Android
The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!
Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.
🔗Universal Link: [email protected]
💡Content Philosophy:
Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.
Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: [email protected]
For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: [email protected]
📰Our communities below
Rules
-
Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
-
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to [email protected].
-
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to [email protected].
-
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
-
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
-
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
-
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
-
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
-
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
-
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
Quick Links
Our Communities
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
- [email protected]
Lemmy App List
Chat and More
view the rest of the comments
Whatsapp
Interesting ty!
So before you can message anyone you have to download whatsapp? iMessage is preinstalled and is also e2e encrypted. Idk if I'd rather Facebook or Apple (who can access iCloud backups of normally otherwise encrypted data, etc.) in charge of my messaging infrastructure, honestly.
Americans with Android are left to use literal SMS which is atrocious, or a different messaging solution, probably whatsapp I guess
edit: I don't like iMessage or the current state of messaging in the US. I feel like all the default messaging apps should be able to communicate e2e encrypted via some shared standard or something-- it's weird to have to go third party
Yes, most people in western Europe use Whatsapp. Yes, they have to download it before they can use it. Maybe some phones have it preinstalled, but most smartphone users do know how to download apps. More tech-savvy and privacy-conscious people often have Signal as well.
Americans with Android are stuck using SMS half the time because Americans with iPhones are literally holding us back. If it wasn't for iMessage, we would have ditched SMS years ago, but when you suggest to an iPhone user that they use something other than iMessage their head explodes, apparently.
Android users aren't in such a tiny minority over there. Even by pure chance, there should be a decent number of Android users initiating events but since even they are so obsessed with iMessage, they don't even try to use something else.
Yep, Android makes up around 40-45% of the mobile OS in America, depending on what site and when you look.
Yes and almost everyone around the world outside China and the USA does that. WhatsApp has 2 billion users.
whatsapp is e2e encrypted
So they say.
So say the Signal people: https://signal.org/blog/there-is-no-whatsapp-backdoor/
Encrypted during transfer, yes, but still decrypted in the apps
Of course. No app could ever display anything if the content isn't decrypted by the app, duh.
In the congress hearing zucky boy did, he was asked whether Facebook could read Messenger and WhatsApp messages
his response was to more or less trip over himself avowing that Facebook couldn't read WhatsApp messages—even when a follow up question specifically asked him about Messenger, he chose to ignore it and reaffirm that WhatsApp messages were private
i don't really see why he would've done that unless WhatsApp actually was encrypted, given that if he were lying about one it would be a lot easier to just lie about both
Even FB Messenger: https://signal.org/blog/facebook-messenger/
It was optional for ages and recently read about it becoming the default.
i did say it was "also" e2e encrypted
The whole point is: it isn't more often than not. And unlike Whatsapp, you can't even install it.
But since the context here is Europe: Android is used by the majority.
Even if it wasn't, technological illiteracy cannot justify imposing a vendor lock-in upon the others. Installing an independent messenger like Signal is not rocket science.
Not every phone is an iPhone though.
In Europe they're a loud minority.
Most phones aren't iPhones actually.
Did we just go full circle and start bitching about apps not being preinstalled?
Android users get to use the default messages app, with the whole e2e encryption, reactions, full sized photos etc... SMS is used for advertisements, and sending messages to iphone users... SMS is only used by old people for 2fa as 2fa apps usualy have superior security and are now systematically prefered by companies.
Both iphone users and android users need to download an extra app if they want E2E, full graphic images and videos, reactions etc...
Just as people aren't content with iWork and usually download Office because it works the same and can be read with the same formatting everywhere.
I love how this seems like a near insurmountable hurdle. Install an app?? On a phone?!
I have a relative who is ~85 years old; he uses WhatsApp. It's really not that hard.
It was just a question - I'm not remotely saying what you are
It must be so difficult to spend 2 whole seconds downloading an app to use for messaging. and yes it's end to end encrypted too.
Not hard! Just unfamiliar that's all. Seems weird to me having just always used iMessage here in the states, which has awful interoperability with Android devices
How do the 87% FB Messenger users manage to do that? https://www.statista.com/chart/25030/popular-messaging-and-video-chat-apps-in-the-us/
the Android ios garbage, that's by design really terrible behaviour by Apple. it's not a technology limitation, it's on purpose to keep people using Apple.
WhatsApp became the dominant messaging platform in Europe before Facebook bought them. Most people are locked in to it because change is hard and they don't care that much about privacy.
WhatsApp uses Signal's encryption and according to https://signal.org/blog/there-is-no-whatsapp-backdoor/ has no backdoor.
The privacy concerns are not that Meta will read your messages (because they can't, as you mention), but the metadata they can read such as your details and who you contact.
https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/blog/a-cheat-sheet-for-whatsapp-privacy/
Every provider of communication services can. Singling out WhatsApp in that regard makes no sense. Apple happily hands over metadata and iCloud backups to the FBI.
Signal does not, since they use Sealed Sender.
So Signal's corporate customers (like Meta with WhatsApp) do the same then?
Can you clarify what you mean? Signal is a non-profit, not a traditional for-profit business, so not sure what you mean by "corporate customers."
That's a very common thing that non-profits and for-profits operate under one umbrella. For example Mozilla Foundation is a non-profit as well but own a for-profit subsidiary Mozilla Corporation.
Through its CLA Signal sublicense all contributions: https://signal.org/cla/
Signal works with Meta, Google, and Microsoft (and probably others) to integrate the Signal libraries and protocols under propritary licenses:
Everything was announced and is documented on Signal's own website.
WhatsApp is also E2E and backup can also be encrypted (Atleast on Android).
I just hope we can Interoperability b/w Signal and WhatsApp.