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GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

blog.tomaszdunia.pl

531–540 of 967 posts

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#531
post #493
post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole reason why GrapheneOS is superior to its alternative is because they do all that. I also with they could support non-Google phones, but that's a problem coming from the manufacturers, not from GrapheneOS. My understanding is that there are close to half a million GrapheneOS users. And many potential users don't want to buy a Google phone. So it feels like it is starting to become worth considering for manuf…

> The whole reason why GrapheneOS is superior to its alternative is because they do all that. What is "its alternative"? > I also wish they could support non-Google phones, but that's a problem coming from the manufacturers, not from GrapheneOS. The manufacturers aren't blocking the installing of GrapheneOS...

GOS has minimum hardware requirements and most of the available smartphones don't meet them

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#532
post #51

While I admire GrapheneOS and its goals, I feel that until we free the proprietary baseband processors and their RTOS from the grips of Qualcomm and friends it's a pyrrhic victory, at best .

> until we free the proprietary baseband processors and their RTOS

How about Pinephone with its partially freed baseband OS [0] or Librem 5 with its removable modem [1]?

[0] https://github.com/the-modem-distro/pinephone_modem_sdk

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#533
post #372

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused. You say: > It's arguably quicker to open your wallet and use a debit card with an NFC chip than it is to use QR codes So I assume that even though QR codes are available where you live, you use your debit card with an NFC chip because it is quicker than using QR codes... Anyway, the important part is that NFC doesn't require an internet connection, and I had missed that. Now I wonder why a QR code could…

> So I assume that even though QR codes are available where you live, you use your debit card with an NFC chip because it is quicker than using QR codes... Yes, I generally use my card rather than than QR unless the shop doesn't take cards, doesn't have a paywave/etc-enabled card reader, the card reader is broken, the sales person doesn't know how to use it, or the sales person insists I give them my card and PIN to…

Oh right, of course the phone has to send information back to the terminal, which NFC does but not the QR code. Hence the internet connection.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#534

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This should be illegal that the government forces people into apps controlled by private, commercial entities. I call such a government corrupt. Here in central Europe I can still access the bank website fine without smartphone. I need a physical device to yield a TAN though, but I can access and do online transactions fine. So I think something is wrong with the spanish government. People need to protest.

> This should be illegal that the government forces people into apps controlled by private, commercial entities. I call such a government corrupt. Or how about schools requiring parents to use WhatsApp to receive updates and information? Luckily my ex forwards to me the important stuff, but not everyone is as lucky to have an ex like mine ))

Forget exes—-how about current partners! I predict with high confidence that my wife’s response to such a request would be “grow up and install WhatsApp already.”

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#535
post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may be surprised to learn what that "A" stands for.

You may be surprised to realise that you actually don't understand the difference between AOSP and Android :-). See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47047167

It's not necessary to spam the comments with your personal reinterpretations of widely known project names that don't match how these names are actually being used. If you really feel the need to be wrong on the Internet at least try to not repeat yourself.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#536

Google is so much engrained in our lives that we can't really break free. You can't just don't use youtube and for that you need a google account.These projects are nice and good for tinkering, but can't use this as a dialy driver.

As someone who doesn't have a Google account, I can use YouTube just fine on my GrapheneOS phone using apps like NewPipe.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#537

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As long as copying some numbers, printed on a piece of plastic, into an online order form is all the authentication that is needed for a transaction, anything more than that is inherently security theater.

That’s why for most transactions I do with a credit card in my country, you need an extra validation with the mobile app. It is mostly American websites that do not enable this functionality.

Yes, because we don't want these stupid locked down apps. Credit cards give buyers many protections, it's very easy to dispute an illegitimate transaction.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#538
post #431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree it's about trade-offs. I think MicroG - which provides dummy no-op implementations of Google Play tracking APIs, and allows you to select alternative Location Providers and notification backends - is a better option than running first-party Google software. You're of course correct that we can't blame the system for choices made by users, but I do think GOS lulls users into complacency by focusing on the secu…

> I think MicroG - which provides dummy no-op implementations of Google Play tracking APIs, and allows you to select alternative Location Providers and notification backends - is a better option than running first-party Google software. microG still forwards the requests to the Google servers. Not sure what you mean by "tracking APIs"? microG is a reverse-engineered, open source implementation of a subset of Play Ser…

I'm trying to say the same thing I said up at the top: GOS's approach to privacy is obtuse. They deliberately conflate security with privacy (you even write "secure/private" as though they're the same thing) in a way that does a disservice to users.

My opinion is that GOS is very successful at its own stated goal of having an extremely secure mobile OS that rolls out patch updates quickly. I think it's far less successful at protecting user privacy because — as you even admit, many/most of them will find their phones unusable with vanilla GOS and immediately follow the GOS user guide to install Google Play and help them securely upload their personal data to the world's biggest adtech firm.

I think iodéOS and /e/OS are more in line with what I want from a mobile OS.

Re: GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple

#540

I personally tend to own two Phones. One all-day carry GrapheneOS device (Pixel 8) and an older WiFi and at home only iPhone for all payment and ensurance stuff. This is inconvenient in some ways, but at least it is sort of privacy as good as it gets while still being able to run official apps when I need them at home. To de-google the phone, I use F-Droid as primary App store, Aurora as fallback for non-f-droid Apps…

Some other FOSS apps I use daily: Aegis - 2FA ( https://github.com/beemdevelopment/Aegis ) Breezy Weather - A very good looking weather app ( https://github.com/breezy-weather/breezy-weather ) OnlyOffice Documents - MS Office suite replacement ( https://github.com/ONLYOFFICE/documents-app-android ) Fossify Calendar ( https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Calendar ) Fossify Messages ( https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Messages )…

Can't believe I've never heard of Unexpected Keyboard. Installing immediately. Thank you.
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