IMHO better to root if you can, since then you do get full control as the rightful owner.
What to do with the root access? I did it once, but never needed it.
Debloat non-rooted Android devices
201–210 of 231 posts
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#202Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh dear. I had disabled the Samsung keyboard for some other, but it seems it got reenabled again. Maybe Google broke some API endpoint and the old keyboard didn't do the update grind. No warning what so ever for their spyware taking over the keyboard functionally. The need for some FOSS mobile is really over due by now. Edit: > I immediately found an open source keyboard to replace samsung's with Which keyboard did y…
AnySoftKeyboard I've been using it ever since. It's got a lot of customization options and all the keys I need.
Other alternatives: OpenBoard, FlorisBoard and HeliBoard (OpenBoard fork). Excluding FlorisBoard beta and HeliBoard, these also have quite infrequent releases like ASK.
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#203Earlier quoted context omitted.
The first time I had a samsung phone I noticed after about two weeks that every single word I typed into any application was being collected and sent to a third party whose privacy policy said it was used to collect data about my interests, my social life, to make guesses about my intelligence level and education, and that the data would be sold for "market research" among other things. No user would ever suspect tha…
I find it mind blowing that: 1. Samsung is able to sell phones like that legally. 2. People are not in jail. 3. Governments somehow think it's ok that random companies can see everything their citizens do online. National security risks maybe? Trade secret issues? It's almost suspicious to the point where I would start thinking those third party spy companies are possibly (US/5 eyes) government run?
capitalist democracy suverloence means getting around those pesky nonspying laws by just buying free market privacy invasion data.
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#204Earlier quoted context omitted.
On Android TV you can not disable/uninstall the default ad filled launcher without adb.
I just did yesterday on a new chromecast Google TV thingy with the inbuilt function of Projectivy launcher. Installed the launcher, checked the box in settings and now even when restarting I don't see the default launcher.
I am also using projectivity and pressing home button on remote was taking me to default launcher until I uninstalled it via adb.
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#205Earlier quoted context omitted.
You can't spend a couple of days researching an essential, expensive device you're going to use for at least the next 2-3 years?
What better hardware is there?
The hardware doesn't have to be better, could be equivalent but with less spyware or bloatware.
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#206Earlier quoted context omitted.
> ...like LineageOS. But installing it is so difficult that only 1% of people have the technical know how to even attempt it... Aside: there is also /e/OS (or MurenaOS - their naming is inconsistent). It is basically LineageOS that someone else installs for you so you get everything in a package [0]. They sell many phones, but it also runs nicely on Fairphones if you want a phone that you can repair (there is of cour…
> It is basically LineageOS that someone else installs for you so you get everything in a package [0]. From what I read, Murena has a Google Play services reimplementation that isn't compatible with Lineage. Is that still the case?
What do you mean incompatible with LineageOS? In LineageOS you have to choice to install Google services like Google Play, or use the Aurora store.
In /e/os/ they have their own app store, App Lounge, with which you can install apps from Google Play through the Google Play API, similar to how the Aurora store does it. And you can also find open-source and PWA apps in it.
More info: https://doc.e.foundation/support-topics/app_lounge
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#207Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm real tempted to go asus because of how good their other devices have been, will see what happens this time. Tired of my pixels constantly overheating when trying to take pictures after navigating to a place i want to take pictures with the 4a+5a. It's not just a bad phone, I've inevitably broken a screen or submerged one and had to replace it (apparently the ip68 isn't fool proof either..)
I'll be trying Asus since they have been the best when it comes to laptops. They also have lots of nice hardware like Aux ports. Google Pixel 5a... The last Google product before they went full Apple.
Check out the official Asus support forums before you buy.
I got a ZenFone8 when it came out and was very satisfied with it at the time. Then, a month later, posts started popping up with people reporting that their phones just randomly rebooting and bricking. I think there were a few hundred cases reported. To this day, there is no official response from Asus. I used to carry a backup phone with me every time I was away from home for longer than a day because I was afraid that my phone could die at any moment.
Also, every update seemed to introduce a new bug that only got fixed in a month or so with the next update. So we had broken face unlock for a month, broken Google Pay, broken notifications, among other things.
I haven't been following reports for the ZF9 or ZF10, but I think they had similar problems.
To top it all off, the official unlocker / root tool from ASUS has been disabled for over a year by now, and nobody knows when it will work again.
All in all, ASUS phones (at least the ZenFone line) do have great hardware, but official support is abysmal.
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#208This project is unmaintained since a year. For an up-to-date and maintained fork see https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-an...
Belatedly changed from https://github.com/0x192/universal-android-debloater above. Thanks!
Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#209Re: Debloat non-rooted Android devices
#210I think there is room in the Android ecosystem for a producer to make and sell bloatware less phones, a bit like Apple does, and at steep markup too !