Unfettered capitalism is just fucking exhausting. What a bunch of assholes. I really need to degoogle my life. Idk how to strip android off my phone and replace it with whatever, but I guess I’m about to find out.
Edit: ty all. I’m gonna check out f droid and go from there!
The problem in this case is the Google Play Store, not Android.
Google is blocking Nextcloud from updating their app on the Play Store unless they remove this vital permission. But nothing is stopping Nextcloud from making their app available on third party app stores with the approriate permissions.
If you download the app from F-Droid instead, it should work correctly.
That is not to say that what Google is doing isn’t monopolistic. I’m just pointing out that you can bypass this restriction by not using their app store.
I’ve been wanting a Linux-based degoogled phone for a while now, and though it sorta exists if you happen to have the right phone model, it definitely isn’t ready for the everyday consumer. But if it’s something you really want to do, there are a few options out there. I’ve done the best I can from not using the google ecosystem at all beyond android, which is my last big hurtle.
I don’t think we need a Linux-Based Phone, A deGoogled Android fork would do, and it would be a familiar place for most users.
Hopefully a company like Samsung offers deGoogled options in the future.
Samsung? that must be a joke right?
I agree that android itself is not really our “opponent”. It’ll take at least a decade until the community puts together something as remotely capable as android. It would be much easier to take AOSP, or Calyx, and revert google changes that do not tie users into google services, but still were strongarmed in there by google, several things that are limiting user freedom (that is, without accessible options to turn the restrictions off).
Samsung is just an example. I would like any big manufacturer to fork Android and strip Google out of it.
If Samsung does it, it would be great for the deGoogle movement, and would open the floodgates for others.
If Samsung does it, it would be great for the deGoogle movement, and would open the floodgates for others.
I’m not sure about that. samsung is not that respectful of ownership righs, in my eyes at least
As the article mentions, this isn’t a security “feature,” it’s anti-competetive. The worst part is that Nextcloud isn’t even really in competition with Google. Setting up a Nextcloud server isn’t hard, but it’s not a trivial task. Sharing it outside your local network also requires a bit of skill, especially if done securely. That is to say, Nextcloud users probably tend to be more tech-savvy.
The people using Nextcloud aren’t going to suddenly decide to switch over to Google Drive. I’ll get it from FDroid before I downgrade to Google Drive. If that wasn’t an option, I’d set up an FTP server or even WebDAV.
The worst part is that Nextcloud isn’t even really in competition with Google. Setting up a Nextcloud server isn’t hard, but it’s not a trivial task. Sharing it outside your local network also requires a bit of skill, especially if done securely. That is to say, Nextcloud users probably tend to be more tech-savvy.
That’s only true for those who self-host this. There are lots of companies offering Nextcloud hosting. That’s probably why Google doesn’t like Nextcloud. I’m not saying Google is right. Actually what Google is doing here is quite pathetic.
Actually what Google is doing here is quite pathetic.
So business as usual then?
I never use a Play Store version of anything I can find on F-droid or other repos I trust. Then I try it using Aurora Store. Only as a last-resort I try Google. Play Store is only for things I cannot obtian or replace another way.
Learned the hard way that android auto compatibility (on GrapheneOS) works only with the playstore Version of an app because andoid auto checks the install source. Thats the same gatekeeping at play…
Thanks I hate it.
AA is also EXTREMELY vpn-unfriendly. It fails to work period of I’ve got a wireguard VPN without app restrictions, even if there are only a handful of routes using the tunnel. Then, if I restrict the VPN to just certain apps, it’ll still give me the big ol’ middle finger running those apps via AA, which means I can’t stream from my home media host over VPN while using AA because Papa Google apps no.
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Thankfully the full feature will still work if you get the app from F-Droid
Hopefully this will motivate more people use F-Droid
I noticed that in their info text shown to their users, they don’t mention F-Droid. I wonder if google doesn’t allow them to mention other stores as part of their “security” policies.
Interesting, Yes I think users should be made aware that if they get the app from F-Droid it will work as intended.
I agree with the sentiment, but wouldn’t necessarily recommend F-Droid, see https://privsec.dev/posts/android/f-droid-security-issues/
The signature and the random updates issues can be solved (partially) by using the izzyondroid repo. A lot of the applications on fdroid are on it. It compiles from sources, doesn’t change signatures, and fetch updates on a daily basis.
It doesn’t solve all the issues, but it can help
Indeed, as mentioned in the article.
“Oh no, an issue that will only affect an extremely narrow spread of people who would already be aware of it, therefore F-Droid bad”
If you’re that concerned about being surveilled, you already have bigger issues.
What? You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about. I recommend informing yourself before spewing nonsense.
So, all the family phones that are using this feature for handset backups. They’re just gonna stop backing up?
Thanks, Google. Thanks for protecting me from free software that scans files on my own phone and transmits it across my own network to my own server. Such a privacy nightmare. /s
Guessing they want you to use Google One, eh.
