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It might just be time to kick that "smartphone" addiction and just use burner phones.
this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2025
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Privacy
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Custom ROM usage is gonna explode
Probably why Google is also taking steps to make custom ROM development significantly more difficult. They evidently want to kill off all Android ecosystems except the ones they control and watch.
For fucks sake, let's find out what Fairphone needs in the US to be used with other services and create a gofundme for them to get it. Goddamn I am beyond sick of Google's shit right now. It is constantly a nightmare to get around their bloatware and deal with the rest of the surveillance nightmare on a daily basis. Fairphone works on T Mobile but they suck!
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Apps that use dark patterns (aka almost everything in the play store) are more harmful than apps commonly flagged as malware.
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setting up walled garden using security excuse. What's the next excuse?
We all know the reason.
It's always the same nonsense. "Safety", "security", "privacy", etc.
They won't ever say for ma profits
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Wow thanks for posting this. I read the whole thing but what I'm not getting is the fact that their started concern is apks "side loaded". This is aimed directly at the foss community as normal people already won't I stall anything outside of the play store. No non tech enthusiasts go straight to git hub ...
To be clear, developers will have the same freedom to distribute their apps directly to users through sideloading or to use any app store they prefer.
They’re fucking with us
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html
iOS has had this same system for forever and nobody's ever (seriously) claimed you could sideload on there.
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I made fun of the Liberux Nexx before due to its outdated cpu being promoted as new but this is making me change my mind. Speed isn't worth the walled garden. I have concerns about the battery life but all it takes to remedy that is a powerbank. Banking apps might be a problem but if I find their websites wanting I can just use them on an old cheap android.
It is disappointing that the Liberux Nexx missed its fundraising goal and had to open a new one. And the new one is only 10% of the way there, with no prototype and delivery on next summer. That's cutting it very close with the timeline of these restrictions. https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/liberux-nexx--3#/
BTW, the Google ~~blog post~~ webpage has a link to a feedback form. Doubt it will do anything, but if you want an abyss to yell that's good as any: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfN3UQeNspQsZCO2ITkdzMxv81rJDEGGjO-UIDDY28Rz_GEVA/viewform
The fuck..
Sounds like another lawsuit waiting to happen
ELI5 if this will affect the use of F-Droid?
If you have the stock OS from the manufacturer, it will affect you. If you flash a custom ROM, it won't.
Edit: You can still use F-Droid regardless of which android you're running, but if you run stock you can only install the apps that have developers registered with google.
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Is sad that PinePhone are inaccesible in a lot of places. They dont send where I live because they use DHL (shitty service which charges 34 euros to send from the capital city to where I live because is "remote area" despite is the city in the airport and is nearer than the capital city) and the pricing was 1.5 times the price of the product so they cancelled the option (as well as they dont know the different custom that may exist in special zones in the same country).
This is why you use a proxy service. Also more secure against interdiction attacks.
Those proxy services usually do not target custom stores (Banango and Guanxe Prime).
Also, it leaves you unprotected if something is bad with the goods, as the return parcel ticket targets the initial destination.
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Think of it like an ID check at the airport, which confirms a traveler's identity but is separate from the security screening of their bags
😐
https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html
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Fuck you Google no one is gonna buy your bull shit anymore. Fork android!!!
fuck google and all, but yes they will. what other mainstream phone is any better? apple? give me a fucking break.
android without gapps will be a niche for the foreseeable future, and niches get ever easier to kill. with the play integrity thing and banking apps, i don't see linux phones getting real traction either as much as i'd like it to.
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Literally switched to graphene today. I was pissed how much "depended" on play store. Google really has positioned themselves perfectly up eveyones ass in a way you don't notice.
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Fairphone 6 looks quite interesting and has a Google-free option. People are saying it's a bit buggy but they're fixing the bugs rapidly. And two-day battery life sounds pretty good.
https://shop.fairphone.com/the-fairphone-gen-6-e-operating-system
I take anything at this point. Jfc. Google needs to fucking die already.
We've read that Apple was doing this for a while, but Google is joining in.
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