Exactly, it's not only about fighting Google, it's also about setting a better, more open standard for the rest of the market.

Recently my bank has rolled out a new mobile app now relying on Google wallet for NFC payment. I was able to use NFC payment on GrapheneOS on the old app, I can't on the new one. The online banking stuff still works (for now) but no more mobile payment for me. I didn't sign a fucking contract with Google, why would I hand over my payment data to them !

Yep, my own government (UK), have rolled out a digital ID app that only works with Play Services intact, so I had to jump through hoops to prove my ID so I could renew my driving licence. It's bullshit.

alot of countries have fully bought into the surveillance thing, UK is planning to give NHS full acces to its patient database to PALANTIR.

Yup, unless we decouple the incentives behind these all our systems and products the end result will always be: Hey Everyone, meet the new boss! Same as the old boss!

I've done this ever since banking/financial apps became the norm. Something about carrying a small easily lost/stolen device containing access to every penny I own as well as possible credit/loans worth several years salary didn't seem like good finsec. If it can touch money, its on my sim-less stock old android that lives in a Faraday bag for 99% of the year.

Works, but if we think about it, it's just a win for big tech, because we're using their oppressive system and even buying an additional phone

was looking at phone options recently and, honestly, fairphone has become the only choice as a daily driver. I am now absolutely fine with the limited fairphone specs as a trade-off for a device I control as my own.

will keep older phones for any corp BS that I am forced to deal with. hopefully we can legislatively minimize the interactions.

GrapheneOS is great, and it's what I currently use, but it is ultimately a hardened Android fork. One downside of that is it is completely reliant on manufacturer updates to continue to support a phone. Once a manufacturer drops support, the Graphene team must also drop support, as they are reliant on the closed source GPU/hardware drivers that are tied to specific android kernel versions.

PostmarketOS is not based on Android whatsoever, it's a Mobile focused Linux distro using the mainline Linux kernel. It uses open-source drivers for the GPU and hardware which can be maintained and supported for decades, and is completely independent of Google's influence. However, it's still currently rough enough around the edges that it isn't ready as a daily driver, which is why it'd be so helpful for us to donate to it so they can hire more developers to polish it up, as they recently did to improve the audio support of Qualcomm devices.

Graphene is Pixel only and aims for privacy and security.

PMOS aims to bring Linux to the maximum amount of devices (phones, Chromebooks, tablets, QEMU) to give them a life beyond the manufacturer's support.

I would compare PMOS to LineageOS over Graphene.

It's still ultimately downstream of Google code, though

Technically you cannot since they basically develop Android.

Unfortunately, Sailfish OS uses a proprietary (closed source) android compatibility layer, as well as a closed source UI.

For the parts they have open-sourced, they implemented a CLA that contributors must sign. It's the HA-CLA-I-ANY license, which specifically allows them a perpetual Copyright and Patent license, and permission to re-license your code contributions to a more restrictive license which enables them sell or package it into a closed-source proprietary app.

Personally I'm be more comfortable supporting the development of PostmarketOS instead, since it is completely open-source with no CLA, meaning no chance of any rug-pulling in the future.

In a true Capitalist society a competitor would be fighting for same sales. What we see is lobbying of government to favour one monopolistic company.

Same thing if it’s benefitting them

When it isn’t different story

The issue is that a lot of everyday services depends on Google.

If your bank decides it integrates with Google Play Services, well fuck you, your degoogled device won't work anymore and you'll have to switch banks or forego using your device for banking.

Every corpo is pushing hard to interwind themselves with your day to day so that they become the gatekeepers of your life and rent seek.

It's easy for us to find an alternative because we are tech litterate, but not everyone has the knowledge to do so and it is increasingly hard to do so.

You can stop giving Evil Inc your hard earned money

More privacy

I'm still waiting for a mobile phone manufacturer to support a free OS. Until then I'll stick to degoogled android.

Ironically, the "weirder" option is more convenient in most cases. NewPipe sometimes breaks when there are API changes or some bs, and vids with age restrictions don't work at all so I would need to look for another vid with the same content (or use a browser sadly)

I think spreading awareness about privacy would be the first step to move people into decentralized platforms

Getting more open hardware though requires more efforts unfortunately

But for real, I think GrapheneOS could take this stand if they've got the balls.

then give up your freedom for the features you are used to, but don't complain later.

see my other comment for an answer.