My main Android phone is now 99% Google free(simondalvai.org)
33 pointsby nosky7 hours ago4 comments
  • al_borland2 hours ago
    Using Android, when the goal is to be Google-free, always strikes me as an odd choice. Kind of like using Brave instead of Chrome.

    Ultimately, still using the Google developed and backed platform gives them more power and control over the market as a whole. If de-googling became mainstream, they would almost certainly fight back, as it undermines the entire business model behind developing these things and giving them away for free.

    • hamburgererroran hour ago
      So what do you propose? Buy an iPhone?
    • soulofmischiefan hour ago
      What other choices does a regular person have? Buying an iPhone just moves the target. Linux phones are not pervasive enough and typically come at a premium.
  • ggm7 hours ago
    Installing whatsapp was a "wtf" moment. Degoogle but leave meta in your life?

    I know that it's driven in other people's communications modalities.

    • TFNA4 hours ago
      WhatsApp has replaced the PSTN in many countries. Without it, you cannot contact businesses; they simply do not answer normal phone calls. Also, booking accommodation over the internet may require WhatsApp in order to receive self-check-in information, and if you manage to communicate to the accommodation that you don’t have WhatsApp, it may simply cancel your reservation unilaterally.
      • graemep3 hours ago
        Even where its not required, it can be a lot cheaper (e.g. for international calls) and has features (conference calls) not offered by consumer phones.

        Whatsapp's success has partly been driven by telecoms companies over-charging.

        • thisislife22 hours ago
          Telecoms financed and built the communication infrastructure which made the internet (and thus, WhatsApp) possible. WhatsApp is also further subsidised because you also pay for the internet to use it.
          • graemep2 hours ago
            I pay for an internet connection anyway. Even if I use a pay as you go mobile connection (on which the telco makes a profit) its still a lot cheaper to use Whatsapp than either SMS or voice calls.

            There is no subsidy, its telecoms companies making a ridiculously high margin (aimed by regulators in some countries) on some services.

    • hamburgererror4 hours ago
      Honestly I understand OP, I also run GrapheneOS but most of my social life happens on whatsapp and I know it's stupid but I can't change dozens of people's choice to install Signal, even though most of them know the issues with Meta.

      My hope is that one day or another whatsapp will enshittify so bad that people will be more prone to move to Signal in the same way that recently Windows got so bad that many users moved to Linux.

    • LoganDark3 hours ago
      I feel like going with LineageOS rather than GrapheneOS for WhatsApp would be a mistake since GrapheneOS has much stronger sandboxing.
  • graemep3 hours ago
    What about banking apps?
    • neobrainan hour ago
      This seems to be mainly brought up by people concerned they'd lose banking apps than people who actually have issues. It's rooted phones that often get blocked, whereas those that run LineageOS/microG without rooting are largely fine.

      Yes, there are certainly banks that block more aggressively, but if you look at e.g. iodéOS's forums most of them work fine: https://community.iode.tech/t/banking-finance-and-insurance-...

      Anecdotally, I've also seen a lot of stories of people reaching out to support about overblocking actually seeing success. Apparently there are often enterprise reasons for the block and it literally just needs a customer to complain for engineering to be able to act.

      • PenguinCoderan hour ago
        My primary banks apps, and websites, work fine on Graphene, with the exception of anything NFC payment related. I do miss that convenience, but I still have a debit card and cash as needed.
    • greenchair3 hours ago
      use a bank that provides a website?
      • TFNA2 hours ago
        To expand on what the posters mentioned: HN is an international community, and the USA is an outlier in having an ample choice of banks. Many countries only have 3–5 usable banks, and all of them require a phone app for 2FA authentication in order to log into their website. Moreover, it happens that banks remove certain functionality from their websites, so it can only be done through the app.

        And beyond that, in some countries the strong authentication for logging into government services has been implemented through banks, and so one cannot visit one’s local tax-authority or healthcare portal without a phone that runs the bank app.

        • graemep2 hours ago
          Even in countries where you have a wide choice of banks (the UK, for example) more and more banks are pushing people to use mobile apps. We have the problem of the government and other businesses and organisations pushing people to use apps.

          One example is my local bus company only selling certain tickets (monthly ones, for example) on the app. If you do not want to use an app you pay per trip which can be a LOT more expensive (several times as much for a daily commute).

      • zinekeller2 hours ago
        Lots of HN readers located in countries outside of the US would find your answer infeasible (even the bank website requires their app for authentication, and this is the case for every bank).
      • microgpt2 hours ago
        website says to authenticate with app, now what?
  • nubinetwork4 hours ago
    Cool story bro