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Is there still any hope for privacy phones? 2025 and beyond (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/privacy@lemmy.ml
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Google has been trying to make Android proprietary for a few years now, and that's not news, as many AOSP default apps have been abandoned over time in favor of proprietary Google ones. This was never a huge problem for me, as you can still use those apps without network access or use open source alternatives like Fossify on a custom ROM.

However, the situation is quickly getting worse, now that Google is actively trying to prevent the development of custom ROMs and taking a page from Apple's book by forcing developers to beg them for permission to release apps on the Android platform, even outside of the Play Store - giving Google full control.

Is there still any hope left for privacy respecting Android ROMs? What do you think will happen next? And what would be your suggestions for those looking for a phone in 2025?

If you have a different perspective on the situation, also please comment below!

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[–] 3 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Yes, FairPhone is currently somewhat bullied by the traditional companies. I don't think that /e/OS will have problems with Google, it's like also Linage OS, a fork of Android (FOSS) with the only difference that all refereences and APIs of Google are gutted and out of it's influence. It's a pure Android code as is and as such 100% compatible with all Android apps, but these don't depend on to be approved by Google like those for the normal stock Android.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    these don’t depend on to be approved by Google like those for the normal stock Android.

    Didn't Google recently require all app developers to register w them?

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago (1 child)

    In an FOSS which is free to use, to fork and modify for everyone? The only copyright that Google has over Android made, that the fork can't be called Android nor use it's logo, because this the forks are called /e(OS and LinageOS with different logos. Naturally Google has the right to select Android devs and those which develope apps for Google play, but this isn't aplicable to the mencioned and other forks, these are out of the reach of Google, except if they still contain certain APIs from Google or using apps from Google Play, not the case in the mencioned forks. It's like with Chromium, there are forks which simply patch their logo on it and those which use de-googled forks (Brave (?), Vivaldi, de-googled Chromium and also EDGE (with it's own tracking APIs from M$) )which are not phoning home to Google.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    absolutely ture in a purely foss environment; but we're talking about android phones whose manufacturers are locking down the bootloaders in lock step with google's efforts to lock down android.

    both lineageos and e/os/ are going to be difficult to maintain going forward without projects like murena making their own phones.

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