this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2026
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[–] aesthelete@lemmy.world 101 points 22 hours ago (7 children)

please just make an android alternative

I want a phone that isn't a closed ecosystem race to the bottom shit phone

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 5 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

The issue is the hardware, we already have software

[–] quick_snail@feddit.nl 2 points 3 hours ago

We already have the hardware too

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 39 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (4 children)

All of the alternatives eventually run into the same "Will my banking app work on it?" problem. The absence of a healthy app economy is the one thing that can't be fixed by throwing software engineers at it, and it is what caused the death of Windows Phone.

[–] vrighter@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 15 hours ago

my banking app already doesn't work on my phone, because it doesn't like termux:x11 and an autoclicker i have installed for an idle game

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 14 hours ago

Right. It wasn’t the zune guy, limited adoption, Microserfs killing the platform after 7 years or a general lack of interest, a climate of distrust after 10 years of garbage operating systems with new logos and the same Windows NT internals…

[–] Shumina@lemmus.org 6 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

God I fucking LOVED my windows phone. Nokia body, windows OS, and no one fucked with making viruses because eleventeen people bought one in total.

[–] xelar@lemmy.ml 1 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Lumias before Microsoft' acquisition were adorable phones.

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 14 hours ago

🤣 Man… that phone from The Saint with the slide out full sized keyboard though. Peek Nokia.

[–] anon_8675309@lemmy.world 7 points 19 hours ago (2 children)

They should work in a browser no?

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Many banks require apps for 2FA. This varies greatly by country.

[–] cactus_head@programming.dev 1 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

There are open source 2FA. They require like specific apps OTP or something else?

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 3 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

You have to use the bank's own app to 2FA.

[–] Aceofspades@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago

So you can use the website in your browser but still have the have their app installed for 2fa? That's peak bullshit there.

Google reCaptcha is going to have a similar requirement for accesing half the bloody internet once that goes through. In summary, I think we are fucked.

[–] PabloSexcrowbar@piefed.social 8 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

Not for things like check deposits, unfortunately

[–] Andres4NY@social.ridetrans.it 6 points 14 hours ago

@PabloSexcrowbar @anon_8675309 When my bank _doesn't_ allow check deposits via website, I will switch banks. Ain't installing a stupid app for a _bank_ of all things, and why would I bank from a device that I could accidentally lose at the grocery store?

[–] homik@slrpnk.net 0 points 8 hours ago

Well, that's fine since it isn't 1982 anymore. Right?

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 53 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

There are, but the market is rigged by monopolists. And things like banks increasingly require apps that won't even run on customer Android ROMs easily.

The regulators are needed here.

[–] lemmysmash@piefed.social 19 points 17 hours ago (2 children)

The problem with regulators is that they a) gladly suck corporate dicks, b) gladly opt-in for the same authoritarian methods of population control, and c) gladly ignore common sense altogether.

[–] karlhungus@lemmy.ca 10 points 16 hours ago

"a" has a name: regulatory capture.

Regulators have in the past fulfilled their role, they've just been hamstrung.

[–] jabjoe@feddit.uk 2 points 11 hours ago

That is also because we let the companies get too big. We need to break them up. The market is completely dysfunctional. It is feudalism right now.

[–] atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone 20 points 19 hours ago (1 children)
[–] Aceofspades@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago

I feel like that won't be enough. Google is working on locking down the entire internet unless you can pass their reCaptcha with a verified device. See this article related to GrapheneOS and their reCaptcha concerns.

Sites need to stop using reCaptcha or we are all doomed anyway.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 7 points 20 hours ago (3 children)

I'm pretty sure that custom roms will remove that 24hr wait period from their binaries. Android is still open source and removing a check isn't going to be very hard for them.

The tech ecosystem is as open as you can. Use linux. Use SearxNG. Use graphene or other custom roms. There's options out there, you just have to start adopting them instead of just complaining online about having no choice.

[–] Aceofspades@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 hours ago

Google reCaptcha enters the chat.

This whole APK dicussion is important, but Google is taking steps to lock down the bloody internet if you aren't on a verified iOS or Android device. This will be far reaching going way beyond the APK changes.

related article

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 2 points 10 hours ago (2 children)

Not everybody has a choice. I'm currently on grapheneos, but it looks like I may be forced back to android due to national ID requirements.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

If your country forces you on a locked down OS for ID requirements, something is wrong entirely. You should absolutely make some noise against that and urge them to allow custom OS. That's a political issue, not a technical.

[–] AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

It's not going to go anywhere in my country, unfortunately. Not even a blip on the radar.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago

Shit country tbh. You might be able to get a cheap stock android device for your ID and your "actual" device keeps living the good life on a custom rom. Idk how feasible that is for your lifestyle tho.

[–] AlteredEgo@lemmy.ml 3 points 10 hours ago

I guess one solution to that is to have a second used or ultra low cost phone just for your personal ID and banking stuff. But then it's no longer really mobile lol.

[–] garbage_world@lemmy.world 12 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

AOSP is open source, android isn't

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I might have misunderstood that all those years, but custom roms like graphene or lineage all use the AOSP source to build "their" stuff on top. Android itself is all the proprietary shit google adds and probably bunch of proprietary firmware drivers, which isn't relevant in the slightest if you switch to a supported device.

[–] garbage_world@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Not quite, but I would accept that.

AOSP is an open source OS based on a Linux kernel. Importantly, it is not a linux distro. GrapheneOS and LineageOS are downstream, open source derivatives of AOSP. Android is the same, but is proprietary.

Android isn't just what is added on top of AOSP, just like Ubuntu isn't just things added on top of Debian, but a complete OS.

Hope that helps

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yeah, that's roughly what I thought, in which case switching to graphene (or any other custom rom) would completely "release" you from the proprietary grasp of google and their genius ideas. Because even if they add this 24hr lockdown in the AOSP-Project, graphene could rather easiely revert that change in their fork.

[–] garbage_world@lemmy.world 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Yes. Most of those AOSP forks still use elements of android (google play services) for compatibility reasons.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Graphene doesn't, they got their own sandboxed google play services compatibility layer. Other OS - no idea tbh.

[–] garbage_world@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

It's actually the opposite. GOS GPS are real GPS, most other AOSP distros use MicroG, which is reimplementation of GPS.

[–] realitaetsverlust@piefed.zip 1 points 2 hours ago

It's real GPS, but within a sandbox without additional permissions. https://grapheneos.org/usage#sandboxed-google-play

[–] ripcord@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

OK but that is about a 10000x bigger project

[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 14 hours ago

Rejoice. As an Android owner, you have options of And-nodroid 😉