F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid
For the past 15 years1, F-Droid has provided a safe and securehaven for Android users around the world to find and install free and opensource apps. When con...
Disclaimer: I have been a maintainer for LineageOS and a long time user.
Whoever advocates for LineageOS don't get it. Using LineageOS will not fix any issue like this.
Already today using LineageOS means give up on banking apps, ID apps, and even McDonald's and some games like Pokemon.
Yeah because Google with play intergrity now demands valid keys that gets invalidated as soon Google detect they are used for such usage. The cat and mouse game suddenly got much harder to beat.
So no, using LineageOS will soon be possible only with secondary devices and not your primary that you will need for your actual stuff to work.
Counterpoint: I use the McDonald's app where it belongs - on a giant greasy ordering kiosk.
But seriously, banks have websites. Everyone and everything has a website.
I don't need Android apps at the cost of my privacy or at the cost of control of my devices.
I use GrapheneOS as my only phone, and I have done so for years.
Whatever the topic, I don't need an app for that.
Counter-counterpoint:
Banks use their app to generate the otp and they reinvented the wheel so if you want to login you need to install it, can't use a generic authenticator. I am not aware of any single bank in the EU that allows the use of generic authenticators.
For McDonald's, using the app gives at least 50% off. A menu in the app costs 5 euro while on the store kiosk costs 12 euro. I do not personally care because I find their food to be just barely edible, but I understand why there's a need to install the app
I've never had an issue with the three banking apps I tried on LineageOS, and I didn't even know there was a McDonald's app or pokemon games.
If this list for /e/os roughly applies to LineageOS (with microG), I wouldn't call it "only for secondary devices", more "won't work for some people"
Did I miss something? AFAIK google is requiring devs to ID, not to use SafetyNet or whatever the "only-runs-on-certified-phones" thing is called
I (for the moment) use stock android without a google account without any issues.
Then again i don't use banking apps on a smartphone.
My gov provides ID apps and they work fine - then again, GPS is installed of course.
Fuck McDonnalds.
I'll have to check app support on Linage or PostMarketOS in the near future.
Would you recommend a B-2 Spirit solution or not yet?
I remember when internet banking meant installing some shitty "security" software on Windows before it would let you access the proper page on your browser.
I assume this is the same with GrapheneOS?
My bank app works without issue inside a private space with sandboxed Play services on my main user profile.
I also have an investment app which runs without any issue whatsoever.
Maybe I'm lucky and these Canadian companies just aren't dicks about mandating google.
As far as I'm aware, as of now, graphene does not meet googles attestation (Uncertified Device), because google says so, but is easily more secure.
Google's lockdown has zero to do with security.
Seriously? Open computing is dead to you because you can't order fast food or play games? I don't even have Google Play on this GOS device. And, by the way, my banking app works fine on LineageOS. Not that I need it, since I use a hardware TAN generator.
Fucking google at it again. Straight up turning into apple.
You can blame the courts for this one. They basically ruled "Apple isn't a monopoly, because they don't even LET other people compete in the first place". (which is about a bass-ackwards as it gets but whatever)
Google saw this and went "shit..." so they're rushing to implement the same thing.
You would wish Google would turn into Apple. AAPL at least has the decency of respecting some privacy.
Google, on the other hand, is an advertising company (not a tech company), selling all the people pocket size advertisement billboards named “Android” for years, and they’re taking the last step of seizing full control over it.
If you don't think Apple is profiting off your data for advertising, I have a bridge to sell you
Why the Google identity check is completely useless:
Step 1: scammer acquires stolen id card
What's the difference between malware developed anonymously and malware developed anonymously but registered under a fake id? It can be installed today and it can be installed tomorrow. Do they really believe that malware developers will doxx themselves when publishing their malware?
This. Every day there is a new legitimate dataset of ids for sale on the internet. I have seen enough never to trust ids anymore
Fdroid is just the best. Around half of the apps on my phone are from Fdroid and Izzy.
When Android stops working properly, I'll move back to a dumb/feature phone. My wife will hate it, but so be it.
Some friends and I were talking about the feasibility of that earlier today.
It's possible, assuming that you never need to use your phone as an MFA method, never need to scan a QR code, or never need to use an app for something because they lack a web version.
My company recently required us to have mandatory fun at a baseball stadium. Apparently, Ballpark MLB is the only way to receive tickets and get into the park... I had to sign up for some stupid account and download some stupid app because my company required it.
never need to scan a QR code
QR wishes it can someday become as relevant as you're giving it credit for. Haha.
There is Aegis for MFA. It's much nicer than the closed proprietary ones.
Of course, if a job requires something incompatible, then I'll let them buy me a dedicated device.
Some services threaten me with "there's no web version", but they never end up being someome I want to do any business with, anyway. ¯°_o)/¯
But I do want a dumb flip phone again. They were cool.
My wife will hate it, but so be it.
Pretty sure you can build and self-host an SMS-whatever-she-is-using (e.g. Signal, DeltaChat, etc) bridge if somehow SMS isn't enough.
Note to self if that were to happen : OSHW SIM modem (or even eSIM) that forwards to whatever (API, email, etc) that then bridges to other networks.
I have a couple of PinePhone I could keep plugged in but otherwise any Android phone where one can load an .apk e.g. Termux could have a hook on SMS then forward accordingly.
Edit: quick search, a 4G dongle costs ~20EUR today and for compatibility on e.g. a RPi https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=210724 bother otherwise Ubuntu https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkManager/Hardware/3G and example on Debian https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_use_4G_Module_on_Debian
Edit2: didn't try it but https://alwaysconnected.eu/ proposes 1Gb for 1 year (probably already too much data... since one needs 0 if connected on RPi) for 14EUR and they sell a Huawei (not great but I imagine works well with the card) E3372 (no idea if it works well with Linux) for 60EUR.
I hear you. My wife has also requested that I not deprecate certain proprietary apps until I can provide a good alternative that works on both Android and Apple. Last time was when we were traveling and wanted to share locations with each other in real time. I had to give WhatsApp location perms 🤮
Looks like I'm searching for a device that can run LineageOS, then.
🤗
If this comes to pass, f-droid might get closed as the userbase dwindles. Many apps will also cease to be developed and be left without updates. You will not get out with just updating to LineageOS. We should be looking at Linux phones at that point.
Linux Phones have a few software hurdles to pass through to get usable.
The biggest problem right now is adoption and contribution to the ecosystem, but there's a few things in the way of outright using Linux apps on a phone. One is that most Linux apps aren't made to be verical. Some newer ones can adapt to it, but many of the apps you likely would depend on using a Linux laptop are almost unusable on a Linux phone, like... vlc, for instance.
The network stack isn't as beaten to death for 4G and 5G as Android's is. I work in a slightly iffy area, and on Android I'd have times where I'd lose signal, but it would always come back within 5-10 minutes or so. There'd be times on Linux when it wouldn't until I'd missed two calls and three texts and an hour and a half had gone by because the system was choking on a comma or a misplaced semicolon it found somewhere in the background and wouldn't reset until I forced airplane mode off and on. If I was at home, or in the city, I'd never notice this problem, but the second I hit a road trip or went to work, boy.
Also, and this is just my phone, my OP6T had iffy microphone and earpiece settings. Pulse Audio was at the forefront of this audio stack almost entirely unchanged from its appearance on gnome or kde and on a phone it's just confusing and obtuse as to what app is using what and what even is what. If you got it right, it was fine, then the next call it wouldn't be, or would change back, again, probably more the 6T being a 6T than anything else.
I think right now, in this interim period, I'm going to buy a hotspot that I can just slip a sim card into and tether a Linux phone to it. I can use Conversations on Waydroid and use JMP.chat to send phone calls and texts over XMPP. I did fine on my OP6T for my actual use of a phone. I was browsin', I was textin', I was sendin' messages, I was doin' terminal stuff, administratin' my servers, readin', listening to musicn'. It was fine. Will do some experimenting.
f-droid might get closed as the userbase dwindles.
Nah. F-Droid is already federation-ready. https://f-droid.org/docs/Installing_the_Server_and_Repo_Tools/
I'll run my own copy of the F-Droid servers, before I bend my knee to Google. So will others.
Edit: But yes, you are correct that Linux phone is the long term solution. Android is a pile of corporate Java. Linux is a lean sleek set of mature highly optimized tools. Once the big show-stoppers are cleared, my Linux phone will be the envy of all who see me use it.
There are other software sources, e.g. I use Obtainium mostly.
Still using LOS, haven't looked back...
Holy crap I got one! So stoked to try it out! I've been seeing all the pixel stuff about it and just assumed it was flagships only, but my $150 unlocked phone is supported! Thank for the push I needed to look it up.
I think way forward for me once these restrictions come in place will be to go with custom rom for my main phone, and a cheap stock phone for just apps that aren't custom rom friendly like bank apps. I don't need bank apps on the go, so not really going to need to carry 2 personal phones around.
I just got my Moto G 5G 2024 unlocked 😁 Its only like $140
really hope someone finds a way to break google's block on apks that aren't registered. with more and more manufacturers locking down bootloaders, changing roms is no longer an option.
Except that it is still an option to only buy phones that allow bootloader unlocking and root? That's been a requirement for me since my first smartphone.
Where can I find a list of such phones?
DOWN WITH GOOGLE
DOWN WITH GOOGLE
DOWN WITH GOOGLE
...
I'm confused by this:
The F-Droid project cannot require that developers register their apps through Google, but at the same time, we cannot “take over” the application identifiers for the open-source apps we distribute, as that would effectively seize exclusive distribution rights to those applications.
If it were to be put into effect, the developer registration decree will end the F-Droid project and other free/open-source app distribution sources as we know them today, and the world will be deprived of the safety and security of the catalog of thousands of apps that can be trusted and verified by any and all. F-Droid’s myriad users5 will be left adrift, with no means to install — or even update their existing installed — applications.
My understanding is that developers need to sign up with Google and once they have an account they can sign their own apks.
How would this impact F-Droid in any way? Presumably by the time F-Droid enters the picture the developers of the apps they distribute would have already gone through that entire process, right? The apks will be tied to that new Google certificate, but after that they can still be distributed anywhere.
I mean, don't get me wrong, this has genuine, very serious, dealbreaking issues, in that Google can just cancel the account of a developer making apps they don't like, the same way Apple has done in the past. That's not great. But from F-Droid's perspective all of that has happened upstream, they are not anywhere in that loop, unless I've misunderstood the changes.
How would this impact F-Droid in any way?
F-Droid itself builds the APKs to ensure that they're reproducible and not signed on a development machine that could be compromised.
https://f-droid.org/en/docs/FAQ_-_General/#is-your-building-and-signing-process-secure
With these changes, either:
Oooh, gotcha. That makes sense.
I guess it'd make sense to take that first option as far as it will go, at which point the issue becomes litigating this the first time Google has their own weird censorship issue in the Apple mold. I'd expect if they ban all of F-Droid explicitly that would at least make more ripples than going after a single torrent client app or whatever. It may play out different from a regulatory perspective, too, if the practical effect is they ban third party stores.
Side note, I'm really mad at the very deliberate choice Google made of categorizing all potential apps as either "apps meant for Google Play" or "student or hobbyist apps". You know they know why that's wrong, but it still makes you want to explain it to them.
My understanding is that developers need to sign up with Google and once they have an account they can sign their own apks.
Yes, and google asks for identification from the developers, and a lot of open source developers - having privacy in mind - don't want to provide personal information. This is shitty beyond anything google has done before.
"Want" isn't my concern. Presumably no developers want to give Google a piece of anything they generate, open source or not.
My concern was not understanding how this interferes with F-Droid and that has been explained above: F-Droid builds their own APKs for verification and this process potentially makes that a lot harder while not providing a replacement for their verification from Google.
That makes sense and it is indeed a dealbreaker. The other thing much less so.
The only apps I have installed from the play store are ones that came pre-installed with the phone. The rest are all from f-droid....
LONG LIVE F-DROID ! !
Google can do this for own their own store first. I doubt it will make any difference in the number of malicious and shit apps on that store. Requiring this be mandatory for everyone is clearly malicious.
wellp. time to go back to a time where phones were phones and not much more. i don't need a smart phone, i barely wanted one to begin with. i just want a way to talk to people, send sms with a T9 keyboard, listen to preloaded MP3s and maybe play snake.
Nokias are back, maybe see if you can get one where you are