this post was submitted on 16 Apr 2025

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397

Japan Orders Google to Stop Forcing Search and Browser on Android Phones (sammyguru.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 46 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Firefox all the way, supports many important extensions like ublock origin.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 week ago

YouTube has been glitching a lot on it these days though, I feel a bit of antitrust is afoot.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Firefox is going downhill, too, unfortunately. They are still better than Google, but I don't know for how long :(

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 week ago

Nice. I think now since like 2003 IE, is the most interested people may be in using something besides the current most popular option

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 week ago

Good news. Hopefully it comes to the USA too.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago

Are they doing the same for iPhone?

[+] [email protected] -23 points 1 week ago (3 children)

realistically, it's not like they will replace them with anything else. Chrome just doesn't have any actual competitors on android yet. Every promising alternative is more or less just a webview wrapper. Maybe one day we might see servo based browser for android take off. It does actually perform quite well on android for what it is currently.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 1 week ago (2 children)

i'm using firefox mobile, because it's essentially the only browser being able to run ublock

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

Fennec here (Firefox with less telemetry, and not enabled by default)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

Personally I use cromite since it integrated ABP with ublock filters so it is fine. If you do want a chromium based browser there are multiple out there. I know a good chunk of people uses misses browser, which while it does look scammy on the webpage, it is open source.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

There are quite a few full, non webview wrapper browsers on android.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 week ago

Are there any of them that are actually any decent however? Firefox mobile is fairly slow and a battery hog compared to chromium based browsers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I've used firefox on android for years now. The only time I do anything in Chrome is when I need to translate pages easily (Japanese translation only recently hit desktop version and it's very poor quality and google lens is inconvenient).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

I use fennec fdroid quite often, and a myriad of firefox forks like iceraven. But chromium based browsers are undoubtably the better experience for me, they kill my battery far less, they perform better, and have less bugs, especially when you go to utilize things like desktop mode, and ofc you also inherit many of the same issues that desktop browser has like not being able to properly render gradients https://degmods.com/ is an example of one such website.

and while many people may not care about features like webusb, firefox does lack said features too. This all makes it a very hard sell to replace chrome with firefox.

[+] [email protected] -26 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It's not forced, though? I have never had an issue opening Google Play and installing Firefox (and then uBlock Origin). If users are too stupid/lazy to change defaults that's on them. Hell, it couod be worse - it could be like Microsoft where they shove Edge and "news & interests" which are chock full of editorialized ragebait headlines, each one that includes it's own special comments injection that all just help trick stupid people into voting right-wing.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If users are too stupid/lazy to change defaults that’s on them.

Nothing of what's written about in the article is "on the user".

Japan’s antitrust watchdog has ordered Google to stop pressuring smartphone makers to promote its apps like Google Search and Chrome. (...) The recent order issued on Tuesday follows an investigation that began in October 2023. The JFTC found that Google required at least six Android phone makers to preinstall its search engine and Chrome browser, and show them on the home screen. These conditions were tied to licensing the Google Play Store, which is essential for selling Android phones in Japan. According to Nikkei Asia, around 80% of Android phones sold in Japan were affected.
Japan also said Google offered ad revenue-sharing deals to some manufacturers and telecom operators. In return, these companies agreed not to preinstall rival apps or search services. This, the watchdog said, reduced competition and limited user choice.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I still don't see the big deal, takes seconds to drag them into the bin and move on. There are far bigger problems that they should be going after - irreplaceable batteries, locked bootloader, lack of root access on a device you own would be three of the biggest ones.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I still don’t see the big deal, takes seconds to drag them into the bin and move on.

When you recall that, as a person who knows what a browser is, you'll likely be in the global minority, you'll realize it's a tremendous deal.
And don't even pretend that running an Android phone without a GooglePlay store is easy :P

There are far bigger problems that they should be going after - irreplaceable batteries, locked bootloader, lack of root access on a device you own would be three of the biggest ones.

You will find that all those issues, in the end, come down to the same anti-trust problem - single companies being allowed too much control and too much vertical integration. Regulating small issues away piecemeal is pointless when the question "Why should a single entity even be allowed to, at the same time, control OS development, browser development, package management gatekeeping and thousands of other different things?" looms in the background.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

When you recall that, as a person who knows what a browser is, you'll likely be in the global minority, you'll realize it's a tremendous deal.
And don't even pretend that running an Android phone without a GooglePlay store is easy

A big part of the problem is this constant catering to the dumbest users. I really wish companies would fucking stop that bullshit. Force people to get smart instead of dumbing down software to the point that it doesn't do much if anything.

It's intentional enshitification under the guise of "UsEr FrIeNdLiNeSs" and it's been a trend for at least 25 years now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

You actually can't force feed people. It's very simple to throw up and eat something else.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Have you ever watched all the stupid crapware Google pushes on setup? They force-install 12-20 garbage apps that you then have to go delete. Even then, a user can't delete Chrome, they can only "disable" it - which Google can reactivate whenever they choose. (Although, one could also argue since they can arbitrarily push apps onto phones, does it matter? Like when they pushed "Android System SafetyCore" without consent.)

Google is malware at this point. Not that Apple is any better. Smartphones have all just become this terrible thing at this point, where you're just renting a pile of software that you get to use in exchange for the company harvesting everything you do, and they change the terms whenever they want, without your consent.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

I would certainly argue that there is a problem with non-critical apps being labeled as "system apps" and being undeleteable. This was only made worse by dropping SD support.

That said, I am still mostly able to use my pocket computer as a pocket computer, which is far more than I can say about the state of iOS, and just whining about Chrome and Google being packed in is such a non-issue when they are replaceable.

I would much rather see a fight that pushes to force unlocked bootloaders, the ability to delete any apps, a way to get end users root access, etc. There's no reason why a phone shouldn't be seen the same as a computer.