I will be switching to Graphene OS🇨🇦 full time to keep my access to f-droid.

I think another good secure mobile os with arguably the best looking UI is Sailfish🇫🇮

Graphene for my Pixel 7 Pro, I guess. I have like 20 F-Droid apps. Google can fuck themselves. The masses won't even notice a difference, sadly.

Update

Okay, I've been doing research instead of just listening to the buzz on Lemmy. Nothing is meaningfully going to change. You are free to use Obtanium or F-Droid to install any app you want, and FOSS developers don't have to do a thing.

There's just a roadblock that's going to be introduced. You have to go through a little wizard that asks you if someone is pressuring you to enable side-loading, and then even when you say "yes, I want to move forward and enable side-loading", you have to wait 24 hours, one time, and never again. And that's only to install new apps. It's not going to affect any ones you already have installed.

https://developer.android.com/developer-verification/guides/faq#advanced-flow

The video linked in this FAQ was very clear and demos the process.

I can't believe the Lemmyverse let me believe that F-Droid and Obtanium were effectively going away for normal Android users, and that I must install something like GrapheneOS. 😑

I still might! Google can suck my asshole, but reinstalling a phone OS is a big deal. Not that it's hard or particularly error prone, but I have to reinstall everything, and set everything back up, because I'm not gonna buy a new phone to put Graphene on it, and then do the standard Android migration process. I would have to wipe my phone and redo everything. That's a chore that I probably won't do if nothing is meaningfully changing for me. I can deal with "the advanced flow".

I am not in a country that will be affected on that date, but my plan is to switch to PostmarketOS before the end of the year.

You have my respect!

Save up for a secondary phone I can "sideload" things on at my leisure, or barring that, seeing if Shizuku isn't retroactively blocked on my device

We need to pressure every tech reviewer to mention whether or not a phone model has an unlocked bootloader.

Yeah, I'm also planning to switch to PostmarketOS. I was running Ubuntu Touch when my carrier changed things to where my phone didn't work as a phone without VoLTE. Ubuntu Touch doesn't support VoLTE on my Pixel 3a so I reluctantly switched to stock.

It wasn't until after I switched to stock firmware that I found out that PostmarketOS has experimental support for VoLTE on my device. I'm hoping "experimental" is good enough for my purposes, but we'll see when I get around to doing it.

Lookup their official process for bypassing the lockdown, and do it. Then never buy a google-controlled device again.

Well, I am probably going to try setting up dual boot with Android first 😅

The only thing it might affect is my favorite f-droid music app. I'm leaning away from the Alphabet ecosystem for other uses though - Joplin instead of Keep for note-taking, Organic Maps instead of Gmaps for nav, local LibreOffice files instead of Workspace apps when online collab isn't critical.

Nobody has quite stepped up to compete with G Sheets. Even Excel online is a distant runner-up. Proton is working on challenging Alphabet's Drive/Docs/Sheets hegemony but right now it's painfully basic.

Was planning to just install lineage on my phone, but broke the screen recently and it was nearly 6 years old anyways so decided to get a Linux phone.

I've been using Lineage with no Google Play services for years, so unless the app developers decide to stop updating their apps, I'll be alright. But in the future, I fully intend to switch to post-market OS when I purchase my next phone.

Just enable the bypass now in preparation. Only took at second Google search:

Google provides a built-in "escape hatch" in the settings, though it is intentionally designed with significant friction to prevent social engineering attacks. [1] (https://keepandroidopen.org/), [2] (https://www.gadgets360.com/apps/features/how-to-bypass-android-24-hour-delay-and-install-third-party-apps-on-your-phone-11243027)

Unlock Developer Mode: Open your device Settings, go to About Phone, and tap Build Number 7 times.

Enable Unverified Packages: Go to Settings > System > Developer Options and scroll until you find Allow Unverified Packages.

Verify Intentions: Flip the toggle, confirm that you are not being coerced by a third party, and enter your device PIN or password.

Reboot: Restart your smartphone.

Wait out the Delay: You must wait exactly 24 hours. Google enforces this mandatory cooling-off period.

Finalize: After 24 hours have passed, return to the Unverified Packages menu to select either a temporary (7 days) or indefinite installation window.

Fyi mine was under "apps from unverified developers" in developer options.

Yup, also not only unlockable but relockable (some are only the former as I understand), relocking is important for the new image's security and may enable more apps to work.

Yes, someone tell the Swiss phone company Punkt that relocking secures the device.

Thank you. Truly insane they added all those steps to the process.

I have a fairphone so ill probably be fine. I expect an acceleration in phone open source tech soon.

I'm already rocking GrapheneOS on all of my devices except my work phone. I'm good.

Already on graphene

I have not been following Google News, what's happening with Android?

I am already very happy with e/os on my Fairphone 6!

I guess gotta protect those who don't understand tech or something. At least there's a mildly inconvenient way to bypass it

I can't believe the Lemmyverse let me believe that F-Droid and Obtanium were effectively going away for normal Android users

I mean, that was Google's original plan, until the backlash led them to introduce this option for "advanced users"

I switched to GrapheneOS soon after the Pixel 8 came out, so ~2.5 years ago. DeGoogled last year. DeAmerican'd as much as possible this year.

I'm hoping Android getting locked down will motivate more people to work on Linux for mobile devices.

The idea is to make it so convoluted that normal users won't go through with this, if a friend tells them this is how to install an app that actually acts in the interest of the device owner. Either that, or it becomes so normal that most people will just do it without a thought, and then it fails to protect anyone from anything.

I like the cooldown as a protection, though. But given what else you can do with an unlocked phone without a cooldown, it seems overkill.

See: https://keepandroidopen.org/

TL;DR: it will get harder to distribute android apps to the majority of the users. You can still do whatever you want with your device, for now, if you go through all the new extra steps.

Mine was also named "Apps from unverified developers". However, I'm not sure it actually got applied when I did it just now. Pressing on that quickly flashed something on the screen, but it disappeared before I could see what it was. I didn't get to flip a toggle nor enter the PIN. Pressing "Apps from unverified developers" again doesn't do anything now (not even the quick flash from the first time).

Appreciate any help!

EDIT: I restarted my phone just in case it did work, and checked again, the option is just gone. I'm unsure if this means something went wrong, or if it means it did work, and I'm currently in the 24 hour cooldown period.

I think we need to promote people carrying two phones, or a phone they just use for bank apps and a second category of device

I installed e/os/ on my Fairphone 6 and it is missing a lot of Android stuff that I use:

• NFC payments
• Android Auto integration
• The IKEA home app won't run

Okay, it's not that much. 😄

Still, I don't feel like I can ditch my Android phone.

My current plan is to see how the Mecha Comet fares, and maybe use it for most things, but keep an Android phone for things that require submission to the Tech Gods of the West.

Android Auto integration

https://doc.e.foundation/os/how-to/android-auto/

But I hate how many notifications Android Auto creates and how many Google apps you have to install to get it to work. I have it set up under separate user on Graphene OS not to pollute my main profile.

It makes you wait 24hr before you can confirm if you want it set permanently. You'll have to go back to that setting tomorrow to continue.

Ah yeah, I understood that part. It's just that this step never happened for me: "Verify Intentions: Flip the toggle, confirm that you are not being coerced by a third party, and enter your device PIN or password."

Yeah I'm thinking it might be better to buy a phone mount for my car instead. 😥

It must be stated: Google is malicious! The language used here and elsewhere conceals the fact that:
a) Google is a for-profit company with no morals (they work with militaries and surveillance-agencies to kill);
b) they operate in a monopolistic manner;
c) they're eroding control of your personal-property.

This is just another move by Google to consolidate control over the AOSP. It doesn't matter that this convoluted sequence can temporarily 'bypass' Google's wishes--in fact I would state this is clearly worse. Removing the ability to install non-Google-endorsed software on your own private-property could be illegal. This is perhaps the only thing they could do to prevent lawsuits, only they've made it so asininely convoluted that only 0.01% will actually complete the process that it should be illegal monopolistic behaviour. American courts have absolutely failed everyone by allowing this rampant malicious behaviour to be the norm in American-software.

Google's Android already created friction for installing software outside their ecosystem. There is no justification for this behaviour. It cannot be defended. Stop following their market-speak. This is belligerent and malicious behaviour!

To put a finer point on this: Google is charging a recurring fee to anyone who wants to distribute software to phones--Android-phones. If you have a need to distribute software to your organisation's mobile-computers you now need to pay a recurring fee to Google, or... jump on one foot, spin around, touch the ground and hope Google doesn't bully you further. Oh, and you have to do this dance personally for all 438 mobile-computers you manage. The absurdity of the situation is appalling! The fact you have users defending--and that is what these sort of responses are doing: defending one of the most profitable companies in existence--"oh, just do the dance now so it won't inconvenience you later".

The "escape hatch" is down that corridor, to the left, left, right, left, left, up, right & behind the book-case; take the stairs up, down five flights; depart at Washington D.C. and on arrival you'll see a button. Press it. It might not do anything.

--Google

google has no power over my phone, long time crdroid user (lineage fork)

I am on grapheneOS.

I'm on lineage for now. But android as a whole isn't safe anymore

NFC payments not working its a privacy feature in my opinion. No one is collecting or selling data about your shopping habits (except you bank ofc)

You can also set up a work profile on e/os and install android auto there

F-Droid and Obtanium are going away for normal android users.

It is deliberately difficult, and this whole thing is absolutely about Google making more money by tightening control of the ecosystem, not about security.

A nice summary from https://keepandroidopen.org/

Nine steps, 24-hour wait, buried in Developer Options, delivered through a proprietary service that Google can revoke whenever they want. That's not sideloading. That's a deterrence mechanism built to ensure almost nobody completes it. And since it runs through Play Services rather than the OS, Google can tighten or kill it silently

Going to have to try out postmarket soon, but want to find a job irl before then.

I wouldn't stop at "mildly"

Just had the same issue. Now I will have to try and remember to tap this fucking button again at 4am tomorrow...

No doubt it's a pain in the ass and it's not just a protective measure. But pretty much every company isn't doing stuff in the best interests of customers anymore (the bigger the company, the worse it is).

But I work with what I've got available at the moment.

I'd love for a free uncontrolled option to become available, but there's not really any good choices at the moment.

Mine, it was difficult to find in the list and didn't come up at all when searching the menu. But it was still there, I'm just waiting for the countdown to complete.
Maybe it got buried in the list? 🤷

Or, you know? Just use Shizuku with install with options. Aurora store and Droid-ify both support built in install options with Shizuku.

What I really want is my bank to support NFC payments on my phone. They see the details of my purchase anyway!

My bank used to do this, but migrated to Google Wallet, which sucks. I think that is the cheapest option for banks, so I would be surprised if any choose to roll their own.

Depending on the financial institution, that sort of app function would be outsourced to a third party anyhow. Payment networks are semi-separate from banks/financial institutions, and they're generally involved in digital wallets. And those payment networks are separate -- like how we recently saw the big banks sell Moneris, a payment network, off to US private equity. Or how Interac isn't a 'bank'. Even something like an ATM is a partnership between banks and payment networks -- you can see the payment networks ATMs are a part of on the decals on the ATM, which generally need to match the decals on your card. Those are the payment networks the banks semi-outsourced / partnered with for facilitating ATM activities. The bank buys/owns the ATM (typically), and then has an agreement in place with those networks in regards to payments / transactions, and a defined data exchange between those networks and the banks systems for settlements.

Migrations to google wallet are generally cheaper than getting that sort of feature with one of the older style payment networks, you're right about that. Cheaper by a fairly large margin.

One point I was making though, is that there are likely more companies 'seeing' the details of your purchase than you may realize. And many of those companies have significant ties to the USA, and are reliant on USA products/services. Even "local community credit unions" tend to use one of two networks, one of which has all its support coming out of the USA. Our government / regulators have made no movement to detangle any of that, and are, in fact, pushing more and more of your financial industry into offshoring services to the USA. Our government/Carney are all "Elbows up!" in the media, but "Pants Down!" in practice.