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[return to "Google will allow only apps from verified developers to be installed on Android"]
1. rkager+DA[view] [source] 2025-08-25 21:32:54
>>kotaKa+(OP)
I've grown increasingly hateful towards both my Android and iOS devices over the last decade. The platforms themselves are increasingly user-hostile, and their appstores are crammed full of shitty, privacy-invading, telemetry-hoovering, dopamine-triggering, ad-filled, lipstick-covered apps that are often garbage compared to the pioneering days of mobile. I miss the days of my old Palm Pilot.

Is anyone working on fixing this? We can do so much better.

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2. miloig+aC[view] [source] 2025-08-25 21:42:44
>>rkager+DA
GrapheneOS + F-Droid is a joy to use, for me. I'm kinda shocked when I use anyone else's phone, now.

If they start selling their own devices, I will buy one and (assuming it turns out how I hope it will) recommend it strongly.

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3. kelnos+j11[view] [source] 2025-08-26 00:46:04
>>miloig+aC
If an alternative, privacy-focused OS like Graphene can support contactless payments (universal, like Google Wallet does it, not having to install an app per bank or card), and can 100% reliably get around apps requiring SafetyNet (or whatever they call it now) attestation, then I'd start using it.

I'd also need an alternate, safe source for common apps like Uber, Lyft, Slack, Kindle, Doordash, my banking/credit card apps, and a host of others that I use regularly. (And, no, "just use their website" is not acceptable; their website experiences are mostly crap.)

Way long ago I used to run CyanogenMod on my Android phones, and it was trivially easy to get every single app I needed working. Now it's a huge slog to get everything working on a non-Google-blessed OS, and I expect some things I use regularly just won't work. I hate hate hate this state of affairs. It makes me feel like I don't actually own my phone. But I've gotten so used to using these apps and features that it would reduce my quality of life (I know that sounds dramatic, but I'm lacking a better way to put it) to do without.

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