Shit like this is why I run lineage OS and there's a very good chance that my next phone is going to be running post-market OS and not Android at all.

Yes but they didn't say they installed GrapheneOS on their tablet, just their phone.

Is this a good solution doing what you describe? I might need to try it on my wife's Pixel 9 w/stock OS.

https://github.com/slopgirl/android-safety-stubs

Thank you for clarifying!

It's not to make you safe. It is to Co troll what you download. As a side effect, you also are restricted to install cracked apps e.g. Revanced apps.

Nobody cared about viruses and nobody will. They just state so for normies to believe and agree.

Oh trust me buddy I know.

Probably the same ways cars are mobile computers with no access for the owner.

I use aurora store but also fdroid, and I sometimes download for github I haven't stopped auto updates for GrapheneOS tho

If you are going this far why not Graphene or CalyxOS? Genuine interest...

Because I have access to neither on my Xiaomi phone. I do have access to other custom ROMs though but unlocking the bootloader will wipe my data. As soon as I'm ready, I'm considering LineageOS or any of the other available ROMs.

Google would rather block potential competition than attempt to fix their own product.

• The Playstore is inundated with fake reviews and paid for discoveribility, pushing awful predatory apps to the top.
• Many (I assume, it was several from my small collection) niche clean apps left the play store after increased requirements proved not worth the hassle for the small Devs.
• Lots of people report issues with Google Play cards.
• Lots of people report being billed for things that they did not consent to.
• Google Play support appears to be useless.
• https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.gplaynews.com

So the Playstore sucks and it burns too many of their potential customers, resulting in churn instead of retention. Consequently it has seen very little growth since Covid: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/google-play-statistics/ . The potential for growth was there though, as can be seen with the apple app store: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/apple-app-store-statistics/

And as a cherry on top, Google has recently started billing cc chargeback fees to developers. I don't know a single other large digital shop platform that does this. More costs and more administration for Devs, which will make the Playstore even less attractive for hobby Devs with a niche passion project.

I have not used this particular repo but from what I read, it does what it should be doing, replace the real hidden apps with placeholder stubs that have version 2000000 or something to that effect. You should be good with this one. Make sure to read all of the readme carefully, particularly the uninstall methods.

Ooooh cake ☺️☺️

Have a wonderful day/night! ❤️

indeed , it's becoming Apple.

Google has declared that they intend to stop making a useful mobile operating system.

I think a de-googled android would be good. Android at its core (Android Open Source Project) is actually a good project from a user-experience point of view. the app navigation and all that makes a whole lot of sense. We'd lose that if we switch to pure linux.

just google has to be entirely removed from the operating system.