CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative • Hacker News Board

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#181

Post by rOOb85 » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 8:49 PM UTC

fragileone wrote: post #42

google234123 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s a piracy site.

Aurora Store is not a piracy site. It's a FOSS app that gives you access to the official Google Play Store directly.

To add:

Aurora store does NOT let you download paid apps. If you have paid for a app, you can sign into that account in aurora store and download the app you bought. However, the paid app will most likely not work as most apps use a SDK provided by google for verifying purchases in a app. This SDK heavily relies on google play services. And secondly, using a 3rd party store like aurora does violate googles use agreement which means google could ban your account if you sign into it from aurora. I would highly advise to not use a google account you care about with aurora.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#182

Post by oh_sigh » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 8:51 PM UTC

bubblethink wrote: post #176

fitblipper wrote: post #28

The thing which always makes me hesitant about these projects is that they don't receive frequent security audits and not having an expensive brand behind them makes them more at risk to being willing to trash their name at the cost of my privacy and security. I consider these to be a fairly critical part of any project which claims superior privacy and security. I think about it this way: Should I trust A. The compa…

Man, stuff like this is so depressing to read. Like this is supposed to be a forum for showcasing new tech, projects, etc. What's the point of having this if people in the industry are going to say, "I don't like it because it's not backed by a trillion dollar company". What will change ?

Many people run their entire lives off of their phones. Being concerned about security is prudent, not depressing.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#183

Post by SavantIdiot » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 8:52 PM UTC

Side note: Tor Browser as your primary browser is super painful. Lots of stuff doesn't work, and latency can be in the minutes.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#184

Post by posguy » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 8:58 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #182

bubblethink wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, stuff like this is so depressing to read. Like this is supposed to be a forum for showcasing new tech, projects, etc. What's the point of having this if people in the industry are going to say, "I don't like it because it's not backed by a trillion dollar company". What will change ?

Many people run their entire lives off of their phones. Being concerned about security is prudent, not depressing.

How far off of AOSP is CalyxOS though? Given that most Android users are running unaudited carrier & OEM modified ROMs that rarely see updates, a ROM that is very close to upstream AOSP is apt to be much more secure.

Nevermind that many of the apps that Google ships as part of Google Play are not receiving security audits outside of Google, Google is not committing to regularly audit their apps or publish the results, and these apps function as black boxes on your phone, with privileges that most other apps do not have.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#185

Post by chrisco255 » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 8:58 PM UTC

oh_sigh wrote: post #182

bubblethink wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Man, stuff like this is so depressing to read. Like this is supposed to be a forum for showcasing new tech, projects, etc. What's the point of having this if people in the industry are going to say, "I don't like it because it's not backed by a trillion dollar company". What will change ?

Many people run their entire lives off of their phones. Being concerned about security is prudent, not depressing.

Open source software has a better security track record than closed source software run by billion dollar corps.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#186

Post by Kaytaro » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 9:01 PM UTC

bubblethink wrote: post #176

fitblipper wrote: post #28

The thing which always makes me hesitant about these projects is that they don't receive frequent security audits and not having an expensive brand behind them makes them more at risk to being willing to trash their name at the cost of my privacy and security. I consider these to be a fairly critical part of any project which claims superior privacy and security. I think about it this way: Should I trust A. The compa…

Man, stuff like this is so depressing to read. Like this is supposed to be a forum for showcasing new tech, projects, etc. What's the point of having this if people in the industry are going to say, "I don't like it because it's not backed by a trillion dollar company". What will change ?

OP didn't say he doesn't like it, just pointing out the reality. But yes, the reality is depressing.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#187

Post by buzzy_hacker » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 9:02 PM UTC

Are there any resources summarizing the differences between…

- CalyxOS

- Purism, Librem

- microG

- /e/

- LineageOS

- LineageOS for microG

- GrapheneOS

And I’m sure many other Android open source/degooglers?

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#188

Post by kiawe_fire » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

dtx1 wrote: post #21

kiawe_fire wrote: post #4

Anybody have experience using something like this (or others like GrapheneOS) as a daily driver? I’m interested in moving away from Apple and big tech in general, but I don’t know how practical that is yet.

I am daily driving GrapheneOS for over a year now as my only phone on a pixel 3a and I like it quite a lot. Here's how I handle stuff and what limits i encountered. Keep in Mind that you have to rethink your app usage aswell, meaning testing a lot of apps from F-Droid to see what works for you. You average FAANG Privacy Invasion App dejour propably won´t work and i´d be wary of hardware requiring an app to be used if…

Thanks, this is very helpful both for setting expectations and for recommendations!

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#189

Post by posguy » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 9:03 PM UTC

dcow wrote: post #69

If you're unfamiliar with the context: Calyx Institute is a 501(c)(3) with a digital privacy and security mission. For a while they've offered, for a few hundred dollars a year donation, unmetered access to sprint's network. I don't know the details but I think they have retained access to the network through the merger due to some non-profit provision (something like the sprint merger was allowed with stipulation th…

I wonder if the MEID/ESN locking will go away with the sunset of the Sprint network? It should be possible to move the Calyx SIM to any device you like at that point.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#190

Post by cdesai » Fri, Aug 06, 2021, 9:04 PM UTC

Koshkin wrote: post #99

seaghost wrote: post #89

Nice, but still very Google dependant for security and OS updates.

Which, looks like, defeats the whole purpose. (It's almost like if ReactOS or WINE allowed Microsoft Windows updates.)

I'd argue that it's more akin to Ubuntu relying on Debian for updates, or Microsoft's Edge / Brave Browser / one of the many other forks relying on Google for Chromium / Blink updates.

The one distinction is in addition to the open source code comparison here, we also use some proprietary bits from their updates, which are needed to get the phone booting and basic hardware working.