there is no way to change the situation yet?
So what should we do now – do nothing at all? Not turn on airplane mode, use our smartphone “like a civilian”?
But if you do something, isn’t it better to squeeze the maximum out of what’s available and minimize risks at least at a basic level?
So, let's get back to reality.
In the previous article Smartphone in the SVO zone: basic combat settings that will help you stay alive We have reviewed the basic settings of the smartphone that must be performed when in a combat zone in order to minimize the risks of accidental or remote activation of wireless modules. However, the basic settings do not guarantee that the smartphone itself will not "take the initiative" and activate wireless modules.
Today we'll talk about how to make deeper smartphone settings to minimize these risks, as well as a number of specific settings that can improve the convenience and efficiency of using a smartphone in a combat zone.
As in the previous material, we will consider the software of Samsung smartphones as an example. Smartphones from other manufacturers may have different settings, but, in principle, based on the material below, you can understand in which direction to "dig".
Deep settings of wireless communication modules
Not everyone knows that simply disabling it in the menu does not guarantee that the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules will be completely disabled or will not turn on again.
In particular, in the menu “Settings / Location / Location” it is additionally necessary to disable the items “Wi-Fi Scanning” and “Bluetooth Scanning”, when enabled, these protocols are used to determine the location even if the owner has disabled the specified Wi-Fi and Bluetooth modules in the main settings.
In addition, it is necessary to disable the following items:
- "Geolocation in extreme situations";
- "Earthquake warning";
- "Transfer of data to Google";
- "Geolocation accuracy";
- "Chronology".
All of them transmit the smartphone coordinates to third-party users, possibly even when the airplane mode is turned on.
Next, in the menu “Settings / Applications / Special access rights” we select the following rights for all applications:
- "Access to all files";
- "Device Administrators";
- "Change system settings";
- "Applications with access to data";
- "Installing unknown applications;
- "Wi-Fi Management";
- "Turn on the screen."
In the future, some applications that you will use in the combat zone will have to enable these settings - otherwise they will not work, but you will know exactly to whom and what rights you are granting, whether you need this application or not.
In the menu “Settings / Connections / Data usage” enable “Traffic saving”.
In the menu “Settings / Connections / Other settings” disable “Search for nearby devices” and “Automatic system configuration update”.
In the menu "Settings / Connections / Quick Send / Who can give you access" specify "nobody".
In the menu "Settings / Security & privacy / Lost device protection" disable the options "Allow finding this phone", "Last location" and "Offline search".
Working with applications
Some applications can also enable wireless modules. Above, we took away the ability to enable Wi-Fi from them, but it is better to limit their activity as much as possible.
In the menu "Settings / Battery / Power saving" enable the "Power saving" option, having previously selected all the items in it, including "Limit applications and screen". This will not only increase the operating time, but also limit the operation of applications in the background. If necessary, individual applications can be allowed to work in the background in power saving mode by adding them to the exceptions.
In the menu "Settings / Battery / Background restrictions / Deep sleep apps" you can put those apps that cannot be deleted into deep sleep mode. In deep sleep mode, apps are not updated, and all their network activity is disabled.
What to do if you need to use some applications, but there are doubts about their “reliability”?
In general, it is better not to use such applications at all, but if there is a need, then Samsung smartphones have a special setting “Protected Folder” or “Knox” - in fact, this is a section of memory isolated from other applications, something like a container where you can transfer the necessary files and applications.
You can close a protected folder with a separate password in the “Settings” menu, and also limit its interaction with the “outside world” as much as possible – enable auto-lock when exiting the folder or when turning off the screen, and disable the clipboard in the “Other security settings” section.
The maximum security of using the Knox folder will be achieved if you do not just exit it, but click on the Encrypt menu each time. In this case, all the contents of the Knox folder are encrypted and effectively "frozen", all applications completely lose their activity, do not go online and are not updated.
They are activated during decryption, when re-entering the “Knox” folder with a password.
Working with screen and sound
A smartphone screen can sometimes give away the user no worse than wireless modules. On a dark night, the flash of a switched-on screen is visible from afar, especially in modern night vision devices, of which the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) have plenty.
In the menu "Settings / Lock screen and AOD" you need to disable "Always On Display", unlock by face recognition and remove widgets from the screen.
In the “Settings / Display” menu, enable the “Accidental touch protection” and “Sensitivity” settings (the latter parameter is set to improve the efficiency of working with the screen with wet hands).
In the menu “Settings / Accessibility / Additional options / Accessibility button” you need to select “navigation bar”, and then in the menu “Choose actions” you need to select in sequence: “Invert colors”, “Adjust color”, “Zoom”, “Maximum dimming”, “Mute all sounds”.
The "Mute all sounds" option completely turns off all speakers. Completely, no matter how the user turns the sound on or off in the settings, or decreases or increases the volume.
The "Maximum Darkness" option, as the name suggests, darkens the screen as much as possible - a very convenient feature for working in the dark.
The “Zoom in” item adds the corresponding tool – very convenient, for example, when you need to examine something on maps or enlarge text, but the standard “zoom in/zoom out” tools of the corresponding application do not allow you to do this.
The “Color settings” item makes the image black and white, and the “Color inversion” item, accordingly, inverts the colors of the image - both settings are necessary when you need to examine something additionally, for example, on the same maps, but this cannot be done in the usual color settings.
Other
In the top drop-down quick access menu, you can place buttons for quickly disabling all sensors, disabling access of all applications to the microphone and to the smartphone camera.
In the menu "Developer options / Window animation, Transition animation, Animation duration" you need to set "No animation" - this will increase the speed of the smartphone interface, reduce the power consumption. You can do the same in the menu "Special features image improvement", by enabling the item "Simplify animations".
For the same purpose, in the menu "Accessibility - Image enhancement" you need to enable "Reduce transparency and blur".
Conclusions
We have covered most of the smartphone settings that need to be made when in a combat zone. These settings can help not only the military, but also civilians located near the combat contact line (CCL).
There may be other settings unknown to the author that need to be made while in a combat zone, since none of us are 100% competent.
Also left out of the equation is disabling or deleting applications using ADB, but there are plenty of materials on this topic on the Internet; in terms of complexity and risks of “bricked” smartphones, working with ADB is easier than obtaining superuser rights and/or reflashing the smartphone.
I would like to hope that someday the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will have a “real” combat smartphone of domestic production or at least one made according to a competent domestic technical specification, when using which all these “dances with a tambourine” will not be required, but for now we are studying the material part of affordable “civilian” commercial smartphones and applying the acquired knowledge in practice.
Information