On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails • Hacker News Board

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#151

Post by skinfaxi » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:07 PM UTC

hparadiz wrote: post #61

skinfaxi wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can patch out the payment checks if you can decompile it

The payment doesn't happen on the device. It happens at the VISA/Mastercard/AMEX level. So "the app" should be doing the validation upstream on the server side and simply reporting yes/no to the app. If you hack the yes/no okay but most payments are for physical things IRL so the payment gateway that is not on your phone is gonna be like ??? - in other words it's on the app not to trust a raw true/false signal and in…

Ah I see you are focusing on apps that have some web component that would enable ongoing authorization. I was thinking about apps that offer a trial but you can upgrade with an in-app purchase and there is no ongoing service component.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#152

Post by subscribed » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:14 PM UTC

createful wrote: post #45

Godsend69 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[dead]

I use Rethink DNS for this, see ( https://github.com/celzero/rethink-app ). Despite it's name it can also block IPs and specific apps from connecting to specific servers. I use it to block all manufacturer and OEM related apps that I cannot uninstall through adb or disable. Very handy for blocking constant Chinese phone telemetry pings, as well as additional network level blocklists for ads (Pi-hole like), completely…

I love rethink but stopped using it on my up-to-date GOS. It randomly stops and no app can reach the internet (or me), randomly it doesn't obey the split tunneling rules or doesn't forward the connections to the tunnel at all (thus blocking all internet if wg proxy is enabled), and couple of other things.

I'll check Rethink again because all in all it's a fantastic software, just doesn't work very stable for me.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#153

Post by smw » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:30 PM UTC

spogbiper wrote: post #140

Elfener wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GrapheneOS or other custom ROMs don't solve the actual problem that you can't just buy a smartphone and install any operating system like you can with an actual computer, despite technically being one. Also, GrapheneOS supports device attestation (the non-google kind at least), which is still ridiculous as such systems have no benefit to people, only to technofeudalist corporations.

> install any operating system like you can with an actual computer This is in practice only true of IBM PC compatibles these days, you really can't install any OS on modern Macs. Maybe you can on (some?) Chomebooks?

You can install Linux on modern macs? That doesn't mean that driver info is available, but there's nothing stopping you from installing another os.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#154

Post by paweladamczuk » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 5:35 PM UTC

K0balt wrote: post #77

achierius wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Desktop operating systems != phone operating systems. You need to have a lot of support for things like "sleep apps you're not using right now" or you'll burn through battery. Not to mention that we tend to expect a lot of functionality which only works when the OS enables it, e.g. the sort of app-to-app coordination enabled by Android's App Intents. You certainly could build something like that on top of DBus, but,…

This seems to be a case of “I want to use services from companies that are built on business models hostile towards my sovereignty, privacy, and rights! ; I can’t believe hostilecorp wont let me work around their hostileOS?” I mean, it really sucks that so many people have made themselves dependent on this crap, but at some point you just have to stop buying the poison or stop complaining that it makes you sick. The…

Or maybe it's a case of "I want to own the place where I live and the only way to achieve that while supporting a family is participating in the economy based o hostileOS"?

It's easy to have a principled stance when the only currency it costs you is your own convenience and standard of living. For many people, life is not as simple as that.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#155

Post by polotics » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

fsflover wrote: post #149

pitchlatte wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

yeah but processors phone home anyway at a level beneath the OS and there’s no european chip development worth mentioning. so i’m not sure real sovereignty is ever going to be possible. crazy considering ASML being in europe.

> processors phone home anyway at a level beneath the OS Links?

I can only assume the parent poster is referring to the so-called baseband, that is running on the modem processor and indeed is underneath all other OS. To know exactly what each baseband does or doesn't do, just ask people who will tell you!

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#156

Post by officeplant » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:10 PM UTC

zb3 wrote: post #66

yorwba wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no shortage of general-purpose computing hardware in the EU. If you need some general-purpose compute to make a car, an oven, or a phone, you can get it. That consumers mostly buy special-purpose devices that don't always allow them to make full use of the possibilities of the hardware is hardly a sovereignity challenge.

Show me where I can get a general-purpose computing hardware with 8GB+ of RAM that fits in my pocket and has a touchscreen.

You mean like the dozens of micro laptops/emulator handhelds from china that can all run linux or hobbyist custom roms?

Gonna have to post the storage dimensions of your preferred pockets.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#157

Post by upboundspiral » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:17 PM UTC

nekusar wrote: post #145

impure-aqua wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software freedom is about freedom of choice, not philosophically mandated security holes. You are free to take the GrapheneOS code and introduce a huge vulnerability in the form of a privilege escalation path from sandboxed apps if you wish, it is open source and you can easily compile and flash your own build. Mobile phones store incredibly intimate data and are incredibly vulnerable to seizure. It stores my message…

> not philosophically mandated security holes. So you're arguing the same technofascist arguments that Apple and Google both claim. I own my phone, not technofascist sky daddy, or whatever developer also envisions that role. My hardware. My rules. More people like you need to learn what ownership actually bloody means.

you have the choice to run a custom build of grapheneOS with root. If you think its valuable there probably are other people that think so too and you could coordinate and figure out your own builds / releases / QOL, etc.

The graphene team provides so much value already. I don't expect them to cater to every need 100%. They are a positive force in the ecosystem when every other Android provider is locking down their builds they still provide everything as open source with security updates as best as they can.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#158

Post by bilkow » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:40 PM UTC

drdexebtjl wrote: post #96

Telaneo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the apps that people need to have smartphone to access will not run in an Android sandbox. Banking apps are the obvious example. Not to mention that the options outside iOS and Android are slim and for the most part bad (or atleast simply even worse than those).

Is it because the sandbox is bad and does not perfectly simulate the computing environment of a real device? Because to me it sounds like a cat and mouse game that Google and banking apps are destined to lose.

It's because of the Play Integrity API, which AFAIK runs downloaded binaries in the DroidGuard environment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Play_Integrity_API

The strongest levels require hardware key attestation (which, in my understanding, uses a certificate that's baked in secure hardware and signed by Google): - https://grapheneos.org/articles/attestation-compatibility-gu... - https://developer.android.com/privacy-and-security/security-...

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#159

Post by Eueudhsbsj32 » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

dainiusse wrote: post #113

Jean-Papoulos wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people that go through the trouble of installing apks from random websites to not pay $1 are in the minority. What's more, most of them wouldn't pay that dollar if they couldn't find the cracked apk. So the only thing you're realistically doing is cutting yourself off of a huge market. Convenience sells, the Play Store does that

$1 - most probably. What about $20?

Unless your target market is a small niche of hackers, then yeah the vast majority would pay $20.

Just look at how many pay for music and video streaming services, when it's trivial to download anything for free from illicit sources.

Re: On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails

#160

Post by lucianbr » Thu, Aug 06, 2026, 6:49 PM UTC

drdexebtjl wrote: post #96

Telaneo wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many of the apps that people need to have smartphone to access will not run in an Android sandbox. Banking apps are the obvious example. Not to mention that the options outside iOS and Android are slim and for the most part bad (or atleast simply even worse than those).

Is it because the sandbox is bad and does not perfectly simulate the computing environment of a real device? Because to me it sounds like a cat and mouse game that Google and banking apps are destined to lose.

There is hardware attestation that prevents a perfect sandbox from being possible.

Unless you know how to build a sandbox that can simulate a TPM with a key inside that only Google knows. Or something like that. I'm not an expert but there's plenty of information on the internet about this. It's definitely more than "the sandbox is buggy".