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Your phone is about to stop being yours

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Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#281

Post by rootusrootus »

orthecreedence wrote: post #170
rootusrootus wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you are stuck in a walled garden either way, might at least try to get the benefits of it.

The iOS app store is like the craigslist personals of online markets. I feel incredibly dirty just going on there. I have to scroll down 3-5 options just to find the exact match for what I searched for, many of the prioritized options being look-alikes that could easily fool people into installing some malware-esque garbage. I love my 13 mini as a phone, but I don't understand how anyone could compare the two app sto…

I almost never go to the app store to find an app, but I can understand how that would be really frustrating. Sounds like they need to get serious about curating the app store content.

From my perspective, the walled garden value I get is predominantly in the integrations between my phone, macbook, and watch. And to a lesser extent (because it's a bit buggy at times) the family integrations.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#283

Post by svat »

pngwen wrote: post #68

This change has served me well! I have been a Mac OS X users for years who used an android phone. As soon as google announced their impending walled garden status, I went out and bought into the ios eco system. I have really been enjoying my iphone, ipad, and apple watch. You see, the only value that Android really offered me was the ability to run my own code on my own device. Since they are taking that away that ju…

Here is a table I just made (edit: changed to list as HN wraps code blocks now), of iOS vs Android (now) vs Android (after Sep 2026 or 2027 or whenever these announced changes take effect):

•1. Where most users can install software from:

↠↠ iOS: official store (App Store) + (in EU) other stores

↠↠ Android (now): official store (Play Store), other stores (e.g. F-Droid), arbitrary APKs

↠↠ Android (after changes): official store (Play Store), other stores (e.g. F-Droid), arbitrary APKs

•2. Who the developers of software can be:

↠↠ iOS: registered developers ($99/year)

↠↠ Android (now): any developer

↠↠ Android (after changes): registered developers ($25 one-time) + hobbyists (small distribution) + any developers (for advanced users)

•3. Installing your own apps on your own phone, without becoming a registered developer:

↠↠ iOS: using XCode: need to reinstall every 7 days.

↠↠ Android (now): using ADB

↠↠ Android (after changes): using ADB

The second row (•2) is what is changing in Android. I think "the ability to run my own code on my own device", narrowly speaking, is closest to the third row, which is not changing.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#284

Post by Cider9986 »

bpev wrote: post #225
vfclists wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean buy a Google Pixel? How many people can afford one?

Motorola + Graphene coming 2027. I'm at least waiting to see what comes of that before making any decisions on my next phone.

I am hyped for that partnership—they should have a flip phone supported(don't quote me), among other cool devices.

Not going to be cheaper than Pixels. The chips they need for the hardware security are the flagship Snapdragon chips iirc.

I love my Pixel now, I would have to see where Motorola is better than the Pixels other than the more computing power.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#285

Post by rootusrootus »

empyrrhicist wrote: post #141
pngwen wrote: post #68

This change has served me well! I have been a Mac OS X users for years who used an android phone. As soon as google announced their impending walled garden status, I went out and bought into the ios eco system. I have really been enjoying my iphone, ipad, and apple watch. You see, the only value that Android really offered me was the ability to run my own code on my own device. Since they are taking that away that ju…

> the vastly superior apple experience After switching away from GrapheneOS to iOS after RCS stopped working for me, I can safely say my experience has been the opposite. The camera is the only thing better for me on iOS - everything else is buggier and worse. A few of my favorites: 1. Safari is buggy as hell, and requires installing apps to run things like ad blockers. 2. The settings are ALL over the place and very…

> Apple maps is hot garbage. I had to install Google Maps anyway to get decent performance

I hear this and wonder how much must be regional. I'm experiencing the opposite. Apple Maps has gotten quite good, while Google Maps seems to just be rotting away. Both do work reasonably well in my home area of the PNW, but Apple Maps is a bit more polished. But in some places, like recently when I was on a business trip in Austin, Google Maps was comically terrible at routing. I get that partly this is probably because Texas has interesting ideas about designing a road network, but still, Apple got it working just fine.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#286

Post by unrelat3d »

gslepak wrote: post #153
HWR_14 wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If there are two walled gardens, you might as well choose the prettier one.

Or choose freedom. I've been enjoying GrapheneOS for a couple of years now and recommend it.

Uh huh. Freedom. In some empty rhetorical sense. Meanwhile you still have 99.999% of the usual obligations.

Go freely walk out your local supermarket without paying.

But your Android phone is unlocked #winning

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#287

Post by xigoi »

selectively wrote: post #55
notrealyme123 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For how long will ADB work? Obviously Google doesn't want user to install apps outside of their control

Google doesn't want millions of people to have every cent of their money stolen. This measure is about making it harder to pull off a specific type of scam that is plaguing South East Asia. No conspiracy. For actual information on the purpose of this change rather than conspiracies, I refer you to https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2026/03/android-de... Since the victims of these scams do not typically own a t…

> Google doesn't want millions of people to have every cent of their money stolen.

Megacorporations like Google do not care a single bit about ordinary people. They only care about making more money. How do they make more money? By preventing people from installing NewPipe and Blokada.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#288

Post by moralestapia »

selectively wrote: post #70
rcxdude wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm aware of the way the scams work. I'm also aware that scammers tend to be much more motivated to jump through hoops that are put in front them (more so than legitimate users!). Scammers can also talk people through many, many warning signs.

Scammers cannot talk people past a 24 hour wait. This attack is built upon pressure and operates at a scale that makes stealing many identies, building different-enough apps to avoid getting flagged by Google and signing them all non-viable.

>Scammers cannot talk people past a 24 hour wait.

Oh yeah, I forgot they're bound to some code of rules they follow. Scammers, of all people.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#289

Post by hysan »

rootusrootus wrote: post #285
empyrrhicist wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the vastly superior apple experience After switching away from GrapheneOS to iOS after RCS stopped working for me, I can safely say my experience has been the opposite. The camera is the only thing better for me on iOS - everything else is buggier and worse. A few of my favorites: 1. Safari is buggy as hell, and requires installing apps to run things like ad blockers. 2. The settings are ALL over the place and very…

> Apple maps is hot garbage. I had to install Google Maps anyway to get decent performance I hear this and wonder how much must be regional. I'm experiencing the opposite. Apple Maps has gotten quite good, while Google Maps seems to just be rotting away. Both do work reasonably well in my home area of the PNW, but Apple Maps is a bit more polished. But in some places, like recently when I was on a business trip in Au…

Same. Google Maps quality has gotten noticeably worse these past 2 years for me. It routinely tries to navigate me to making impossible turns or taking weird and sometimes more dangerous routes just to shave off a potential minute. I started using Apple Maps at the advice of a colleague and it’s given better directions. This is all local. I have no baseline comparison for using maps while on trips.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#290

Post by politelemon »

lynndotpy wrote: post #160
tossit444 wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you moved into a walled garden in an attempt to escape what's essentially a 3 foot picket fenced garden.

For an Android user, iOS offers better privacy (which can change at any time), but it also comes baked in with better support for some open protocols. (SMB on Files, and CalDAV/CardDAV for Calendars/Contacts/Notes integration). This has been the case for years, while aspects of the 'walled garden' have eroded over time. It's natural that this huge Android regression might be enough for someone to dip their toes into…

> iOS offers better privacy

No, it markets lockin dressed up as privacy. Convincing you that they are the same thing is the real magic here.

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