While true, the pool of unlockable devices are dwindling fast.
Comment on Google's shocking developer decree struggles to justify the urgent threat to F-Droid
Johnny101@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Google’s developer verification will only run on mainstream Android with play services. It’s not supposed won’t be running in standard AOSP so the easiest solution would be to switch to a custom ROM like GrapheneOS.
cosmo@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 3 days ago
even the OP is softlocking thier newer phones(arbitrary online application to unlock it) in the near future, i expect a full lock sooner or later
Johnny101@lemmy.world 3 days ago
True…. I heard GrapheneOS is having trouble porting to the Pixel 10
hietsu@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
Also, aren’t some critical apps like banking apps starting to ban unlocked / non-stock systems? Heard someone complaining about this a while ago.
Johnny101@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Yes, banking apps, streaming apps, even some shopping apps. This has been a problem for a long time. Sometimes its for “security” reasons and sometimes its simply because the app uses Play Service APIs. Another issue on de-googled systems is push notifications, though that is often fixed through alternates like Unified Push
coolkie@lemmy.world 3 days ago
But remember, unlocking bootloader is harder and harder for many devices. And Google’s Play Integrity and API changes makes removing trace of unlocked bootloader harder. Many apps not just banking, ChatGPT, games, some of social media is completely unusable in that scenario.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 3 days ago
I don’t have that choice in Denmark due to NemID.
Johnny101@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Like other people have suggested, maybe get a second phone (one of those really cheap ones with play Services) and use that for that stuff, and keep your main personal phone google-free.
ninjascum@lemmy.world 3 days ago
This is the way for me too
bay400@thelemmy.club 3 days ago
At this point the solution seems to just be having a second phone for that kinda shit
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works 3 days ago
I don’t like that my neighbours are noisy, guess i should get a second house for when they’re shouting
bay400@thelemmy.club 3 days ago
ah yes because phones are $400,000-$1,000,000+
JeremyHuntQW12@lemmy.world 3 days ago
You can just install Android. Only certified vendors will have the blocking activated.
nasi_goreng@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Well, fuck. Most of people use F-Droid on “certified vendors” device.
Paddy66@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
If only. Most people I know have never heard of F-Droid… Only privacy-savvy people have.
Crozekiel@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
They are also working to similarly kill custom ROMs. Just recently the GrapheneOS team mentioned that Google is no longer making their hardware drivers Open Source, and so compatibility with new phones means reverse engineering their own drivers - which is a big reason that custom ROMs support such narrow hardware options already and very often come with limitations and/or features that just don’t work. At best, they figure out how to make it work, but it takes time and updates can lag significantly behind.
We have a lot of options on the software side for avoiding google (or android), but very limited options on hardware. We need open source mobile hardware support ASAP.
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 3 days ago
They’re not so much working to kill custom roms as they are just not giving away their code anymore, going closed source for their own hardware.
rmrf@lemmy.ml 2 days ago
Why do you think they’re making this arbitrary change?
FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au 2 days ago
Because Google have been wanting to be closed source for years, which is why nearly all their new features since they released the Pixel have been PixelOS exclusive and not in AOSP.
They don’t care about killing custom roms, that’s just a side effect of them going closed source for their Phone.