Except from Google of course, the worst offender of privacy that exists.
They put all these “privacy” features in so other companies can’t do what Google already does.
If you ever tried using a Google phone without Google apps, you realize how completely dependent almost all apps are on Googles API in the background, and most of them won’t work without it.
I am actually using a degoogled phone, and the only thing I’m missing are push notifications, for one single app. Everything else I use works just fine for me, but as always, ymmv
I’d love it if Signal officially supported UnifiedPush, it seems to be the most promising direct alternative to FCM. They started talking about quantum-resistant encryption or whatever, but at the same time resorted to using a websocket.
Which is pretty much the least elegant way of doing it. Not something I’d expect from them, to be honest.
Then there’s Tuta Mail, they have a much better way of handling push notifications, but it’s still their own thing too, and instead of promoting something like UnifiedPush, they write blogposts dragging Protonmail for not having an alternative.
(Which I’m also annoyed by, but their posts about it seemed a bit pretentious, which I just hate to see.)
GrapheneOS seems to be the all out best, from what I can tell. It’s just that their strict requirements needed to achieve this level of privacy and especially security severly limit the selection of devices you can use, which is a bummer.
I am using Fairphone (great company, they make ethical phones) together with /e/ OS, a fork of LineageOS. The great thing about Fairphone is that they officially support /e/ and offer a waranty of 5 years. In the past, they offered their Fairphone 2 a support of 7 years, including Software and Android version updates , which is absolutely mind-blowing.
Also their phones are highly modular, you can switch basically everything (Battery, camera, speakers,…), they actually make an effort to improve production and manufacturing processes by e.g. using Fairtrade certified Gold, they obviously like Open Source,…
And /e/ basically goes the route of “degoogling without making life inconvenient”. They have an App Store preinstalled (Aurora Store), with which you can access Google Play apps. They include MicroG, if you wish to, which makes using apps depending on Google services a lot easier. Also they offer their own ecosystem with e.g. Mail, Calendar, etc. And they are nonprofit!
So seriously, if you want to get a degoogled Phone, I’d recommend the Fairphone (5 or 4 both are okay, although 5 would probably be better) together with /e/ OS combo without any doubt. The phone is amazing and hasn’t let me down, and although it has been quite a journey, I wouldn’t want to have chocen otherwise.
I am using lineage os without google and don’t really have any problems. There is an open source alternative for most big apps and if you want to use youtube or something you can just use it in browser or install microG that is basically google services without google.
Does newpipe have play in the background and the pop out video player also sponsorblock? Just asking because I have seen a friend using newpipe but I like the fact that revanced offers all of those.
Development of that has stopped, they are currently working on a new fork called Tubular, which has the additional option of being able to login with a YT account.
Newpipe itself is also currently deciding on whether to do a complete rewrite or not, so the coming months might be a bit slow in terms of new features.
It’s bothering me so much that less and less phones are compatible with LineageOS or Postmarket or any custom ROMs.
There’s now some “safetynet” layer or something I hear, where any sort of commerce apps will just refuse to open if they detect a “tampered” device.
You might say “Just use the web view then”, sure, but it depends highly on their implementation whether you’ll have a smooth time or not lol.
These security features sound nice in principle, but if you already know what you’re doing enough to flash a custom ROM, it’s basically just another thing to lock your phone down and force obsolescence when they decide to just stop patching it to force you to buy more e-waste.
I wish there was more I could do to support Linux phones…
Yeah luckily my bank app works fine on the web but some functions are missing so I am forced to use a stock android phone as well just in case I need those features.
Yeah its so freaking sad. It could be such an awesome platform (in some sense it already is) but of course Google has to put their greedy little fingers on it.
The worst part is that it has tons of literal bloatware. I tried ArrowOS without GApps on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, and it was fast while sparing the battery! It had the original battery and I couldnt believe that it could last 2 days easily with light usage.
Then I tried PixysOS and damn, 3GB of RAM was barely enough.
iOS will sometimes ask you even if the app has been using it (for certain permissions), and might even tell you how often the app has used it. Which is really handy.
Like, “this app has accessed your location from the background 48 times in the last month, you gave it permission, would you like to change it to ‘when using’?” Or “This app has had full access to your photos, would you like to limit it?” (Not exact wording, but you get the idea.)
Something that delighted me when I discovered it.
(Android does permissions very well too, I’m in no way trying to knock it.)
With the last update, Android also started limiting apps’ access to photos on a per-photo basis. Not even Google Lens (which I use to copy text from slides) can see all my photos. (Don’t get me wrong, though: I’m not naive enough to believe Google can’t see my photos at all.)
I give a few apps background location access, and for a couple of weeks after enabling each android would occasionally ask if the app still needs background data
Better yet: Bouncer allows you to remove permissions after a given set of time or immediately after closing the app. WhatsApp only gets my location for 3h after I shared it with someone on there - Google would never remove that permission since the app is in use regularly and it’s no problem granting that permission anew next time I want to share something.
Also all my pictures are only accessible on demand by chat apps and not permanently
And this is why I like Androids feature that automatically revokes permissions after a certain timeframe of not using an app
Except from Google of course, the worst offender of privacy that exists.
They put all these “privacy” features in so other companies can’t do what Google already does.
If you ever tried using a Google phone without Google apps, you realize how completely dependent almost all apps are on Googles API in the background, and most of them won’t work without it.
I am actually using a degoogled phone, and the only thing I’m missing are push notifications, for one single app. Everything else I use works just fine for me, but as always, ymmv
It was a while since I tried it now. I used Cyanogenmod before, quite a few years back. But camera was bad with it.
Yeah, the default lineage cam today can’t do a whole lot either
Signal? microG works great for push notifications
You don’t need thay either. Signal has its own thing, so does whatsapp. And if you use molly, it supports unifiedpush.
I’d love it if Signal officially supported UnifiedPush, it seems to be the most promising direct alternative to FCM. They started talking about quantum-resistant encryption or whatever, but at the same time resorted to using a websocket.
Which is pretty much the least elegant way of doing it. Not something I’d expect from them, to be honest.
Then there’s Tuta Mail, they have a much better way of handling push notifications, but it’s still their own thing too, and instead of promoting something like UnifiedPush, they write blogposts dragging Protonmail for not having an alternative.
(Which I’m also annoyed by, but their posts about it seemed a bit pretentious, which I just hate to see.)
Signals own version used to be really bad for your battery though.
It generally used like 30% of my battery on its own.
Although now it is much better.
What phone and mom are you using? I’m considering this for my next phone
Edit: ROM not mom haha
Reminder to everyone to phone mom though. <3
I’m using DivestOS on a OnePlus 5T, runs like a charm.
But Divest is in dire need of funding right now, and might not be able to continue development, so that’s something to keep in mind, sadly
Do you follow Graphene OS at all? What is your opinion on it?
GrapheneOS seems to be the all out best, from what I can tell. It’s just that their strict requirements needed to achieve this level of privacy and especially security severly limit the selection of devices you can use, which is a bummer.
Thanks! I’ve been looking at graphene os too
I am using Fairphone (great company, they make ethical phones) together with /e/ OS, a fork of LineageOS. The great thing about Fairphone is that they officially support /e/ and offer a waranty of 5 years. In the past, they offered their Fairphone 2 a support of 7 years, including Software and Android version updates , which is absolutely mind-blowing. Also their phones are highly modular, you can switch basically everything (Battery, camera, speakers,…), they actually make an effort to improve production and manufacturing processes by e.g. using Fairtrade certified Gold, they obviously like Open Source,… And /e/ basically goes the route of “degoogling without making life inconvenient”. They have an App Store preinstalled (Aurora Store), with which you can access Google Play apps. They include MicroG, if you wish to, which makes using apps depending on Google services a lot easier. Also they offer their own ecosystem with e.g. Mail, Calendar, etc. And they are nonprofit! So seriously, if you want to get a degoogled Phone, I’d recommend the Fairphone (5 or 4 both are okay, although 5 would probably be better) together with /e/ OS combo without any doubt. The phone is amazing and hasn’t let me down, and although it has been quite a journey, I wouldn’t want to have chocen otherwise.
Just my take :)
I am using lineage os without google and don’t really have any problems. There is an open source alternative for most big apps and if you want to use youtube or something you can just use it in browser or install microG that is basically google services without google.
Or just use NewPipe.
Does newpipe have play in the background and the pop out video player also sponsorblock? Just asking because I have seen a friend using newpipe but I like the fact that revanced offers all of those.
Newpipe X sponsorblock does.
Is that like a fork of newpipe or an addon? I don’t really kbow how newpipe works in that regard.
Fork with sponsorblock added
It’s on izzyondroid’s f-droid repo.
Development of that has stopped, they are currently working on a new fork called Tubular, which has the additional option of being able to login with a YT account.
Newpipe itself is also currently deciding on whether to do a complete rewrite or not, so the coming months might be a bit slow in terms of new features.
Ah good to know, thanks!
It’s bothering me so much that less and less phones are compatible with LineageOS or Postmarket or any custom ROMs.
There’s now some “safetynet” layer or something I hear, where any sort of commerce apps will just refuse to open if they detect a “tampered” device.
You might say “Just use the web view then”, sure, but it depends highly on their implementation whether you’ll have a smooth time or not lol.
These security features sound nice in principle, but if you already know what you’re doing enough to flash a custom ROM, it’s basically just another thing to lock your phone down and force obsolescence when they decide to just stop patching it to force you to buy more e-waste.
I wish there was more I could do to support Linux phones…
Yeah luckily my bank app works fine on the web but some functions are missing so I am forced to use a stock android phone as well just in case I need those features.
Some cheesier financial entities are also just forcing everyone to the app now. No web.
Yeah its so freaking sad. It could be such an awesome platform (in some sense it already is) but of course Google has to put their greedy little fingers on it.
The worst part is that it has tons of literal bloatware. I tried ArrowOS without GApps on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 4, and it was fast while sparing the battery! It had the original battery and I couldnt believe that it could last 2 days easily with light usage.
Then I tried PixysOS and damn, 3GB of RAM was barely enough.
iOS will sometimes ask you even if the app has been using it (for certain permissions), and might even tell you how often the app has used it. Which is really handy.
Like, “this app has accessed your location from the background 48 times in the last month, you gave it permission, would you like to change it to ‘when using’?” Or “This app has had full access to your photos, would you like to limit it?” (Not exact wording, but you get the idea.)
Something that delighted me when I discovered it.
(Android does permissions very well too, I’m in no way trying to knock it.)
With the last update, Android also started limiting apps’ access to photos on a per-photo basis. Not even Google Lens (which I use to copy text from slides) can see all my photos. (Don’t get me wrong, though: I’m not naive enough to believe Google can’t see my photos at all.)
Yeah iOS had had this for 2 or 3 years now, it’s a great feature.
I give a few apps background location access, and for a couple of weeks after enabling each android would occasionally ask if the app still needs background data
wait what android version, my android 13 doesn’t do that
Pixel 6 on current version
Better yet: Bouncer allows you to remove permissions after a given set of time or immediately after closing the app. WhatsApp only gets my location for 3h after I shared it with someone on there - Google would never remove that permission since the app is in use regularly and it’s no problem granting that permission anew next time I want to share something.
Also all my pictures are only accessible on demand by chat apps and not permanently