I mostly use apps installed from F-Droid, so I’m not sure how I’ll use the phone, except that it’s sometimes required as a contact method.
I only use app from f-droid on lineage and I don’t have a google account anymore, if that stops being an option I guess I’ll use an old dumb phone and fuck all.
I mean, unless there’s some alternative that banking apps and such will work on there really isn’t much you can do right?
Jolla has a Linux OS that supports Android apps. Works for Swedish banking apps, at least.
Can’t you use a browser for banking? That’s what I do.
Or really, I just do my banking on the laptop.
Maybe you can use credit cards for everything but here it would be expected to be able to, at worst, pay with a direct transfer, and you’d need a banking app for that.
What is the problem with SEPA? It just works.
I’m not in Europe?
Really? You can do that in a web browser here, and never been in a situation where I need to make a bank transfer immediately. Only something like paying an invoice which you usually have weeks to pay.
I use hardware TAN generators and browsers. The cards support NFC payments. My banking apps run fine on Lineage OS and GrapheneOS.
I’ll go back to Ubuntu Touch. I used it a year ago and it wasn’t completely compatible with Fairphone. Now it is.
If we can, donate to the devs. Let’s supercharge the evolution / revolution.
OniroOS hopefully will be out by then. If not then PostMarketOS. Harmony OS is rumoured to be launching globally in 2026 but I doubt.
My old Nokia is still in a drawer, I think with somewhat charge in it. Enough for what I use a phone.
get a flip phone
Leaving android
For what in partricular?
A pine phone which is otw now
Solid option
It’s a bit dated but it has an open bootloader which is what I mainly want.
Yeah, not the most impressive hardware, but it is what we have
A slow Linux phone is still better than a pedospyphone.
How likely is that this will happen, unchallenged?
I’ve honestly just been hoping it never happens, because I don’t actually have a plan to deal with it if it does…
I read this from Fdroid (https://f-droid.org/en/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html) and I also looked at the Google announcement here (https://android-developers.googleblog.com/2025/08/elevating-android-security.html?m=1)
Things are still murky to me. Google said the following:
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. We believe this is how an open system should work—by preserving choice while enhancing security for everyone. Android continues to show that with the right design and security principles, open and secure can go hand in hand. For more details on the specific requirements, visit our website. We’ll share more information in the coming months.
Is the problem then that developers have to register? I see the downsides to this, but does it actually block side loading and using F-droid?
How likely is that this will happen, unchallenged?
Seems very likely.
Is the problem then that developers have to register?
Yes, the problem is that the developer has to register with Google, and Google has to approve them. It only “blocks” sideloading if the developer has not registered with Google, which all of them I have seen, have already stated they won’t be doing this. It also gives Google the authority to block any apps they don’t like, such as the ones seen recently being taken down from Apple/Google stores. As well as any ad-blocking apps or syncing apps like they’ve done in the past. In short, it gives them complete control of the entire platform, and the associate revenue from it.
brute force it with root
you literally cannot prevent root from doing anything.
What happens wen they prevent rꝏting tho ? Samsung already doing it
they can’t prevent it so far. samsungs will just go back to needing root exploits like everyone else before them.
add to the fact they refuse to keep security updating phones for too long.
Use my phone less.
I can’t think of a single app I use that doesn’t have a desktop/web version.
Camera
You don’t need any apps for that, you can just use a normal camera.
Nothing.
My daily driver is an iPhone. We’ve always had the problem of limiting sideloading (to be nonexistent for most people) and it’s never been a problem for me.
I also have a Galaxy S10, but all my apps on that come from the Play Store.
This won’t affect 99% of users, just like it doesn’t on iPhone.
I just hope now that they’re taking sideloading, and they’ve already taken memory card slots, headphone jacks… and they’re still taking a cut off the back end by selling your personal information… maybe the cost will come down. But I doubt it. Android makes sense when it’s cheaper than iPhone. I mean, iPhone makes sense to be expensive. It’s a pocket Mac, it’s made by a computer company. Sure, they have telemetry but it’s not an ad company like Google. So for a phone that’s less powerful and still has the same restrictions, and I’m paying with my personal data? I expect the phones to be cheaper. They really should be cheaper.
But I’m gonna let you in on a secret. Smartphone performance plateaued a long time ago. All these new phones are kind of a scam. Okay, so the Pixel 10 has the benchmark performance of an iPhone 11. The Galaxy S25 is like 40% faster than the iPhone 16 Pro until it hits load (like the top 1% of games, maybe) then the iPhone is like 10% faster… Who Cares? My 2019 Galaxy S10 is still a viable daily driver in 2025. So, I think I’m done chasing the latest model for a while. If Apple Health comes to iPad (I’m not sure if it’s there or not), I’d even consider replacing my Android phone with a newer phone next, like a gently used Galaxy S24 or S25 (I mean in a few years). These new phones talk about performance numbers, but for most people, they don’t really mean shit. Phones don’t slow down like they used to. They got a lot better and it wasn’t even that recently.
The thing is an iphone wont let me do anything. It’s useless. No custom connection to my server, no seperate maps, no music, no ssh, no RDP. No adblock, no firefox.
Iphones are kind of nice but you can’t do anything worthwhile with them.
Rename sideloading with installing and play store with baby mode
Slowly switch to Linux devices, or dumb phone, and learning to adapt happily living without some features, but also without control and censorship :)
Fight it as long as I can with my current fairly new phone. I assume that update by google would require an OS update, not a google play update. I might just not update my OS until I get a new phone.
If I’m lucky I won’t need to update for a few years and an awesome linux phone will be available. If not then some de-googled android phone.
I have on my old phone still a custom Android /e/OS. It’s a “deGoogled” variant of Android 12 on my S7 Edge. And if I ever buy a new phone again, it will be a direct Linux operating system (I know that Android technically uses Linux as its Kernel) or again an ungoogled custom Android. But as someone who doesn’t do much with the phone anymore, I probably won’t.
