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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

#331

Post by bayindirh »

fainpul wrote: post #136
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…

Even after Google puts this crap in place, you can still uplodad your own apps to your own Android devices, using ADB. Doing the same for iOS, using Xcode, costs you USD 100 or more (depending on country) per year . I'm in no way defending Google here, just pointing out you're going from bad to worse and think it's a good thing.

Sorry, even as a developer, "but, you can use ADB" is a big big copout.

What's the next step when ADB requires some hoops to enable? Will we say that but the eMMC has an unencrypted EXT4 partition, we can just desolder and write into it?

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#332

Post by gruez »

l72 wrote: post #254
gruez wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>You can’t use stuff like banking apps on a modified device IME such apps are few and far between. The most trouble I ran into is play store refusing to show apps because they claim the app isn't compatible with the device, but that can be worked around with aurora store.

My Android is running Lineage without Google Play Services (no microg either). I had an app that I needed to use, and the only available log-in method was via firebase's SMS. Firebase flat out refused to allow me to login because of Google Play Integrity, and there was no web only option. I ended up having to use my spouse's iPhone...

>My Android is running Lineage without Google Play Services (no microg either).

>Firebase flat out refused to allow me to login because of Google Play Integrity

Sounds like the issue is that you don't have play services installed, rather than play integrity specifically.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#333

Post by subscribed »

rstat1 wrote: post #295
Cider9986 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GrapheneOS is significantly more secure, more private, and more free. Not sure why you would use /e/.

and limited to one type of device that not everyone can get or wants.

Only because this is the one family of the devices secure enough to even bother with software security.

It's not their fault (plus since 2027 we expect the first Motorola handset secure enough tu be supported by GOS)

And at least they don't cheat on patches :)

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#334

Post by kube-system »

luke-stanley wrote: post #309
kube-system wrote: post #217

> Starting September 2026, a silent update, nonconsensually pushed by Google, will block every Android app whose developer hasn't registered with Google, signed their contract, paid up, and handed over government ID. This is false. Google will provide two other flows for app distribution that are different than this. > Every app and every device, worldwide, with no opt-out. Again, false. There is an opt-out called th…

But the "opt-out" will not prevent ecosystem effects caused by the default shutdown of convenient app installs due to the policy. Not even for GrapheneOS users. It's a global policy by a body we never voted for. You can't opt-out of that different world by waiting 24-hours, the ecosystem could have permanent effects. This is coming from a company that doesn't even bother to expose a permission to disable Internet acc…

Is it really going to have ecosystem effects? Surely the small portion of power-users who are bothering to intentionally sideload apps can click a couple of buttons. Or just load via ADB and avoid the entire thing.

The entire point here is to prevent scam actors from using a false sense of urgency to defraud people. That is a serious vulnerability that needs to be addressed somehow, and I think this is a good compromise that doesn't impact people's ability to sideload.

I say this as someone who sideloads apps literally every day.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#335

Post by unrelat3d »

taskforcegemini wrote: post #292
unrelat3d wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

>Go freely walk out your local supermarket without paying. that's your definition of freedom?

It's an example of constraints that still apply.

Don't pay taxes. Steal cars, punch Trump, call a black person the N-word ... see how it goes

Paper and pencil offer a far more blank canvas compared to the very specific hardware constraints of a phone, and ecosystem of software limited to the common languages

Software dev and use is, comparatively, heavily constrained and on rails compared to sitting by a tree and imagining

To buy the phone ones agency is coupled to the subset of legitimate options to make money

Same for electricity to charge it, battery replacement, screen repair if it breaks.

Really just quickly becomes a ball and chain

So free!

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#336

Post by BrenBarn »

compass_copium wrote: post #307
vfclists wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I bought an 8a new when it launched for the express purpose of installing GOS. It cost like $450, and will last me most of a decade. If you are using a phone that costs significantly less than that (and I am speaking from personal experience! I had an Obamaphone that I got at a foodbank for many years, as well as a number of crappy used Androids!) your phone storage is so limiting that you are struggling to install m…

I've bought Motorola phones that cost less than half of that and still last for 3-5 years and I've been able to install far more than "a few" apps. Having an SD card slot is great for offloading the big storage uses like photos/video.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#337

Post by lucb1e »

selectively wrote: post #89
kahrl wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ZERO. ZERO developers who don’t comply will make a living selling applications and services to the general public.

This is correct. The people who will refuse to pay $25 and sign their stuff are people with a political objective, not businesses.

It's not about paying Google. People can buy gift cards with cash and do that; that's not the problem, especially not for commercial use. It's everything else that they're imposing or could impose on a whim and whose device it is they're putting restrictions on.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#338

Post by kuhsaft »

functionmouse wrote: post #329
kuhsaft wrote: post #262

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very HN view of Android. The "openness" of Android was for mobile device manufacturers, not app developers and end-users. Android's prominence was driven by the myriad of low-cost Android devices by multiple device manufacturers, whereas iOS is only available via iPhones. The vast majority of users don't care about "openness" of the OS. They care about the utility of their phone in everyday life. Can I acce…

nah it was considered more open for users.

This is the initial press release for the Open Handset Alliance, the collaborators for the creation of Android: https://web.archive.org/web/20260420021444/https://www.openh...

Nowhere is their goal to allow users complete control of their device. Android was built as an open-OS for the mobile device industry, not end-users.

Android might have been considered more open than other mobile OSes by users, but it was never a promise or goal.

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#339

Post by lucb1e »

josefritzishere wrote: post #107

So what you're saying is that I have about 3 months to switch to Graphene? Really though, is this not the very definition of monopolistic behavior? Did they not just lose a lawsuit over this?

How could they, when Apple has been doing this for years? Same anti-anticompetition rules would have to be applied to them and then the indoctrinated fans (like up to ~30% of the population depending on where you live) will overthrow law and order

Re: Your phone is about to stop being yours

#340

Post by dvdkon »

ok123456 wrote: post #328
fainpul wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even after Google puts this crap in place, you can still uplodad your own apps to your own Android devices, using ADB. Doing the same for iOS, using Xcode, costs you USD 100 or more (depending on country) per year . I'm in no way defending Google here, just pointing out you're going from bad to worse and think it's a good thing.

Isn't keeping ADB enabled (most people who do this don't enable it and then promptly disable it) a huge security problem? ADB enabled means an adversary can completely own your device and "back it up" by simply plugging it in. This is much worse than nagging about "untrusted sources".

No, there's a trust-on-first-use procedure where you have to accept the computer's key on your phone.
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