What government apps do people run? Why do you need to access your bank account on your phone? Is this some payments model that's just not common in my country where we still use physical credit cards for everything?
My bank requires me to authenticate all online transactions via the phone app. Without it, it's not possible to make online payments.
So no, my everyday interactions don't require the phone app. But any interaction that is novel enough to require direct communication with the bank has been rendered annoying without the phone app.
I'm someone for whom I'd probably be willing to deal with all these inconveniences to make my statement about ownership over my hardware and software, but I doubt that very many average consumers would.
There are a bunch of them here in Australia, and there were several in the UK.
Here there's a secure ID app for government services which is used as 2FA on the web interface, and various apps to access state and national government services directly. There's a tax one that allows you to scan receipts to collect them up for your annual tax return. In the UK I had an NHS app, can't remember what else.
They aren't mandatory, you can live without them, but they are often convenient.
> Why do you need to access your bank account on your phone?
Because it's many people's primary computing device? Why would you not want to access your bank accounts on your phone?
And because if you want to log on to some banks websites you need to have a 2FA security code which can either be generated by a dedicated security device, which has become less common now, or by an app on the phone which is then usually biometrically protected. There is sometimes a second code-generation method for higher value transfers.
So it is convenient to be able to send payments in the bank app, though less common than using my phone instead of the physical card through apple/google pay (those don't require the bank app to be installed).
Public transport ticket app, government ID app, drivers licence app.
I do believe all of these specific examples run fine on rooted Android without too much hassle (unsure about the second one), so they should be emulatable or whatever on a Linux phone, but that assumes that experience holds up decently well, which I would be surprised if it did for apps like this.
> Why do you need to access your bank account on your phone?
Because the app is a whole lot better than the web interfaces my previous banks had. Plus the added convenience. I'd prefer that the web interface was just as good as the app, but I'd still use the app even if that existed, just due to the convenience.
The major banks in that country also required apps from official app stores, though I don't think I was technically required to have a bank account. I was in the country under a program based on owning my own consulting business. I did have to prove financials to the government as part of that, but maybe there was a way I could have technically done that without a bank account which required a mobile app.
Many banks require you use their app to do anything, e.g., make transfers, approve debit card transactions, register your biometrics to unfreeze your account, etc.
And no, choosing a bank without these requirements isn't possible in some countries.
At present, governments and banks are freeloaders piggybacking on the popularity of the smartphone. If these entities end up mandating access to their services via this route (or making them nigh on impossible to access by other more traditional means) then users should demand they be issued with phones specifically for the purpose, as owning a phone is not prerequisite or mandated requirement to live in society—although if trends continue it likely will be.
Moreover, as phone technology easily lends itself to location tracking any mandatory requirement for phone vehicle licences would soon lead to mandatory location tracking (and easy to implement and impossible to disable with government/bank-issued phones).
That's the logical endgame, and it'd be showdown time. The question is does the citizenry have the guts and resilience to resist such authoritarian impositions.
Frankly, I'm horrified at how easily users of these essential services have been bought off by online conveniences, they've not only become careless and blasé but by default they've also conceded to the withdrawing—and in many cases—actual withdrawal of traditional services in favour of ones that both governments and banks have more control over—and in the bargain they've chucked privacy to the wind.
In some countries they are mandated if not by law then by implementation, a relative or a social worker is tasked to get grandma equipped with a "smart device". She can even borrow it for a few months from municipality services until she can afford to buy it
https://www.usnews.com/insurance/auto/how-do-those-car-insur...
Only a question of time until it becomes mandatory
This is not an argument against web apps, which work on the phones just fine.