this post was submitted on 13 Oct 2023
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Android

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[–] [email protected] 85 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So third-party VPN apps should be able to provide a connection without a persistent notification now, right?
Right?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

If they’re root, they already can. Like Google Play and other root/system apps that can install apps without the pop-up.

It is an obvious double measure but it’s been around for a long time, and it’s not too insecure or annoying unless manufacturers install malware as system apps and/or disallow locking the boatloader (they do, sadly).

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If they’re root, they already can. Like Google Play and other root/system apps that can install apps without the pop-up.

Fun reminder that the Facebook system apps included on many phones can do that too. Look for system apps called "Facebook Bridge", "Facebook stub", "Facebook App Installer", "Facebook App Manager" etc.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Don't you mean: Meta app installer, meta app manager, meta services, etc.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That's what I meant - if Google's own stuff is allowed to run in the background then third-party stuff should be allowed too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I would not like everything to run as root. But an option to root your phone without too much hassle and make any changes to app permissions would be great.

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[–] [email protected] 44 points 1 year ago (1 children)

a persistent notification is no longer required. A key icon in the status bar is the only indication you get that the VPN is enabled

You still get the key icon. Is the fuss that it now takes more screen taps to reach the on/off, rather than just using the persistent notification?

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The fuss is that 3rd party apps need a persistent notification to stay alive. But, because Google owns pixels, it can skip that step and be less intrusive/visible, which others can not.

[–] ShortFuse 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Cite your sources because that's not how persistent notification works. PIA doesn't need it. It sounds like a poorly written app.

Edit: DNS66 as well.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

[This comment has been deleted by an automated system]

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Persistent notification is one of the best parts about using an always on VPN. You can check the status really quickly

[–] Zerfallen 30 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Would be better if it were optional. The little key in the status area is more than enough indication for me. A persistent notification is not a notification, it's a hack.

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

The hack is the aggressive battery optimization in some phones that don't respect the native Android battery optimization settings and still kill apps.

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[–] ShortFuse 16 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't understand the article. They either aren't clearly explaining the issue or just heavily misinformed.

I have Google One and PIA. Both do the same thing, which is add a key to the top right of the screen. To me, that's like a persistent notification.

PIA has never needed to use the actual persistent notification API. There's no reason to. Persistent notification is for application that don't want their UI Window to terminate when Android gets memory pressured, or when wanting to use a local service (eg: Location or Orientation) when not the main foreground application. I can kill the PIA Window (swipe up from recent apps) and the VPN is still running.

If Google One were able to activate VPN without changing my status bar, that's a different story, and that's not the case.

Edit: DNS66 as well

[–] anonymous_bot 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

From what I understand, Google One had its own persistent notification (left side) when using the VPN as well as the normal key icon (right side). So now it just has the latter.

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[–] heavymetalsheep 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Lol that’s like saying worlds biggest virus creator which makes him billions of dollars now also providing anti virus for free.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (12 children)

Exactly lmao. I don't trust Google with shit, so I'm still going to install GrapheneOS and Mullvad as soon as I get the 8.

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[–] itsJoelle 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Weird, my Pixel 6a currently doesn't have a persistent notification when I use Proton. Is this a GrapheneOS thing? Just curious.

[–] FutileRecipe 6 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Have you enabled notifications for it? I use Proton with GrapheneOS. I keep the ProtonChannel notifications disabled normally as I don't need to see it. Enabling it, I see the persistent notification as expected.

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[–] kvothelu 6 points 1 year ago

I am on pixel 6a and using third party vpn. there is no persistent notification. only key icon. I don't see the issue here.

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