Mastodawn

Anthony Lee Sep 30, 2025

For 15 years, F-Droid has been the antidote to Google Play: no trackers, no ads, just open source apps. Now, Google wants to kill it.

Under the guise of "security", Google is forcing devs to register, pay, and surrender control. F-Droid can’t comply without betraying its principles. Thousands of apps could vanish overnight.

Fight back: demand sideloading rights, pressure regulators/Parliament, and defend one of the safe harbors for ethical tech.

https://f-droid.org/2025/09/29/google-developer-registration-decree.html

@marcprux @fdroidorg

F-Droid and Google's Developer Registration Decree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository

For the past 15 years, F-Droid has provided a safe and secure haven for Android users around the world to find and install free and open source apps. When co...

Bryan Haskin Sep 29, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg the best thing you can do is stop using android. There are alternatives out there. They might not be as good as android currently, but android wasn't that great when it first came out either.

zetabeta Sep 29, 2025

@bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg
i don't think it is ios, ipados, macos, iphone or any other apple's system.

apple's systems are totally controlled.

Bryan Haskin Sep 29, 2025

@zetabeta @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg I agree. I am hoping general Linux phones continue to improve in quality.

The Mad Hatter Sep 30, 2025

@bhhaskin @zetabeta @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg hope for a linux for phones distro with good waydroid support. Would allow us to keep the good apps from fdroid on our phone

Mr. Teatime Oct 1, 2025

That's a nice hope, but is there any chance they'll be good enough that most major phone manufacturers decide to ship their phones with general Linux instead of Android, before Google's new policy comes into force?

I'm happy to note that Fairphone has an option to buy their devices with /e/OS preinstalled, directly, and Shiftphone (Disclosure: I'm typing this on a Shiftphone) provides all necessary means to custom ROM developers to support them -- but much more than that is not likely to happen soon.
Unless some actual law or sufficient bad publicity stops Google, they'll just force people to decide between the Google world and the free software world, and then you're either in or out. Not happy.

@zetabeta @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg

GoodNewsGreyShoes🔞(on hiatus)Sep 29, 2025

@bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux @[email protected] Such as?

Part of the issue is that suggesting ppl "stop using Android" is like suggesting they stop using a car:

For some people it's doable with only a moderate amount of difficulty, when their circumstances happen to align with the available alternatives.

For many other people it's fundamentally impossible, as the demands of their circumstances have no alternatives.

Imo it's disingenuous to suggest that boycotting Android would be any different.

DieMadColonizer Sep 30, 2025

@GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux

The people need guides, and not just tech guides but lifestyle guides with 1:1 replacements etc.

It was hard to quit Android and I'm still degoogling and I work in tech.

GoodNewsGreyShoes🔞(on hiatus)Sep 30, 2025

@NoFlexZone @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux Fully agree.👍

Greatly appreciate your distinction between "tech guide" & "lifestyle guide", as well - reminds me of the countless 'answers' on StackOverflow that amount to "read the manual".🫠

DieMadColonizer Sep 30, 2025

@GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux

I think we have an example of how with those damn recipe sites that have a story and the damn recipe half way down the page.

With a Skip button this could actually work for tech instructions.

Present a relatable use case, then instructions with "the screen will look like this", "put this in x field it does this for you" type sht

szakib Sep 30, 2025

@GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux /e/OS https://e.foundation/e-os/

/e/OS - e Foundation - deGoogled unGoogled smartphone operating systems and online services - your data is your data

ECOSYSTEMKEY FEATURESGET /E/OSNEED HELP /e/OS is a complete, fully “deGoogled”, mobile ecosystem /e/OS is an open-source mobile operating system paired with carefully selected applications. They form a privacy-enabled internal system for your smartphone. And it’s not just claims: open-source means auditable privacy. /e/OS has received academic recognition from researchers at…

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
Surprise, my phone is actually supported. But the install process is way too complicated. Plus, ad far as I can tell, it's still Android, so banks and governments will still release their required apps on the Play store, with requirements that the device not be rooted, and tell people to install that.

szakib Sep 30, 2025

@leeloo @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
Yes, the switch from Android to /e/OS is a bit long, but you only need to do this once, the step-by-step guide is excellent and things go exactly as it says. If you once have 1-2 hours, you can do it and it will work. The bootloader is locked at the end, so the device isn't "rooted".

/e/OS can install from the main Android app store, without identifying you to Google. Your bank stuff will work.

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
It is not a realistic option for anyone but nerds who like to tinker with their phone OS.

For me, the first major problem is that the guide says to make sure you have a backup. I haven't found anything that can create a backup of all the settings I have changed over time. And the way Android sandboxes apps, such a backup app should be pretty much impossible to make.

Also, how does e/OS fake the device attestation signatures? I'm sure they don't have the private keys.

szakib Sep 30, 2025

@leeloo @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux

"It is not a realistic option for anyone but nerds who like to tinker with their phone OS." This is not true. You can walk into a shop and buy a phone with /e/OS on it. For converting the phone, only one nerd needs to tinker, only once for an hour. This does not need to be the owner.

Backups: save whatever you think you need for each app?

https://doc.e.foundation/support-topics/micro-g

microG

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
Walk into a store? Where? I am not in the US.

Backing up each app, one at a time - that's already more than two hours, and while a few of the apps I use do have export features, most of them don't. And that excludes the Android settings.

Transferring everything to a new phone was a multi-day project, and that was with the old and new phones next to each other. Can't do that when replacing the OS.

Installing Slackware in 1996 was orders of magnitude easier, and Linux desktop domination didn't happen back then.

szakib Sep 30, 2025

@leeloo @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux

https://murena.com/products/smartphones/

I'm not sure why you are so interested in backups. Most apps have nothing to back up. You install it on the new phone, maybe log in, stuff is there. Basically the photos and the contact list are the only things you might want to save manually.

"Transferring everything to a new phone was a multi-day project"?

What's your plan for a day when your phone is lost/destroyed/obsolete? This is not harder.

Smartphones - Murena - deGoogled phones and services

Murena - deGoogled phones and services

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
Because I know how long it would take to set everything up again.

My plan is to beat up whoever broke my phone. Sure, this is not harder, do you volunteer to be the one who gets beat up?

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
And that link looks very much like a US company. No information about where the company is located, which I would expect to be clearly displayed on a European web shop, often on every page.

szakib Sep 30, 2025

@leeloo @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux I'm not the customer service, but I'll send you one last link:
https://murena.com/about/

About Murena

We design smartphones and cloud services that put user's privacy first.

Murena - deGoogled phones and services

Leeloo Sep 30, 2025

@szakib @GoodNewsGreyShoes @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux
Still has no address. How far would I need to walk?

Mr. Teatime Oct 1, 2025

@GoodNewsGreyShoes
Another way to look at it:
"Everybody should just <change their behaviour>..." has never been a viable sution to any problem.

Not because not enough people care (which may also be the case) but because most people don't have the capacity to avoid all the things they "should" be avoiding, do all the things they "should" and still lead a healthy life.

The brain surgeons need to keep brain surgeoning, they can't "just" switch everything to Linux in their spare time. And cook wholesome healthy meals themselves, and fix their devices themselves, and walk to work, and work out, and take more time for their families, and set up their own NextCloud and e-mail servers, and...

@bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux

GoodNewsGreyShoes🔞(on hiatus)Oct 2, 2025

@Mr_Teatime @bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!!👌

Many thanks: you have good words and used them well!🙏

William B Peckham Sep 29, 2025

@bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Alas, I love my BLU phones, but no one is making an alternative OS (Linux or otherwise) for them.

botvolution Sep 30, 2025

@bhhaskin @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg

I would like to stop using android.
However, so far as I can tell, doing so means buying another - and rather expensive - phone, because none of the options I've investigated will run on my three year old Nokia.

The option "Just don't do <x>" seems very often to be restricted to people who are both technically adept and relatively wealthy.

Magical Cat Sep 29, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg
Next step is to forbid custom bootloaders to prevent installation of alternatives to google-controlled version of Android, or to change Android licensing rules for devices manufacturers to allow installation only "Google-verified" images.

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Fight back, leave Android. It's cooked.

zaire arcana Oct 2

@hellomiakoda @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg yeag we need an ever-strengthening push for real operating systems on mobile devices

@soop @fdroidorg @don_atoms @marcprux
Linux

zaire arcana Oct 2

@hellomiakoda @fdroidorg @don_atoms @marcprux yeah

tonybad Sep 29, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Strange - Id Android is meant to be Opensource. BTW - Arn't monopolies illegal.

Damian Poddębniak Sep 29, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Let's not call it "sideloading". We demand normal installation rights! :-)

𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬 Sep 29, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Stop using their terms! It's called #installing not #sideloading. You're installing software on your mobile computer. The word "sideloading" was invented to denigrate installing software outside the walled garden of corporate app stores.

John Francis 🇨🇦🦫🍁💪⬆️Sep 30, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg too late for that. Degoogling is well under way.

Pav Sep 30, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg the year of the Linux phone draws near I can feel it in my bones

Plumeros ☮️Sep 30, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg
Does this affect de-googled OSes like #lineageos and its derivates?

Ati Sep 30, 2025

@plumeros @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg Yes, exactly, I can't see how it might affect degoogled AOSP based phones directly Indirectly I understand it narrows potential user base for developers With only Play Store apps available on Google phones, FOSS devs are only left with F-Droid. And F-Droid base narrows to people using degoogled AOSP forks right? Then what? Can Google "close" AOSP and still use Linux kernel for multi billion profit in their Android?

Germán Sep 30, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg
We need once and for all a free platform, as Linux is for desktop. No more Android and Google.

PureTryOut Sep 30, 2025

@don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg It would help if you'd stop calling it "sideloading" and just used the normal term "installing".
Also, stop using Android. The only real option is moving away, use #MobileLinux.

Martin Marconcini Sep 30, 2025

@bart @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg you cannot expect billions of devices to "stop using Android", don't be a clown.

Also what do you expect billions of users to do? Install Linux on their phones? And then what? You can't even make phone calls.

Wandering Thinker Sep 30, 2025

@bart @don_atoms @fdroidorg @marcprux @gryzor
Clowns are those who continue to use Android, despite all the crap stuffed into it, and believe that life without a smartphone is impossible.
Are you talking about "millions of people"? Well, that just confirms the fallacy of the theory that "millions of flies can't be wrong."

F-Droid Sep 30, 2025

@wthinker @gryzor @bart @don_atoms @marcprux It's 'billions' with a B by now. 😛

🌸 lily 🏳️‍⚧️

θΔ ⋐ & ∞Sep 30, 2025

@[email protected] @fdroidorg @bart @don_atoms @gryzor @marcprux

and believe that life without a smartphone is impossible.i wish it weren't but you have no idea how many services expect that you have a working smartphone with a mainstream os, only outlook or gmail, etc

i do not want to have a "smartphone" at all and yet i'm forced to because that's how it's expected to be

Martin Marconcini Sep 30, 2025

@tauon @fdroidorg @bart @wthinker @don_atoms @marcprux it's not possible to live without a smartphone in modern western Europe or the US of A.

Plain and simple. Unless you have a lot of money in cash (and even then, you'd need to go under the table for a lot of things).

Or if you are super privileged and someone else does and pays everything for you.

It's sad. But true.

🌸 lily 🏳️‍⚧️

θΔ ⋐ & ∞Sep 30, 2025

@gryzor @fdroidorg @bart @[email protected] @don_atoms @marcprux yes that's what i'm saying. that is a bad thing. i do not want to have a smartphone but everything expects me to

Wandering Thinker Oct 1, 2025

@bart @don_atoms @fdroidorg @gryzor @tauon @marcprux If you don't want to fight and endure some discomfort, then why should you live well and not by someone else's rules?

Martin Marconcini Oct 1, 2025

Please stop. You don't know me, or what discomfort I endure or have endured. Stop making assumptions.

Are you happy with your phone and OS choice? Good for you.

@gryzor @tauon @fdroidorg @bart @wthinker @don_atoms @marcprux one of the most annoying ones are parking meters in the city, as annoying as coins are to carry it's not even an option anymore, the newer ones are pure digital and operated by NFC and app so if I have to go downtown for any reason I literally can't park without an android app. That and two factor ident, everyone got rid of their SMS option and requires an app now....

@gryzor @bart @don_atoms @marcprux @fdroidorg It's a bit more complicated than that. in fact, you can make phone calls through linux phones and among other things; however switching over will not be easy and not something that people can do overnight, and that's only if they want to.

As that moves into another topic, I kinda wanna focus on one issue at a time.

For now, we should be fighting for the right for android users and developers to be able to freely make and access open sourced apps that don't rely on lock-in vendors; at least not to make things any worse for android users, whether anyone uses Android or not.

🌸 lily 🏳️‍⚧️

θΔ ⋐ & ∞Sep 30, 2025

@gryzor @fdroidorg @bart @don_atoms @marcprux

you can't even make phone calls
androiddev.socialthat makes sense

Martin Marconcini Sep 30, 2025

@tauon
I've been doing Android and iOS development since 2010, I lived in silicon valley for 7 years. It's so bad you don't wanna know.

If I could switch industries, I would.

But people saying "using Android (or iOS) is bad, use Linux instead", are completely detached from modern life.

Or live in world regions where you may not need them.

In the Netherlands, you'd probably last 2 days before you need one for anything. /shrug

(I don't like it, but I didn't do this) :)