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My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

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Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#11

Post by thisislife2 »

graemep wrote: post #7
TFNA wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

WhatsApp has replaced the PSTN in many countries. Without it, you cannot contact businesses; they simply do not answer normal phone calls. Also, booking accommodation over the internet may require WhatsApp in order to receive self-check-in information, and if you manage to communicate to the accommodation that you don’t have WhatsApp, it may simply cancel your reservation unilaterally.

Even where its not required, it can be a lot cheaper (e.g. for international calls) and has features (conference calls) not offered by consumer phones. Whatsapp's success has partly been driven by telecoms companies over-charging.

Telecoms financed and built the communication infrastructure which made the internet (and thus, WhatsApp) possible. WhatsApp is also further subsidised because you also pay for the internet to use it.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#12

Post by zinekeller »

greenchair wrote: post #9
graemep wrote: post #8

What about banking apps?

use a bank that provides a website?

Lots of HN readers located in countries outside of the US would find your answer infeasible (even the bank website requires their app for authentication, and this is the case for every bank).

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#13

Post by TFNA »

greenchair wrote: post #9
graemep wrote: post #8

What about banking apps?

use a bank that provides a website?

To expand on what the posters mentioned: HN is an international community, and the USA is an outlier in having an ample choice of banks. Many countries only have 3–5 usable banks, and all of them require a phone app for 2FA authentication in order to log into their website. Moreover, it happens that banks remove certain functionality from their websites, so it can only be done through the app.

And beyond that, in some countries the strong authentication for logging into government services has been implemented through banks, and so one cannot visit one’s local tax-authority or healthcare portal without a phone that runs the bank app.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#14

Post by graemep »

thisislife2 wrote: post #11
graemep wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even where its not required, it can be a lot cheaper (e.g. for international calls) and has features (conference calls) not offered by consumer phones. Whatsapp's success has partly been driven by telecoms companies over-charging.

Telecoms financed and built the communication infrastructure which made the internet (and thus, WhatsApp) possible. WhatsApp is also further subsidised because you also pay for the internet to use it.

I pay for an internet connection anyway. Even if I use a pay as you go mobile connection (on which the telco makes a profit) its still a lot cheaper to use Whatsapp than either SMS or voice calls.

There is no subsidy, its telecoms companies making a ridiculously high margin (aimed by regulators in some countries) on some services.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#15

Post by graemep »

TFNA wrote: post #13
greenchair wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

use a bank that provides a website?

To expand on what the posters mentioned: HN is an international community, and the USA is an outlier in having an ample choice of banks. Many countries only have 3–5 usable banks, and all of them require a phone app for 2FA authentication in order to log into their website. Moreover, it happens that banks remove certain functionality from their websites, so it can only be done through the app. And beyond that, in som…

Even in countries where you have a wide choice of banks (the UK, for example) more and more banks are pushing people to use mobile apps. We have the problem of the government and other businesses and organisations pushing people to use apps.

One example is my local bus company only selling certain tickets (monthly ones, for example) on the app. If you do not want to use an app you pay per trip which can be a LOT more expensive (several times as much for a daily commute).

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#16

Post by al_borland »

Using Android, when the goal is to be Google-free, always strikes me as an odd choice. Kind of like using Brave instead of Chrome.

Ultimately, still using the Google developed and backed platform gives them more power and control over the market as a whole. If de-googling became mainstream, they would almost certainly fight back, as it undermines the entire business model behind developing these things and giving them away for free.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#17

Post by hamburgererror »

al_borland wrote: post #16

Using Android, when the goal is to be Google-free, always strikes me as an odd choice. Kind of like using Brave instead of Chrome. Ultimately, still using the Google developed and backed platform gives them more power and control over the market as a whole. If de-googling became mainstream, they would almost certainly fight back, as it undermines the entire business model behind developing these things and giving the…

So what do you propose? Buy an iPhone?

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#18

Post by soulofmischief »

al_borland wrote: post #16

Using Android, when the goal is to be Google-free, always strikes me as an odd choice. Kind of like using Brave instead of Chrome. Ultimately, still using the Google developed and backed platform gives them more power and control over the market as a whole. If de-googling became mainstream, they would almost certainly fight back, as it undermines the entire business model behind developing these things and giving the…

What other choices does a regular person have? Buying an iPhone just moves the target. Linux phones are not pervasive enough and typically come at a premium.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#19

Post by neobrain »

graemep wrote: post #8

What about banking apps?

This seems to be mainly brought up by people concerned they'd lose banking apps than people who actually have issues. It's rooted phones that often get blocked, whereas those that run LineageOS/microG without rooting are largely fine.

Yes, there are certainly banks that block more aggressively, but if you look at e.g. iodéOS's forums most of them work fine: https://community.iode.tech/t/banking-finance-and-insurance-...

Anecdotally, I've also seen a lot of stories of people reaching out to support about overblocking actually seeing success. Apparently there are often enterprise reasons for the block and it literally just needs a customer to complain for engineering to be able to act.

Re: My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

#20

Post by PenguinCoder »

neobrain wrote: post #19
graemep wrote: post #8

What about banking apps?

This seems to be mainly brought up by people concerned they'd lose banking apps than people who actually have issues. It's rooted phones that often get blocked, whereas those that run LineageOS/microG without rooting are largely fine. Yes, there are certainly banks that block more aggressively, but if you look at e.g. iodéOS's forums most of them work fine: https://community.iode.tech/t/banking-finance-and-insurance-…

My primary banks apps, and websites, work fine on Graphene, with the exception of anything NFC payment related. I do miss that convenience, but I still have a debit card and cash as needed.
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