croemerGoogle just gave Android power users a sideloading win
https://www.androidauthority.com/android-sideload-carry-over-3652845/
What's the phone OS landscape now? What can someone who values their agency and wants FOSS choose?
* iOS - walled garden, so no
* Android:
* * with a Google account and Play Services - a bit less of a walled garden, but still no
* * Android without Google:
* * * GrapheneOS - root or adb not supported, so no
* * * LineageOS - (edit: root or adb not supported, so no - just learned) seems like a viable option although it seems like it depends on Google's development of Android and keeping it FOSS. How's the situation with security updates? Which phones would you recommend? I don't count Samsung or whatever crap as they're generally quite user-hostile.
* Linux - IIRC only PMOS supported FDE. Is that still the case? Are there are good Linux phones? I tried PinePhone a few years ago, but it was crappy. The OS also lacked basic features like new windows showing up inside the screen.
* anything else?
> GrapheneOS - root or adb not supported, so no
Like the other poster said, you can get root on GOS. However it's highly ill advised and severely breaks the security model of devices. 99% of the time nobody, especially the average person, needs root on their phone (imo). Allowing that easily just opens up the average person to getting duped into getting their phone rocked with exploits and possibly persistent malware.
There is no reason that a lack of root access should be viewed as a negative within the context of GrapheneOS. In that case why even mention or choose GOS? Just choose an Android fork with poor security or a Linux phone with zero security instead.
> 99% of the time nobody [...] needs root on their phone
Do you also not have root on your laptops or desktops? I don't get why it's so different. I don't just want to open TikTok and Instagram, I want to use my phone computer as a computer. I assumed HN folks would get it.
I would choose something as locked down as GrapheneOS for its security if I was going to use it to install random apps left and right and give them root or run JavaScript from random sites on a browser I gave root to.
Anyway, not having root seems like a very weird way to harden security. What about compartmentalization?
And what's wrong with my my terminal app having root sometimes? How is shadycryptonews.xyz/exploit.js going to leverage it? How would even the Official Authoritarian Police State app leverage it?
I probably don't get it, but it's like people see 2 extremes - run nothing ever in root or run everything in root all the time.
I want to run like 5-6 apps I trust.
Maybe if I wanted to secure a billion dollars worth of Bitcoin, I would be OK with a separate phone without root, but then again I would likely use a hardware wallet. What's the threat model for someone who doesn't blindly give apps root or do anything stupid, really?