I mean, it’s Google. What did you expect? Android is free because having it on a ton of cheap phones helps Google collect data and sell ads.

Side-rant:

Apple’s got plenty of problems and anti-consumer behavior, too, don’t get me wrong… but it’s incredible how far they’re able to enforce privacy, down to the hardware level, while still giving devs almost the same level of control over OS features as Android.

Like, look at how ARKit does point cloud sharing vs ARCore. iOS limits sharing scanned AR environments to peer-to-peer local connections, and it’s a totally opaque object. Android meanwhile uploads your scanned room to a Google server, and the privacy terms for that data are the same as the ones for Youtube, search, maps, etc.

It drives me crazy how many FOSS nerds will rail against Facebook’s data collection and chokepoint capitalism, but then go on to praise Android for standing up to that no-good Apple. They hear “I can sideload apps” and they drop all of their recent cynicism about why they’re getting nifty stuff at a hefty discount.

I have a $1200 Pixel phone. I don’t think I’m getting anything at a discount. I’m just not delude into thinking apple respects privacy.

Apple blocked everyone from app tracking, except themselves. They spun this as a win for consumers and every idiot believes them. Now apple has exclusive rights to your usage data and sells it to advertisers. They cut out the competition. They did not protect your privacy.

appleinsider.com/…/fourth-class-action-lawsuit-fi…

When you realize Apple’s privacy is a facade, what value are you gaining? Not much. Google’s software is vastly superior. Google maps vs Apple maps, Assistant vs Siri, Gmail, Photos, call screening, etc, etc.

Google has much better software and they charge for it in data/ads instead of money, but there’s a much better reason to choose android over IOS: It’s open-source, so people have created free software variants of it that retain compatibility with existing apps while respecting your privacy and freedom.

In case you care about that, give grapheneOS or calyxOS a shot on your pixel.