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Freedom Phone: Why you should avoid it and what else to know

It's basically a bunch of old hardware and unsubstantiated promises. Here's everything we know (very little) and don't (so much).

Most of us have an "it's complicated" relationship with our phones when it comes to privacy and social media. A new handset called the Freedom Phone promises to prioritize "free speech and privacy" above anything else. You might assume that the Freedom Phone follows the trend of phone-makers like Apple making it harder for your data to be shared unwillingly, and for companies to track you. The website for the Freedom Phone, which has no fewer than 10 "buy" buttons, states, "Not just making America great. But also making a great phone." Clearly the Freedom Phone is saturated in politics.

If you're looking for a phone that protects your privacy, look somewhere else. The Freedom Phone has a lot of red flags.

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Is the Freedom Phone just a rebranded $120 Chinese Android phone?

The Freedom Phone has the tagline: "Made for conservatives by conservatives." Turns out it's actually made by a Chinese company called Umidigi that's based in Shenzhen City. In an interview with The Daily Beast, Finman confirmed that Umidigi made the Freedom Phone but didn't specify which Umidigi phone design is used.

Matthew Hickey, a cybersecurity expert who co-founded Hacker House, told the Daily Dot that the Freedom Phone is a Chinese phone called the Umidigi A9 Pro that can be bought from AliExpress for as little as $119. He said that the A9 Pro is sold in bulk with custom logos and branding.

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Originally posted by RealPlayer:
Just last week The NY Times mag had a big article on Black Rifle Coffee, a company that positions itself as a kind of Starbucks for the right….full of military and macho iconography. It’s just coffee, folks. But not that wimpy Starbucks stuff.

Black Rifle Coffee