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[–] 198 points 1 year ago (19 children)

We really really need an open OS for mobile phones that is actually competitive with commercial offerings.

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  • [–] 132 points 1 year ago (13 children)

    I don't think the OS is the problem - it's that some of the critical service/apps people rely on (government ID, banking) only exist for the closed systems. Third party OS's try to "solve" it through various container approaches running the official apps, but since they see that as a security problem it's not something you can fully trust to be working at all times.

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  • [–] 51 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    That's the only reason I'm still on android. If I install a different OS I won't be able to login to do anything government related. I won't even be able to pay with my credit card online. I could get a physical code device from the government, but I'm not gonna lie, I really like the ease of access of having an app for that stuff, instead of a seperate device I have to have on me at all times.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago*

    I will probably have to go the route of two phones soon. One for my stuff and communicating with friends and family, and one (maybe one of the cheaper iphones?) for all the "required" apps.

    Funny enough, you tend to see quite some people in China do this. I wonder why.

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  • [–] 26 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    All those "apps" are websites. You could say NFC is special, but so is gps.

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  • [–] 41 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Exactly. Locking basic services behind apps should be illegal. Services must be accessible to everyone.

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  • [–] 16 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    same goes for the weather app ...

    (context: some years ago they locked the publicly-funded german weather service's API, so common people can't access it anymore. you need to use a spam-ridden app to access it now.)

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    At the very least you can still pay a small one-time fee for the DWD WarnWetter app (or enter a code for firefighters).

    Best 3€ I've ever spent purely out of spite, even if the reason behind it is complete BS.

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  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    I think they're both pretty big problems. An open OS and hardware that supports it seems to be a huge hurdle, but at least there is a clear vision of how to solve it. The problem you bring up though... It seems like we've almost gone too far at this point and it's gonna be really hard to put the cat back in the bag. It seems like something we need to solve with legislation potentially?

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    The people writing the legislation are the same people who don't see a problem with a government-furnished app using Play Integrity

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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago*

    Yes there is a general ignorance to this problem among law makers, in my country at least, as well as a bit of regulatory capture with respect to tech in general. The boogie man of "security" is also a very persuasive concept for a lot of people. This is not a problem that will be solved easily.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    This. Alternative OS exist: Ubuntu Touch, postmarketOS, SailfishOS, just to name a few.

    What is missing are the apps people want. And those include mostly commercial apps, where the developers need to weigh dev hours vs profits, and decide to only target the big two for obvious reasons. That is the key problem.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago (4 children)

    Doesn’t android allow this?

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  • [–] 25 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    That's what the OP is referring to: Google just announced they will do their best to kill off sideloading.

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