Google: 'Your $1000 phone needs our permission to install apps now'". Android users are screwed - Louis Rossmann
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That’s not how you spell UBports.
I do support the PostmarketOS project, but it has much further to go before it’s friendly enough for regular people. Short of Valve releasing a Steam phone, I think UBports is better positioned to bring genuine linux to mobile.
No one here is talking about regular people. Regular people will keep using stock Android.
UBports still relies on Android kernel and services. Custom ROMs are such a small part of the Android ecosystem that I didn't think Google will go after them yet they did. Can we be sure in a couple of years they will not try to destroy Android based distros like UBports?
I also don't really like the entire idea behind UBports. It's so heavily modified you can't even easily run native Linux apps so you're limited to Ubuntu Touch apps. As a developer I'm not really interested in learning completely new framework that supports only one platform. We have solutions to create cross platform Linux-Android apps so I can move my apps from Android phone to PostmarketOS without any work, they already work there.
So I'm supporting PostmarketOS and I really hope it will be usable when my Pixel phone dies. If not I will switch to something Halium based. What else is there to do?
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Apple now allows sideloading of apps and Google is trying to get rid of sideloading.
What... the Fuck?
wrote last edited by [email protected]Apple now allows sideloading of apps
Apple allows as much sideloading as google wants to next near.
Yes, you can install from .iPa files, but you still need to pay 100€ a year to be able to sign the IPA files, otherwise you cant run them. as much as with googles new policy you now need to pay 25€ + your full name to get a signature, to sign the Apks with
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This is about Revanced, isn't it? They failed to kill it via the YouTube backend so now it's down to lock down the os and browsers as much as possible to keep feeding people the juicy ads.
This is about preparing for DMA and the likes in other countries.
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These are the most supported devices, maintained by at least 2 people and have the functions you expect from the device running its normal OS, such as calling on a phone, working audio, and a functional UI.
If the above is where we are at still with PostmarketOS, it will be a decade or more before it is anything more than a curiosity. The table stakes of what people, even us tech nerds, expect from a smartphone fit for daily use is so much more than "it can make phones calls and the UI works" it is not even funny.
As I said, I don't think we can expect PostmarketOS to work on normal phones but looking at the table they have PinePhone figured out. My hope is that we will soon see something like PinePhone but with proper specs that will actually be usable and that some phone makes like Fairphone will help make PostmaketOS run on their phones. Couple of properly supported models is all we really need and I hope it's couple of years away, not a decade.
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> be me
> buy new phone, chose android cause I can install anything on it
> get free iphone from work
> sell iphone on ebay cause I can install anything I want on my android
> google doesnt want me to install anything I wantFuck me. I kept the wrong phone.
So in your world, a completely locked down phone is better than a phone that you can easily open up again by flashing a ROM or replacing Gservices for MicroG with adb + Magisk?
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Don't worry as the current OEMs continue to lock down bootloaders and lock required drivers behind copyright and other restrictive licensing schemes they will ensure nice things like PostmarketOS at best remain fringe and never able to replace modern phones for daily usage.
Most of they will but hopefully we will still have projects like PinePhone or Fairphone that will support it.
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The EU is no longer an ally in such matters but a bad actor.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Gonna have to elaborate on this because the European union has both good and bad people pulling strings.
If this is about chatcontrol. Scary as it is that the idea keeps coming back it has also always gotten shot down.
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Banking Apps in my country doesn't even install on Android version of previous 2 version, because "security" reasons...not because of their incompetence to make their app more secure. I had to buy new phone to use my own money.
This do not depends on bank incompetence, it depends from the regulations the banks need to follow.
And for the same reason you cannot install on a rooted phone (or at least, you should not be able to do it) -
Apple now allows sideloading of apps
Apple allows as much sideloading as google wants to next near.
Yes, you can install from .iPa files, but you still need to pay 100€ a year to be able to sign the IPA files, otherwise you cant run them. as much as with googles new policy you now need to pay 25€ + your full name to get a signature, to sign the Apks with
wrote last edited by [email protected]This
️ Apple has set the lowest bar, and google is simply following the trend of “how to keep your App Store the monopoly while conforming to the dma“ -
Have fun drinking your wine from the toilet bowl.
But you literally mentioned linux phones, why add that you'll use "iOS out of spite"? Lol
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Openness isn't just a nice to have. It is essential.
The difference between general purpose computing and gatekept walled garden computing is night and day.
Identifying the devs is not in the "need to know" for Google. Google sells or helps to sell a general purpose open device where it is on us to exploit that device however we will.
Now Google wants to switch to a walled garden, moderated development model.
If Google promises it won't use those dev IDs to moderate development, their promise is only worth the wind it moves and the sound it makes.
We don’t even need to assume: https://torrentfreak.com/apple-revokes-eu-distribution-rights-for-torrent-client-developer-left-in-the-dark/
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Gonna have to elaborate on this because the European union has both good and bad people pulling strings.
If this is about chatcontrol. Scary as it is that the idea keeps coming back it has also always gotten shot down.
True. But it needs to be shot down every time it comes up. For them to succeed, they only need to succeed once.
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Joke's on them, my phone only cost $300
Same here, got a recent (so not completely new) Xiaomi 13T Pro. Very little crap on it and it has impressive specs like 16GB RAM, 1TB storage and a very good Leica camera.
I'd love putting Linux on it one day, the specs are almost as good as my main PC lol.
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I find it very strange how many people in the comments here think the solution is to buy an iPhone. Maybe you are all just rich and can afford to spend $1000+ based on vibes, but considering the Android market still has a massive value advantage I'm not really sure what the point of switching is. This all feels very similar to how some Westerners decided Chinese tech and even the Chinese government were suddenly problem-free just because Americans elected Trump for a second time.
...Used or refurbished iPhones are relatively cheap and better for the planet.
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...Used or refurbished iPhones are relatively cheap and better for the planet.
Relative to what? Better for the planet than what? I'm not really sure what your point is here, you seem to be implying that a secondhand market for Android phones doesn't exist (note: it does, and Android phones are still much better value secondhand because they lose value so quickly relative to iPhones).
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Apple hardware ahead of Android? I'll have what you're having!
Credit where credit is due, iOS runs lighter than Android and thus needs less powerful hardware, simply: JVM vs LLVM ObjC
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I just can’t wrap my head around sinking that much into a phone when you replace it every year
Usually the people who replace their flagship phone every 1 - 2 years aren't paying full price for it, or at least not upfront. They are receiving trade-in and pre-order discounts, or spreading the cost out over a 12 - 24 month period through a plan with their telco.
wrote last edited by [email protected]I used my last phone for about 4 years. At that point the battery life was getting worse, and the coating to prevent smudges and make your finger slide easily had worn off in the middle. Even then it's still perfectly usable, I just wanted an upgrade and to get away from Samsung.
I don't understand the people that upgrade every year or two. In the last 5 years basically the only new development has been higher refresh rate displays and faker looking (more processed) camera images...
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You don't need to sign anything just turn off play protect with 1 adb command:
adb shell settings get global package_verifier_user_consent adb shell settings put global package_verifier_user_consent -1 # disable Play ProtectI know why you included both, but saying "1 adb command" and then posting two is funny to me.
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I bought a Pixel recently and for 2 days I tried to make it work. 2 whole days of fumbling pain! And I felt fucking horrible. Almost nothing is customizable and everything coated in a thick layer of AI. Every google app has dark patterns. Don't like it? Well too bad, apps like goog photos keep on asking if you want to upload your life with a recurring popup that tries to trick you. Don't want Google Search Bar? Well... you don't get to say no bitch, don't make me hurt you. It is not a healthy relationship.
So. I just took the plunge and flashed GrapheneOS. Graphene will take a bit of work getting replacements for some of my needed apps like mail and map. But there are lots of neat options and I'm having fun with it. Problem fixed.
I used the graphene web install. I booted up my Pi 4B+ and used gnome-disks to flash a MicroSD with Ubuntu 24.10 then installed the two packages in the web install instructions then I got Brave (I went to the Brave homepage and they have some curl option to download. I needed to install curl, did that then got Brave installed. Once brave is installed you have to disable browser fingerprinting memory reduction and disable the "brave shield" (the little shield near the address bar) for the web installer GrapheneOS page. (It's a fresh install, on a Pi, and I know the site, no real risk)
After this you can just press the big buttons on the page and follow the instructions on the page.
There are many ways to do this. They have lists of compatible browsers and operating systems. I picked (eww) Ubuntu and (eww) Brave because they seemed easiest on the list and I did not virtualize or use containers in any way cause it messes up the webUSB magic the website uses. I like to play it safe as possible when firmware is involved so I didnt speed up the instructions. And also when you buy a Pixel, big thing! Turn on dev tools and toggle your oem bootloader setting off and on again. If it can't do that you need to return the phone because it's locked down by carrier.
Well... I hope my long sleep deprived ramblings help someone else break their chains. Read a bunch about it before starting! Good Luck!
Good on you for using grapheneos! But you should always install the software you want anyway. You don't need google photos. You can install a different launcher etc. Don't become complacent and go with the setting out of the box. That's the reason tech turned into shit. Consumers don't care for it anymore.
I must admit however, that the launcher market has turned to shit though. There used to be so many more cool options to choose from.
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I have LineageOS on my second phone, so the issue doesn't apply to custom ROMs, as the developers assured me. On my main phone, however, I still have the stock ROM because it's a new and expensive phone, and there are no custom ROMs for it yet, especially as it's a MediaTek. If they try to block sideloading, it would be a good time to report it to the European Union.
