zlacker

>>kotaKa+(OP)
Anyone even remotely privacy or security conscious needs to vote with their wallet in protest and stop buying Android phones, otherwise it's only a matter of time 'til Google bans side-loading and it becomes impossible to buy a phone that can run any kind of anonymous or end-to-end encrypted communication software.

>>logicc+Fv
Stop buying Android and what? Buy an iPhone that's even more locked down or live like an outcast that can't access essential services? Because those are the realistic options.

>>tgsovl+5z
Buy Apple; the point is to hurt Google. If enough people do it, Google might reconsider. Show them that the open ecosystem is the only value Android added, and if they refuse to bring back the open ecosystem then their platform will slowly die. Won't be long until Google's as locked-down as Apple at this rate, so all Android gives you is a power-hungry OS that protect your privacy even less than iOS does.

>>logicc+hA
Buying closed stuff to show we want an open ecosystem?

At this point, I believe the most effective ways one can help with this is:

(1) advocacy - it's slow and difficult, but having people at least agree / be familiar with the idea that closed stuff is bad is a good first step.

Open ecosystems can't work for the general public if it's trapped in closed networks that won't work on anything else than the two big mobile operating systems, so making people start using open chat apps and such will help a lot. It'll take years, but so be it. It's worth it I think.

(2) helping improve the more open stuff.

I think Linux mobile for instance is a potentially viable alternative in the medium term for at least the basic use cases: Calls, SMS, GPS / Maps, Signal, photos. All this has no reason not to work with some polish. I daily drove Linux mobile 4 years ago for a year. The main thing I'm missing is good hardware for it, and a lot of polish but nothing impossible. Yeah, indeed, no payment with the phone (Google Pay / Apple Pay). But it's still possible to use the physical cards and not use the phone for this.