I captured 72 hours of idle Android packets behind pfSense

A researcher captured 72 hours of network traffic from a standard Android phone and found it sends approximately 348 outbound requests per hour to Google servers while idle—totaling over 8,300 transmissions daily without user interaction, transmitting Wi-Fi details, device serials, and telemetry data. In contrast, GrapheneOS (a privacy-focused Android alternative) generated zero background requests, demonstrating a 99.4% reduction in data transmission to Google. The article includes an interactive tool allowing users to assess their exposure to Google services and discover privacy-respecting alternatives for search, email, cloud storage, maps, and other common applications.