If it’s completely offline and the banking thing can be completely disabled it’s awesome.

I would love to know the softwares (and their dependencies) I use more so then I can decide how to donate myself. The dependencies being a big thing. Like on android I use syncthing fork, which would be nothing without syncthing. And there may be other essential stuff running on boot that I don’t know and should help.

I agree, but those options are also unlikely in the long term. I’m just being positive and hoping for a life without Google.

I was thinking, Linux only really worked because companies profit from it and therefore support it. If it were just for desktop users it would have never been more than a programmer hobby. I don’t see phones benefiting more than the end user, and without a lot of profit on that I don’t see that working. So I think the future is dark.

But I’ll still invest on it and pretend I live in an ideal world and pretend it’s possible. It’s not zero percent chance I hope…

From my experience with Sailfish, it is user friendly. The problem is the hardware working as well and finding apps that do what you need. Both issues won’t be fixed without a larger user base.

But it will never be for the average user. That requires massive companies backing it and that requires evil intention. Google is a good example. It started being “nice” but just to get enough market to do this. Or Microsoft and Apple, just being evil from the beginning since they know the average user doesn’t care about that.

Custom ROMs won’t be an option forever. They are going step by step, just “the tip” first to not hurt too much.

Unless people fully fork android and maintain it, but then google will make sure to break compatibility. Plus less and less phones make it possible to install custom ROMs.

The only way forward is getting rid of them. Like Linux and microsoft. “Ecosystem” will always be a problem as it is with Linux (adobe and other garbage refusing to allow compatibility), but as long as it works well as a phone, like Linux works well as a computer, then it will be fine for a lot of people and software will be made to meet their needs (and a lot of software will work as it is now, like Syncthing does on Sailfish).

It worked with desktops. It took a long time, but it did. It can work with phones if there is enough people backing it.

It will be a bumpy road again but if I can get 100% free of google as I did with microsoft, it will be worthy.

None. Move out of Android. Their dick move is deeper than just fucking up alternative stores. It’s to make sure it’s not worthy for anyone to publish outside of play store.

For your safety, of course. Nothing more at all.

Let’s invest in Linux options.

And that’s exactly google intention. All that “security” bullshit is to justify this.

Without something like f-droid google hopes that someone like me who despises them will be forced to use play store.

And I’m sure many of us will bend. But as for me, I’d rather go back to dumb phones if Linux phones don’t work. And google board members can stick their security on a pineapple and stick it in their ass.

With a condom of course because i want them to be safe while being fucked, just like they wish for us.

I think it’s lyrics from nine inch nails

Although i use android i really, really don’t want Google stuff on my pc. I use android because it’s the only viable choice on mobile. But on pc I’ll avoid chromium as much a i can. And having installed many roms the hard way before i saw no reason to make an exception.

Plus i don’t like the browser doing something like that where i don’t know what it’s doing. If it was on firefox maybe i would trust it more, but even then…

I use my phone a lot lot. It’s a terrible addiction. But yeah, I’m not the usual user and my needs are different.

But I disagree with “spending twice the amount of time”. I’ve never seen that except on evil stuff that just handicaps the website on mobile for no reason other than “I’ll force you to use my app through pain”, when the desktop site is as good or even better than the app. And if it’s one of those companies, to me it’s a red flag. It’s not a service I’m using, it’s a company trying to abuse me as far as they can and I’ll be dumb if I continue on that abusive relationship and not break up.

But ending an abusive relationship is a personal choice. But to me they are inflicting that pain on them selves.

Oh, a good example is reddit. The mobile website experience is painful for no reason other than to force me to use their shitty app to steal more from me.

And what do you know? That was a red flag and that is a company I should have tried my best to avoid for that reason and many others. And now here I am on Lemmy, happier, and not forced a shitty app down my throat.

Ah, I didn’t do it that way… I think. I can’t remember. I certainly remember not wanting to because I don’t trust that way. Also I use firefox and I doubted it would work. I don’t know.

You are not going to like the answer, but… I just don’t do banking on a phone. I never did. Never trusted something that important on a device I’m carry around all the time. I do it on the desktop, which has an operating system I trust (Linux), that can’t get on anyone else’s hand.

I’m sorry. I wish I could give a solution. This has never been a problem to me but I understand it’s a massive thing for a lot of people.

On a more complicated option, the answer is: it depends. If you have a pixel with grapheneOS and you relocked the phone, I think a lot of bank apps will work. Or maybe a different bank doesn’t require that, or allows you to do it on the browser. I usually ask the bank before signing in if they will require me to use an app. If they do, I don’t chose them.

The reasons to require the user to use the app are almost always evil, anti-user, and shows it’s an organization that will fuck you up down the line, so it’s a good filter for me. A red flag.

But yeah, sorry. I’m just the wrong person to ask. Maybe someone else who looked into the subject can suggest something. I never even bothered finding a solution because I never saw a problem.

I agree. It’s just that you said it’s easy.

Maybe you were referring to unlocking the phone, which is really easy on stock android if you know how.

The day we don’t have the choice anymore is the day i stop using android. Or smart phones at all if the alternative is apple.

One thing i don’t usually see people mentioning is that personal data is money. Money is power. Do you want to give that company more power?

I absolutely do not want to make apple more powerful. With Android i can at least choose a company i dislike less, or even like, and give the power to then. Then i can even remove Google from the phone and not give them power. It may not be easy but it’s in the license of Android, while not so with Apple.

And that applies to every thing related to privacy to me. Do i want to make this company powerful? No? Is there an alternative? Then I’ll try that if i can.

If it’s too difficult to find an alternative i try to live with it. It depends on how much i hate the company and how hard is it to change.

My own privacy, funny enough, is not really that important to me.

Just like Ulrich thinking installing graphene being easy is just his experience, that is just your experience. I don’t have a single app that needs google play and that’s one thing i find it easy.

Whatever would need it i just use their website. Sure they try a lot to annoy you into using their useless app but it’s doable and becomes an incentive to find a better service.

As a GrapheneOS user, and someone who hates apple and would rather not have a phone than bend to apple, and while i agree with most of what you said, i would not expect the majority of the users to be able to install graphene. I don’t personally know anyone i would expect to be able to do by themselves. It’s easy for you. It wasn’t super easy for me, it would be difficult for most people.