this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Android

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[–] TonyOstrich 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

And yet they still probably won't allow any third party app to have access to RCS via an API. FFS.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Wish the EU would start a lawsuit against them for that. It is blatantly anti-competitive and responsible for the death of so many messaging apps.

But I guess the EU is content with non-interoperable Whatsapp harvesting and gatekeeping the personal communication of almost every citizen. Even worse than Google Messages IMO.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

The EU doesn't use SMS or RCS. The anti gatekeeper legislation requires a minimal amount of users which RCS is never going to reach.

Also, if you don't trust RCS, I don't see why you'd trust Google or your carrier. Google is the only RCS provider with any decent uptake and they exist purely because of selling user data. Other RCS servers has been shutting down for years because nobody used their carriers' servers. And even if they did, the messages would be just as plaintext, unencrypted, and searchable on a whim by governments as RCS is now, because only Google's layer on top of RCS, containing all that delicious metadata in plaintext, is encrypted. Hell, RCS is in such an unmaintained state that Google is hosting RCS for carriers because they've actually bothered maintaining an RCS server all these years and almost nobody else has.

WhatsApp sucks but it's heaps better than RCS when it comes to privacy. And at least third parties can communicate over WhatsApp soon, whereas RCS is restricted to telcos.

[–] [email protected] 46 points 3 days ago
[–] [email protected] 32 points 3 days ago (4 children)

Glad I use GrapheneOS and don't use any Google apps or services anymore it's amazing how I no longer get spam calls and texts since the switch.

[–] AndrewZabar 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I de-google everything I can.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Same but I think it will soon not be enough. I still cant believe it's now so difficult to not be a google product, this is a digital nightmare built by decades of unregulated capitalism. Kiss my ass GAFAM.

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I mean, nothing is forcing anyone to use any specific product, and there are certainly smartphones with neither Android or iOS.

Personally, at some point I will switch from iPhone to an Android device that can work with something independent like /e/ or one of the other decent ones.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

De-googling is not enough, there must be nothing to de-Google from the start.

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

That’s one approach but far more limited than just using a Google-free Android build like Lineage.

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

I know, that's why I advocate for going Google free from the outset.

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

Well, it may be ideal, but that is not the same as absolutely necessary.

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

Different threat models have different necessities. I believe a regular user should avoid Google ( or rather all of GAFAMBATX) connections at all costs. I think everybody (me included, of course) is better off with a dumbphone than a Degoogled phone.

It's obvious we have different opinions, I respect your right to run any system as you want. I don't think I have any more to contribute to this topic.

[–] AndrewZabar 1 points 17 hours ago

Yeah I’m not really disagreeing with you it’s just I don’t run anything that’s as privacy-necessary as you. My actual phone is iPhone and all the Android stuff I experiment with are lab systems for tinkering, rom mod testing etc. If I had anything that was being used for any really private or sensitive data, hell yes I would use something completely detached from anything google.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Don't you have issues with banking apps then? It's the one thing holding me back from switching, but I haven't really done a deep dive in it.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

No my bank app doesn't even use Google Play in anyway depends on the bank.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

Its a common misconception that banking apps don't work on grapheneOS.

In some cases there is a feature call "expliot protection compatibility mode" that you have to enable, but the OS does it automatically for most banking apps.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 days ago

I wish I had a Pixel.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Sounds like a potential security hole. Hopefully there will be a way to fully disable it in the OS.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Certainly would make hijacking other apps more easy if you could access the API.

[–] woelkchen 15 points 3 days ago

So it will finally be able to do what "OK Google" should have been able to do from the beginning?

[–] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

Not on my devices... Eff that

[–] [email protected] 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Might be an unpopular opinion but, this sounds really exciting to me. I hate fidgeting with my phone and always have been super interested in a true AI type assistant type thing.

It's a shame no one should ever trust this, regardless of what company makes it.

Oh what the world could be.

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

Yo fax too many people just hate ai for the hell of it, I just hate the folks who happen to be in control of all the cool ai tech. Imagine if... Openai was actually FOSS ai??!?!😳

[–] christhebaker 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Are there any good FOSS AI agents?

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

Try duckai (by duckduckgo) its not ideal but its something. It acts as a middleman between you and a few llms and they have agreements that ur queries aren't used for training+metadata is removed by ddg before it reaches the llm I believed

[–] Carighan 16 points 3 days ago

And then people wonder why everyone is sitting on old Android versions. πŸ˜‚

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

If it was able to do that without phoning home I'd definitely dive it a try

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Can't wait for it to completely mangle all my alarms. Google assistants already tell me "you don't have a list called grocery" when I ask if bread is on it, but is happy to add it to the list again when I tell it to.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago

That's the whole point. Google assistant sucks because it only understands commands, and doesn't understand natural language. This is Google's attempt at making a truly great assistant, as they always envisioned it to be. Personally, I am very excited as there is a lot of potential in the technology. It would be a shame if they don't execute well on it.

[–] zerozaku 4 points 3 days ago

Gemini would be only a system app right? Then I should be able to disable it too right? This is something Google app on your device already does I believe.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 3 days ago

Impressive at the same time it's a bit too scary

[–] Ensign_Crab 3 points 3 days ago

Dragon Ball Z has made tech headlines more interesting.

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

I think this will run on device similar to Apple Intelligences's app intents.