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

Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 135 posts

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#71

Post by justinrubek »

komali2 wrote: post #63
solstice wrote: post #54

I use them and like them. One thing to be aware of with the dialer (that might not be unique to Fossify): when dialing the number of an emergency service (like 112 in Germany), there is no indication in the app's UI that something is happening and it looks as if the call failed and you will be back looking at the dial pad, even though the call will eventually be connected. The reason is that these types of calls get…

My phone crashing when I dialed 911 after a car accident was the reason I stopped messing around with android roots and custom roms and whatnot. When it comes to my phone being a phone, I need it to Just Work(tm)!

My personal motivation for doing these things is precisely because the device doesn't just work™ out of the box. If it was sufficient at its job, such hacks would not be required. It's because it isn't that they are reached for.

Yes, the current trade-off seems to be that stuff like that can break. That isn't the desired state, but it is what was prescribed by the manufacturer who seemingly has an interest in making the device less functional than it could be.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#72

Post by justinrubek »

rmbyrro wrote: post #42
phoronixrly wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Us Android people like to use open-source software. A stark contrast to Apple people.

I think many Apple users, especially people in the software industry, would prefer Apple software to be open source. It's not that they don't care, it's just that Apple quality is superior in multiple ways (hardware and software). And it's not a coincidence that their software is closed. They can command ridiculously high margins and continue to invest in high quality products.

I think we'll just have to agree to disagree that Apple's software is superior. Their hardware would be a lot better if the software was.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#73

Post by molszanski »

__rito__ wrote: post #53
sp0rk wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where are ads displayed in your Google Messages? I have never seen any ads and I struggle to even imagine where they would place an ad within its interface.

Messages. The ads come as messages. Like in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YGZwlZqrpU They sometimes look like this, too [JPG]: https://static1.anpoimages.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/...

this is some dystopian bs. I've never realized goodle/android is in a such weird place

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#74

Post by FrequentLurker »

ksynwa wrote: post #55
degif wrote: post #20

Genuine question – do Android people get ads in their OS default camera, calculator, calendar, phone, file-manager or SMS messaging applications? Or do have these Fossify application some extra privacy features that do not come with the default ones?

The default sms app showed me advertisements that seemed way too sophisticated for a medium like SMS or MMS. I had to disable a setting called "RCS Chat" to rid myself of that nonsense. I am pretty sure it isn't something that Google invented or something like that though so I'm not comfortable putting the blame squarely on them for it.

RCS is absolutely awful as it displays banner ads in your notifications. The notifications are far worse than what you get with SMS. It's the reason I turned off RCS as well.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#75

Post by solstice »

komali2 wrote: post #63
solstice wrote: post #54

I use them and like them. One thing to be aware of with the dialer (that might not be unique to Fossify): when dialing the number of an emergency service (like 112 in Germany), there is no indication in the app's UI that something is happening and it looks as if the call failed and you will be back looking at the dial pad, even though the call will eventually be connected. The reason is that these types of calls get…

My phone crashing when I dialed 911 after a car accident was the reason I stopped messing around with android roots and custom roms and whatnot. When it comes to my phone being a phone, I need it to Just Work(tm)!

damn, that sucks. I fully agree with the sentiment of your last sentence.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#76

Post by Unboxed1078 »

Saris wrote: post #51
aquir wrote: post #13

Do we / can we have something like these in the Apple Ecosystem?

Does iOS even allow using a different SMS app? They're pretty locked down usually..

Not yet, but it will allow changing the Phone and Messages app in the EU soon with iOS 26.

https://www.heise.de/en/news/Phone-and-text-messages-Apple-o...

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#77

Post by ryanmcbride »

justinrubek wrote: post #71
komali2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My phone crashing when I dialed 911 after a car accident was the reason I stopped messing around with android roots and custom roms and whatnot. When it comes to my phone being a phone, I need it to Just Work(tm)!

My personal motivation for doing these things is precisely because the device doesn't just work™ out of the box. If it was sufficient at its job, such hacks would not be required. It's because it isn't that they are reached for. Yes, the current trade-off seems to be that stuff like that can break. That isn't the desired state, but it is what was prescribed by the manufacturer who seemingly has an interest in making…

your phone can't dial 911 out of the box? I find that kind of hard to believe.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#78

Post by senkora »

ryanmcbride wrote: post #77
justinrubek wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal motivation for doing these things is precisely because the device doesn't just work™ out of the box. If it was sufficient at its job, such hacks would not be required. It's because it isn't that they are reached for. Yes, the current trade-off seems to be that stuff like that can break. That isn't the desired state, but it is what was prescribed by the manufacturer who seemingly has an interest in making…

your phone can't dial 911 out of the box? I find that kind of hard to believe.

It was a thing with Google Pixels a few years ago: https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-pixel-bug-prevented-u...

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#79

Post by jcynix »

mcv wrote: post #56
account-5 wrote: post #6

Annoyingly brilliant apps, used the old ones before they were sold off, now use these. If only there was other androi apps like this set for other things. Instead the vast majority of the shit (in the truest sense of the word) you get from play store is pretty much akin to malware but definitely spyware.

It's nearly impossible to find good, honest apps on the play store anymore. Everything is loaded with ads, in-app purchases, spyware, and wants way more permissions than it needs. Google is making it more and more attractive to completely sever the ties to the play store. Although there are a few things I still want from there.

Try the app Netguard which implements a nice firewall. I use it to disallow most apps network access with it. Some apps may be allowed to access the net when I'm on Wifi, but not when roaming. Netguard allows you to distinguish between Wifi and Roaming. And you can enable a protocol to check which connections are attempted if you want to to specifically disable certain targets.

Disclaimer: just a satisfied and paying customer.

Re: Fossify – A suite of open-source, ad-free apps

#80

Post by Tijdreiziger »

senkora wrote: post #78
ryanmcbride wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

your phone can't dial 911 out of the box? I find that kind of hard to believe.

It was a thing with Google Pixels a few years ago: https://www.vice.com/en/article/google-pixel-bug-prevented-u...

I remember reading a comment that it was really a VoLTE (Voice over LTE) problem.

VoLTE in general seemed to be quite complicated, what with both phones and carriers needing the correct configuration. IIRC they were working on more standardization to prevent these kinds of issues.

Post reply on HN