The free association Privacy Toggle thread

Design
1

So obviously the Jolla Phone 2026 has been released!

One of it’s major features is its “Privacy Switch[1]”.

With the current release (5.2.0.13) it is configurable with the following options:

  • Turn off microphone
  • Disable location
  • Disable WLAN
  • Disable Bluetooth
  • Disable Appsupport
  • Silent Mode
  • Enable default VPN connection

This thread is meant to collect ideas of what this switch could be doing in addition or instead of these.

Go wild, it’s intended to be in a similar vein to the ToH assessment thread.
Suggestions don’t need to be possible or useful - although of course it’s better if you add some of those as well.

App developers may be interested in:


$ busctl --user introspect org.sailfishos.privacyswitch  /privacyswitch org.sailfishos.privacyswitch
NAME                         TYPE      SIGNATURE RESULT/VALUE FLAGS
.privacyModeActive           method    -         b            -
.privacyModeActiveChanged    signal    b         -            -

And for low-level stuff:

nemo@PGJolla26-I:/sys/class/input $ evdev_trace -t /dev/input/by-path/platform-1c00e000.kp-event 
/dev/input/by-path/platform-1c00e000.kp-event: 1784105811.273 - 0x01/EV_KEY - 0x0c0/KEY_F22 - 1
/dev/input/by-path/platform-1c00e000.kp-event: 1784105811.288 - 0x01/EV_KEY - 0x0c0/KEY_F22 - 0
/dev/input/by-path/platform-1c00e000.kp-event: 1784105817.026 - 0x01/EV_KEY - 0x0bf/KEY_F21 - 1
/dev/input/by-path/platform-1c00e000.kp-event: 1784105817.040 - 0x01/EV_KEY - 0x0bf/KEY_F21 - 0

0x0c0/KEY_F22 is switch enabled, 0x0bf/KEY_F21 is switch disabled.

#include <QObject>
#include <QDBusConnection>
#include <QDBusMessage>

#include <QDebug>

class Foo : public QObject
{
    Q_OBJECT
public:
    explicit Foo(QObject *parent = nullptr);
public slots:
    void onPrivacySwitchChanged(const QDBusMessage &dBusMessage);

};

Foo::Foo(QObject *parent) : QObject(parent)
{

    QDBusConnection::sessionBus().connect("org.sailfishos.privacyswitch", "/privacyswitch", "org.sailfishos.privacyswitch", "privacyModeActiveChanged",
                                          this, SLOT(onPrivacySwitchChanged(const QDBusMessage&)));

}


void Foo::onPrivacySwitchChanged(const QDBusMessage &dBusMessage)
{
    qDebug() << "Foo::onPrivacySwitchChanged" << dBusMessage;
    bool switchState = dBusMessage.arguments().at(0).toBool();
    [...]
}

  1. We know it’s “just” a software switch, please refrain from complaining about that! ↩︎

23 Likes
2

Fake Login/OS

My idea would be to put the phone in a mode where the real user, apps, data etc. are hidden.

While the switch is on, the device behaves normally, but everything is done as the “Guest” user (which is already a feature of Sailfish OS, and is a user account whose actions are purely in memory and are lost on logout or reboot.)

Only when the switch is toggled off, entering the Lock Code gets you back to your normal user account(s).

Maybe the setting of the switch can even be detected at boot, and if enabled, will not even decrypt the home partition, but launch right away into Guest/Demo mode, with all the device owner’s data protected on the not-unlocked encrypted home partition

26 Likes
3

I can’t explain that—we swore to an NDA :smiley: Jokes aside, I think the features that should be added are:

  • Disable camera

  • Flashlight mode

  • Audio recording mode

  • Actions based on the user’s favorite apps

Those are all I can think of for now.

9 Likes
4

You mean even less than airplane mode?

1 Like
5

Make it a condition in the Situations app.

6 Likes
6

Could be useful if the switch would allow you to enable some sort of kiosk/focus mode, where only one application is open and you can’t switch to anything else (and you don’t get any notifications for other applications either).

3 Likes
7

Wouldn’t some sort of API be useful so that apps can use it also?

Ie. flip the switch and app X does Y. The app action is exposed in the switch settings. Also in a next iteration of the HW it would also be useful the switch to also be able to be pressed.

1 Like
8

I understood it like it would be possible to toggle flashlight on and off. That would probably be best use case for me

5 Likes
9

I would love to see mobile internet toggle in addition to WLAN

2 Likes
10

Cool thread.

Multiple functions would also be possible.
When combined to other buttons push, different actions could be triggered.
Example:
Press VOL+ and Privaswitch: flashlight
Press VOL- and Privaswitch: enable gust guest mode

This would however imply that normal button actions would be triggered on release instead of press.

1 Like
11

WTF is gust mode?  

1 Like
12

I am referring to the OP idea in the second post.
What do you think of my multiple actions idea by combining The switch with other buttons?

13

Aha, guest mode.

I’m skeptical about combined actions since the privacy button is a toggle and not a momentary button.

14

Hahaha, sorry, thank you for pointing, I’ll correct.
Now that I saw my error and searched the translation, I better understand your “WTF…”.
This said, gust mode could nowadays be a TOH option for some people biggrin

Well, back to topic, I believe that we can press a button, toggle the switch and release the button.
“If the switch is toggled while button xyz is pressed and button released in less than 0.n seconds after toggle, then take abc action…”

But well, just an idea, as I love complicated shortcuts.

15

I like simplicity.

Sooo, exactly which “privacy feature” is undone when you turn it off?
How to turn on multiple things? How to turn off multiple tings?

16

For me maybe in the evening put on a default alarm for the morning.

2 Likes
17

The default, primary “privacy feature” would be turned off when only the switch is toggled off.
Then… oh, yes… ok, I see what you mean. :thinking:

That complicates things, you are right.

Secondary actions could be triggered with the sequence: press the button, toggle switch on-off, release the button.
Switching off the secondary action could be done by repeating the sequence.
But this is less attracting, indeed.

18

I really really want to use it for Rotation Lock, so I can quickly enable or disable rotation of the screen - because I do that very often, and find all software-based solutions I’ve seen (on all OSes) to just be very cumbersome.

1 Like
19

Hm the Clock app supports recurring ‘default’ alarms. Don’t see how it needs to be reacting to a switch.

But this is a brainstorm, there are no wrong suggestions.

20

Rejoice!

If you hold you finger on the display while rotating the device, the app won’t rotate.

You can also add an Orientation Lock button to Top Menu.

7 Likes