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themachinestops @lemmy.dbzer0.com

Google will block sideloading of unverified Android apps starting next year

347 comments

  • Oof, time to bite the bullet and switch email providers. Shit like this is why I've spent the last couple years de-googling my life.

    • Do it! It's not that bad. Everyone's got different needs, but I switched to fastmail and have been enjoying it.

      • If you're making the switch anyway, get yourself a domain name from a separate company to run it through. That way in the future you can keep using your domain even if you switch mail/web-hosting providers.

  • I will pay hard cash money for some devs to bring postmarketos to quality hardware vendors.

    I'm all for buying a pinephone, but man are we missing out on the full potential from some genuinely good OEM hardware stuff like razr flip.

    Aside from google doing google things, android has been a bloated java pos toy OS for nearly a decade now. It completely wastes the full potential of superior hardware by running everything on a shitty JVM known as the ART that was designed for when devices had <512mb of RAM. A Nintendo 3DS can do better multi process tasking than modern android which regularly kills app threads for no reason other than to screw with you because you dared to switch to a different app for 5 seconds.

    Android was supposed to be the big apple killer because of its closeness to a desktop OS with heavy emphasis on widespread features and functionality. Even technically speaking, rooting got you there if you wanted to run whatever straight on the linux environment or swap kernels.

    Its nothing but a ripoff iOS clone now. Android 7/8 was probably the peak of development and usability, and even back then people were complaining it didn't have groundbreaking improvements like 6 or lollipop.

    • I don't think that it's the lack of quality hardware what is stopping adoption of Linux on phones. There are many resons why I don't consider someting like PostmarketOS viable as a daily driver for most.

      First of all some apps are just not available on Linux. Banking apps are a prime example. Most banks are now requiring some form of app where I live and they don't even consider Linux. But that's also another problem in it self.

      Secondly: driver support. Drivers aren't something one thinks about when talking about phones. But they are needed and mobile phones being what they are, most manufacturers aren't really open to do anything in that regard.

      As an Android developer I'm also annoyed by the restrictive power management of Android. But it's there for a reason. On PostmarketOS my phone would be dead after sitting around all day doing noting. On Android I can maybe squeeze two to three days of use out of the same phone. And that's not even with the OEM rom.

      That being said, I hope for a future were all of the current issues can be solved and we finally have a viable alternative to Apple and Google.

      To be clear, I'm in no way trying to defend what Google is doing.

      • I honestly don't care about apps. I switched to GrapheneOS and opted to not use Google Play Services, so my app selection is very limited, especially for things like banking apps. It turns out I can just use the website for the vast majority of them, and I can fill in the gaps with FDroid apps.

        The main things stopping me from using a Linux phone (eg PostmarketOS) are:

        • MMS compatibility - I use this a lot with family, and getting everyone on Signal or something isn't going to happen
        • battery efficiency - the best I've heard is 8 hours with light use, and there are still issues receiving notifications in standby mode
        • hardware quality issues and drivers - every phone supported by PostmarketOS either has a bunch of unsupported hardware (ie no camera support), or the hardware is poor (ie the PinePhone has crappy audio)

        I don't need a flagship with top tier driver support, I just need basic phone things to work. I'm even okay with poor camera quality, provided I can take pictures of things and clearly read the text later. I don't need much in terms of app support, and I'm willing to help port things I need. But my phone needs to work as a phone, and it needs to do so all day without needing to charge until night.

  • Democracy is dead. Welcome to the neo dark ages. Take up arms.

    • Well, I mean, we have yet to see an actual serious cyberattack right? Aren’t security needs going to increase, not decrease?

  • The phone I have now is half way paid off... I will say it. It is a Samsung S23. I didn't want it. It is just my other phone literally died from a single drop of water! I won't get into the details. But I want grapheneOS or the most private OS I can.

    Right now I have been carrying my phone less than before. I used to take it even to grocery store trips, but I am just getting sick of the endless monitoring, even if I am a terminally online person. I literally cannot leave my apartment without being on camera since my landlord has all the corridors and exits/entrances on 24/7 surveillance.

    I know that a phone can be tracked even when on a private OS. And the EU's rules on wanting a copy of every single message sent out from all messaging apps (including signal) will still affect non-EU people, too. It fucking sucks.

    • I don’t personally understand the desire to do this beyond “it’s the principle damnit” or doing illegal stuff but if you really want your phone to not be tracked then just use a verified faraday bag. Or make one yourself if you’re poor and then validate it yourself.

      • I learned the hard way many, many, many times just what even a simple 'hello my name is (name), and I am a (job title at company)' to the wrong person that you'd think could not have had any negative consequences whatsoever ended up causing absolute hell for me. I've been robbed, lied about and had my reputation utter destroyed, been a victim of identity theft by people I knew personally, had my family stalked and harassed, and even had multiple hit and run attempts done on me by people actively stalking me. Not to mention how anything and everything I said, no matter how innocent it seemed absolutely can be twisted against you. And I mean ANYTHING.

        And I did nothing wrong, nothing illegal, nothing shady. I just had people calling me antisocial and so I made conversation with them, talking about my day, my studies, what I ate for lunch... and fuck me you would not believe what people can do with simple information like that.

        There is a reason some people clam up at even the simplest question posed to them by anyone. I did try to ask simple information about people above, even things as damn simple as what their (real) names were because apparently it turned out they didn't tell me their real names and they got VERY violent the moment I probed into anything. The people who claim that 'nothing to hide nothing to fear' are also the most secretive people who absolutely will not allow anyone an inkling about themselves. This is why.

        BTW you want to know how simple info like what ate for lunch can be used against you? I once said that I wanted to work at little overtime because I wanted to earn back the money I paid for an unplanned lunch...

        Now you might say 'how the fuck could that statement be used against you?'. Well the guy said I was acting unprofessionally and said I needed to run to the cafeteria to pay for a lunch I took without paying for it. Basically accusing me of dining and dashing.

        Best part? Management believed him... they believed him despite the fact that I had WRITTEN that in a work chat and they presented the screencaps to me. I didn't say anything during the investigation because... I have no idea what to say. I had already told people I was trying to save money by not buying lunch and also working overtime. But even that was interpreted as an insult by me against them because they thought I was calling them lazy and useless with money. They just kept making accusations like that, and while initially management said 'wow that guy is an asshole' they never dismissed what the others said. So after dozens of bullshit accusations my credibility just kept dropping and theirs rising.

        And all of this could have been avoided if I simply refused to talk to anyone.

  • Because of using Shelter, this will make my phone practically unusable.

    This is fucking ridiculous

347 comments