131–140 of 221 posts
I agree with the many siblings that say this news is pretty irrelevant to people who use custom ROMs, but I don't think it's realistic to say that FOSS alternatives exist, at least for SMS. There are multiple references in this thread to Simple SMS, but that app is not at all ready for prime time. If your carrier/ROM didn't bundle an SMS app you can live with, I think you are out of luck. I'm glad to be proved wrong…
I agree with the many siblings that say this news is pretty irrelevant to people who use custom ROMs, but I don't think it's realistic to say that FOSS alternatives exist, at least for SMS. There are multiple references in this thread to Simple SMS, but that app is not at all ready for prime time. If your carrier/ROM didn't bundle an SMS app you can live with, I think you are out of luck. I'm glad to be proved wrong…
Has the author of this article ever used a custom ROM? There are so many free alternatives for these apps out there. If I remember correctly, LineageOS ships with their own version of Dialer/Messages anyway. I usually replace them with the versions of SimpleMobileTools, which work just fine. The main difficulty for custom ROMs are not these standard apps. The real issues are bootloaders which cannot be unlocked, undo…
After spelunking into the dialer source code a bit, it seems the important stuff related to receiving and initiating calls are already handled by android's TelecomManager and the dialer only provides interface for users to interact with TelecomManager. I haven't really dig into Messages source code these days, but a few years ago I was making an app that can send MMS messages and it was insane how much heavy lifting…
I agree with the many siblings that say this news is pretty irrelevant to people who use custom ROMs, but I don't think it's realistic to say that FOSS alternatives exist, at least for SMS. There are multiple references in this thread to Simple SMS, but that app is not at all ready for prime time. If your carrier/ROM didn't bundle an SMS app you can live with, I think you are out of luck. I'm glad to be proved wrong…
I think the need for a featured SMS app might solely be an American problem. My SMS inbox is only occasional 2fa codes and any app with basic features is good enough for me.
I agree with the many siblings that say this news is pretty irrelevant to people who use custom ROMs, but I don't think it's realistic to say that FOSS alternatives exist, at least for SMS. There are multiple references in this thread to Simple SMS, but that app is not at all ready for prime time. If your carrier/ROM didn't bundle an SMS app you can live with, I think you are out of luck. I'm glad to be proved wrong…
QKSMS is great!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> If it uses proprietary Linux kernel modules Librem 5 doesn't use them.
What's your point? If free drivers are available you have the freedom to use free drivers. If they aren't available you don't unless you make them yourself.
> unless you make them yourself
You almost never can write free drivers yourself, because the hardware specs are closed. You would need to do reverse-engineering, which is too costly.
Has the author of this article ever used a custom ROM? There are so many free alternatives for these apps out there. If I remember correctly, LineageOS ships with their own version of Dialer/Messages anyway. I usually replace them with the versions of SimpleMobileTools, which work just fine. The main difficulty for custom ROMs are not these standard apps. The real issues are bootloaders which cannot be unlocked, undo…
> It's getting more and more difficult to use Android without a Google Account. Good that is how they shoot themselves in the foot. The more they do this, the more people will realise they need alternative and ditch Android.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Just like they've ditched Windows? People don't care about Android. They care about their apps. Some are fun, some are necessary. In my country, cash has been almost replaced by an app (just one), and it's getting harder to exist here without it (as I try to). That's just one example. I've heard of other places where compulsory national ID systems only exist as apps. And so on. Unless those apps becomes available out…
A compulsory national ID system already means they are living in a police state, so they have worse issues to worry about than this. Also, maybe at some point the UE countries will start to enforce the CJUE directive that banned US companies (and especially GAFAMs) in 2015 (after the war is over ?), this would open quite a space for competition !
You are already in a lot of national databases, you're easily trackable already. You already are subject to all of your alleged downsides without the benefits of having a single document.
Do you really believe that an American has more freedom than, let's say, a Switzerland citizen? Really????