Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Your phone is about to stop being yours

keepandroidopen.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

231–240 of 927 posts

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#231

Post by agile-gift0262 »

muwtyhg wrote: post #182
gslepak wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Do you run into issues with apps not supporting it? Things like banking or auth? That is the main complaint I see for alternative phone OSes, and I don't know if that has gotten any better.

I've been dailying GrapheneOS for more than 2 years. I haven't had any issues with any of my bank apps. Although there are apparently some that do block usage on non-google-certified OSs. The only limitation in my use cases pre-GrapheneOS that I've found is not being able to make NFC payments through Google Wallet, but I found a bank in my country whose app implemented NFC payments, and made an account with them to be able to convenintly pay with my phone.

edit: and I'd like to add, GrapheneOS brought me back the joy of using my phone. Since 2018 or so I started to dread my phone (and the internet) more and more. Installing GrapheneOS brought back the joy on using these marvelous computers (and self-hosting brought back the joy of using the internet)

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#232

Post by thefz »

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…

Ah yes macOS, the notoriously open platform.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#233

Post by ncr100 »

eaf7e281 wrote: post #121

I think it's time to visit an Apple Store and try out the Apple ecosystem. I haven't used an Apple device in a long time.

They are shiny. Many aspects feel more 'human', IMO.

If you use ad-blockers, I recommend exploring that use-case with Apple / Safari. It's doable though for me is a bit frustrating.

In fact, I urge creating a list of use-cases before heading out to the store, and cranking through those while at the store. Computers/phones are such a deeply entwined component of modern life it could be a long list.

Passwords, backups, bluetooth compatibility, connecting mass-storage devices to iPad / iPhone, etc.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#234

Post by 627467 »

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…

> stop being yours

As if most android maker phones don't already fully own your device - preventing you from unlocking of bootloader and installing an OS that actually doesnt enforce the restriction google is introducing in their flavour of android.

To pretend that with this change android becomes exactly like iOS is... ridiculous? I can pick any 10yo old android phone from my drawer and develop for it, no problem and without asking for permissions. And if I'm already this motivated I'm certainly motivated enough to wait 24hs on future (more locked down) devices.

Do you think people who download NewPipe and alike - to circumvent ads and enable premium features - would think twice because they need to wait 24hs? Will NewPipe devs stop developing (anonymously) because of a small fraction of users who refuse to (or won't) go through unlocking steps?

Show me all these "rebel" apps on iOS ecosystem that can be easily distributed on any channel: fdroid, github, telegram groups, etc.

But sure, if you thinking moving to iOS is the same, sounds like you never really made use of any of the freedoms android used to and will continue to provide

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#235

Post by pjmlp »

Since forever.

The fixed phones belonged to the phone company and were only rented under contract.

Most prepaid and contract mobile phones were locked to the operator and we even had to pay extra to unblock them.

App stores were gated through operators, and required devkits for some of them.

Ah, and none of them got updates, if they did, usually required additional software to install them.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#236

Post by firebot »

i_am_jl wrote: post #135
catlikesshrimp wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Will your 4 unpublished apps be in your android-alternative apple device? Android will still have the ability to install non-google-distributed programs. The problem is the ominous momentum, but it is still more open than the apple alternative

I'm not the commenter you replied to, but I'm doing the same math they are and coming up with the same answer. From my perspective iOS is better than Android in a number of ways but Android always won out overall for me, in large part because of the freedom regarding software. Remove that freedom from the equation, I think the balance tips towards iOS.

Install anyapk. It uses a wireless ADB bridge to install whatever you want.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#237

Post by ncr100 »

jnovek wrote: post #9
smalltorch wrote: post #2

The opt out is graphene os yeah?

Yes, but there are issues. You can’t use stuff like banking apps on a modified device and losing access to normal android devices would be a big blow to the momentum of the F-Droid community. GrapheneOS might not be a big enough community to sustain work on the projects delivered by F-Droid.

I wonder then if the workaround for THAT (losing access to Banking / "Google trust-deriving apps") is to get a second device, wifi-only no-SIM G-Android.

Cumbersome, but any other deterring reasons why "not a good workaround"?

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#238

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

The author as well as commenters in this thread are claiming that people choose Android over iOS or vice versa

One could argue this is false dichotomy

These people are actually choosing a particular form factor with particular specifications that, more or less, only runs corporate mobile OS^1 instead of form factors that run non-corporate OS

1. Or some derivative of one that relies on the corporate distributor and replicates the tethering to a third party, e.g., "phoning home" to the OS distributor, "automatic updates" (remote code execution), etc.

There are other form factors of computers that can run non-corporate OS, where "phone home" and RCE code does not exist or, if necessary, any undesired code can be easily removed by concerned users

In sum, one could argue that with respect to control, privacy, etc. (a) choosing to use one corporate mobile OS over another is not a meaningful "choice" when compared with (b) choosing to use a non-corporate, open source, "compilable by the user" OS instead of a "locked down" corporate mobile OS

This choice can be made on a case-by-case basis depending on what computing problem the user is trying solve. With respect to anyone who seeks to use their "phone" as a general purpose computer to solve every computing problem, one could argue the "choice" of one corporate mobile OS over another is not meaningful with respect to user control, privacy, etc.

Instead "tech journalists", "tech blogs" and online commenters prefer to argue over which is the "better" corporate mobile OS. The truth is, with respect to control, privacy, etc., they all suck

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#240

Post by breisa »

bee_rider wrote: post #138
brodock wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In many countries it's already impossible to use just the web for banking. They either make you install rootkits on your computer or move you to their mobile apps

Wow, that sounds awful. You say country, which makes me wonder—is this the result of a popular type of law or something? I can’t imagine every bank in a country deciding to make that same move. But I live in a large country with lots of banks so I’m sure I have a very biased point of view.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payment_Services_Directive tldr: eu mandates secure 2fa for online banking and most banks only implement it using their app as second factor.
Post reply on HN