Google Keeps Making Smartphones Worse
Google Keeps Making Smartphones Worse
Google’s Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system, started life as open-source software. In its quest for ever-greater profits, the tech giant has been gradually eroding Android’s open-source nature over the last decade.
Originally published on The Lever, but that one asks you to sign up.
It's almost like the organization itself is designed to make things worse if it means short term profits, useful and appreciated apps sacrificed at the altar of line must go up
My pixel 5 recently broke and the only reason I went with a pixel 9a was to install grapheneOS on it as soon as I got it. The process has become way easier than it used to be. After setting up/skipping all the first run screens I plugged it into another Android device and used the grapheneOS site to run the install, took like 15 min.
hows your experience with graphene? Better than stock? I heard they have a sandboxed Google Play store now, so getting apps is even easier.
So far it's been good for about a week. Highlights have been the easy install, secure by default but lets me override when I want (block app network access on install is awesome), and getting access to the other app repos than Google's I haven't seen since I installed dirty unicorns years ago. I setup multiple users so I can keep my primary like a root which was also simple to do.
Only complaints I have are when I get messages on another user than primary I can see the messages in the app but not the message content in the notification, its just a generic alert message like new messages received. Nice to have but not going to make me switch back. And the keyboard doesn't have swipe typing so I use gboard with network access turned off.
Also I did install the Google app store to get a couple paid apps and calendar/contacts I need to move out of Google. It does sandbox by default which is really cool and i think should be required for phone manufacturers. I just disabled services/store/calendar access to the network after I let it download everything.
Edit: also not a OS thing but I tried switching VPN to orbot/tor at the same time and it is still really unreliable for that use with the way so many sites try to sniff out your location
2 days ago I moved from GrapheneOS back to Stock Pixel in my 8 Pro, just to see what all the hype about the new android 16 in Pixel is about. Jesus, this is way worse than I remember. i tried it for 2 whole days, and that shit just won't allow me to have ANY control over my phone. It's fucking ridiculous. On Android 15 I was able to uninstall Google Drive, Meet, Youtube, and many other Google apps, this time around all it would allow was "disable". What's next, removing the ability to disable (which I don't trust anyway)?
Fast forward to today, I'm back on GOS, and my anxiety levels are down again. This shit is insane, and I honestly can't understand why anyone would put up with this crap.
this time around all it would allow was “disable”.
This has been par for other OEM-flavored Android phones for years, unfortunately.
Disable is alright, not that the phone itself isn't a privacy nightmare in other ways.
Thanks for the anecdote now i know i can just stay in gos
Please do stay on GOS. I already suffered for 2 days for the whole community.
I've been considering moving to GOS because of all the Google shenanigans, but I need to make sure everything works since my job means I have dozens of MS authenticator entries for various admin tasks. I really want to try it out, but can't afford to have to rebuild all those entries on a new system (and the notifications not work)
I had to use MS Authenticator for work and it worked in GOS, notifications and all. Now, that was about a year ago, and I haven't tried it since. At the speed GAFAM are enshitifying everything, there's a chance it doesn't work anymore. I keep a Pixel 8a stock for banking and some other apps that I need (such as EV charging networks) and won't work or are unsustainably wonky on GOS. As I mentioned in another post, RethinkDNS is worth it, but it does take some trial and error to get it to work without breaking stuff I need, but once I got there, it was all good (that's how I keep the 8a less intrusive).
Most users want those installed, anyway.
That's a really lousy excuse in support of enshittification.
How do you know most of users want that?
Even if most of them do, that still negatively impacts literally millions of users who don't want that.
Most is anywhere from 50.1% to 99.9%
So what are you actually saying? Because you aren't being very precise.
Most people want to engage in hetero sexuality, so everyone who didn't shouldn't get to?
That's the same logic you are using, I highly doubt you would agree that all non hetero relations should be discarded and given a giant middle finger. If you do feel that way JFC go touch grass or whatever
I'm stuck with Google. No aftermarket OS supports my phone. :(
May I suggest you give RethinkDNS a shot? At first it's kind of convoluted to configure, but once you have it set up the way you want, it's smooth sailing from there.
Those apps are installed in the squashfs image. Such images are write once, read many and thus they can't be mutated at runtime.
The best thing about switching to an iPhone is that I use my phone way lesser
I can't tell what this is a dig about. Less Apps available? Less required maintenance time? Less Notification spam? Or?
But I'm all for it.
I can offer an answer as a former lover of android (12 years)…
I used to do all of the phone modding/flashing roms etc. it was like I could never be just satisfied with my phone. After years of this, I got tired of the nagging in my head to improve it. So, I switched to Apple, and it just works and I don’t feel as though I’m missing out on anything.
So, yes I don’t have to be on my phone all of them time other than when I actually need it.
The stupid attempt to have everyone leave bluetooth always on pisses me off. They've made the BT quick tile 2 more presses to toggle on or off is ridiculous. It's not a quick tile.
I've just put a BT on/off widget on my home screen.
There is an Xposed module to replace the tiles back to a simple on/off toggle, for both BT tile and WiFi tile.
You need to grab your control back lol
Also if you don't have root on your personal Android devices these days... lol may Google have mercy on you lmao (hint: they won't lol)
root is a security risk on many security focused ROMs.
See the 4th reply in this GrapheneOS thread
and this from CalyxOS's FAQ
If you can link the xposed module though I wouldnt mind making a feature request and asking for the module itself to be integrated into their forks.
Could you develop on "attempt to have everyone leave bluetooth" ? What do they want us to use instead ?
"[...] leave bluetooth always on"
Unfortunately the Android experience is getting more and more bloated and users' freedom to tinker with their phones or sideload apps is getting more and more difficult. The Play Store is riddled with more ads than useful content. Just try searching for something, and oftentimes more than half of your screen is ads.
I've been with Android since the start and I hate what Google is reducing it to. It pains me that the only viable alternative is Apple and I feel trapped.
F-Droid is a decent replacement for the play store. Lots of FOSS and less-enshittified apps available.
Unfortunately many of the apps needed just to exist as a member of society are only available in the Play Store.
Tried to rely fully on F-droid several years ago. That experiment went just fine until I needed up update the apps. Turns out, there wasn't a simple one button solution to that. I had to manually update each and every app one by one. Is it any better these days?
Play Store is truly vile to use. It just feels gross and scammy and like a mine field of low quality slop and scam apps.
iOS isn’t great either but it at least feels a whole lot better. The iOS store needs the ability to report fraid which it doesn’t sort until you install an app.
My experience with the iOS app store years ago was worse than Android. Searching for apps that were not chock full of spam was useless. I had to research the apps outside of the store then find direct links to them due to clones with the same names.
I have no idea why Apple and Google allow so much hot garbage in their app stores.
The iOS store needs the ability to report fraid which it doesn’t sort until you install an app.
That's probably to reduce brigading? Android and iOS are infested with all sorts of fraduelnt marketing techniques like fake reviews, and mass fraud reporting for competition sounds like another.
We're all trapped. If you're not using either Android or iOS, you're pretty much screwed.
Technically, you can use one of the alternate phones, but the software support still leaves a lot to be desired. You can get most basic things working, but when it comes to crucial deal breaker apps like anything involving payments or banks, it gets a lot trickier. The world has become increasingly dependent on mobile phones, and if your phone can't handle train tickets, mail deliveries, restaurant reservations or pay your bills, it suddenly becomes very difficult to live in the 2020s.
More and more hardware also depends on specific iOS or Android apps, and those apps may also require GAPPS or some OEM Android. At some point, it just isn't worth the hassle, and it becomes easier to pick either one of the toxic platforms everyone else is already using.
Support devices like the Liberux Nexx or the pinephone, especially if you are a developer!
Long term you should look out for Waydroid compatible devices. Basically linux devices (smartphones, tablets, pcs) that run android containers very close to hardware so you can run your important android apps while not having to rely on the mess that android is for everything. There is a GApps version too if you need google shitware for some reason. Ubuntu Touch (smartphone os) is one of the most prominent to implement it. Personally i hope to eventually just get rid of my phone and only have a laptop with a sim-card and waydroid.
Is there no Linux for mobile options currently available?
Your options are mostly UBTouch and PostmarketOS. Due to how PMOS is designed, it doesnt fully function on the phones it supports. UBTouch does work well due to the ability to use a driver compatibility layer with android IIRC, but you still have the issue of needing a phone that can support it. (I think the latest pixel UBTouch runs on is the 3?)
also, the security model of mobile linux is nowhere near what android is. Things that keep android secure like verified boot are not yet implemented on linux phone OSes AFAIK
Funny enough, having Microsoft making the Windows Phone again would make a 3rd player, and maybe some competition in the market.
I don't know many companies that have the resources to fight in this arena right now...
MS keeps making Windows worse but that is not a problem because Linux is great on PCs. The reason is that PC is made out of standardized plug&play components that you can make generic OS image for.
There is no such thing in smartphone world. Each chipset is it's own Linux fork that gets only most crucial bug fixes while in warranty. Same is true for ARM SBCs where I believe the only board that supports generic image are new RPis.
The reason is that PC is made out of standardized plug&play components that you can make generic OS image for.
Yep, given the history of consumer technology as a whole it is really more amazing that the standard PC became a thing more than it is that people put up with what phones are today.
We all really owe a lot of gratitude to Phoenix for reverse engineering the IBM BIOS back in the day, and going to court to fight the IBM copyright lawsuit that resulted, as well as Compaq and all of the other IBM compatible clones.
Both ARM itself and Linux for ARM has been standardizing a fair bit recently. But not to the extent to be fully generic, mostly just enough for portable bootable kernels - and after that you still need all the same custom drivers and configurations to make proper use of a SoC, but it's not nothing.
https://linuxgizmos.com/ebbr-spec-to-bring-standardization-to-embedded-linux-boot-process/
Google keeps making everything worse.
It's telling how incompetent they've become when their LLM AI is the absolute worst one, including mechahitler before that update.
I like Gemini a lot and use it often, but I did disable it for web search.
Maybe we should start resurrecting symbian
or just start pooring support into PostMarket or UBTouch
Mobile GNU/Linux is getting better, but I think it is 5-10 years out from what's needed. I suppose people need to adopt Desktop first. The nice thing is you can install Android apps including Google Play on it natively, and they appear in your app drawer like a regular app
Unless they get NFC payments working on it and banking apps. It literally will never matter.
The single most common thing phones are used for at this point outside of entertainment is payments and banking.
What’s wrong with tapless payment with cards?
There are Google Play Android bank apps (mine works fine), and you can use mobile sites as dedicated app drawer icons. Their mobile site is top notch.
NFC payments won't come anytime soon to native GNU/Linux, but I don't use them. Maybe Google Wallet works, I haven't tried and don't know if NFC can be passed through to Waydroid. OnePlus 6 is the best supported originally Android phone for GNU/Linux, someone with that would need to test.
I just have my card in a silicon sleeve on the back of the phone and I get the same effect. I'd rather Google not have my purchase history anyways.
It's a bit of a catch honestly.
OSS/community Linux graphical environments have kind of always been ~5 years out from what's needed. 15 years ago they were behind ~5 years, 5 years ago they where behind ~5 years.
The only difference is today. I think they're only behind by ~3-4 years thanks to the backwards movement of things like Windows and OSx staleness.
Mobile operating systems are in a worse place.
My big problem is banks and satnav.
SatNav need traffic info and there is none, so their routes are bad.
Banks require apps to even use their website for "secure codes". Those apps try to detect ROMs and refuse to run, not even really being Android is going to make passing that harder.
Let alone random things like parking apps where the app is the only way to pay.
This is a political problem as much as technical. Competition is basically dead. We need government to step in and make competition possible. But they are in big tech's pocket and the status quo suits them too. Voters either don't care or believe what big tech says. It's a mess.
Satnav there is Pure Maps (OSM client), which can connect to sources like HERE to get traffic data to provide voiced guided turn-by-turn instructions. Of course there is also all the Android apps like Google Maps available, and their mobile site works fine.
On the topic of mobile sites, you can also install them as dedicated app drawer icons via Gnome Web & Firefox PWA for any site.
This means if your bank app doesn't like vanilla Android, GApps, you can use a comparable dedicated web app.
For parking, I've found a surprising amount have mobile sites, so I don't need to install their bloaty Android app onto my GNU/Linux phone.
I just saw KDE Bigscreen got reboot. While it's not exactly the same (its for TVs, like Android TV and Steam Big Picture mode), it's nice to see major desktop environments(DE) adopt new UI features for small and large devices. This compliments work done by groups like PinePhone, who laid the groundwork for Linux phones.
The obfuscated nature of compiled code does an incredible amount of heavy lifting on behalf of shareholders. Imagine a world where x-ray specs suddenly revealed source code. The flight to open solutions would be irresistible. Windows is hot garbage but it clings to its market share like a limpet, through the magic of closed source, occupying space like a flabby tumour. It doesn't care if it kills the host because the top priority is growth and an unassailable market share. That's the magic of capitalism.
Honestly I don't think many people would care? Until the security holes became intractable, I guess.
Its proven Android phones are doing awful stuff, even client side, and has that slowed them down?
Google should be broken up and its leadership fined into oblivion for anti competitive behavior
Spanish authorities*. Not really European-wide thing, but a local one.
Thanks for these, especially the "we're not going anywhere" link. I was hesitant to switch because I was worried about future support on my Pixel 7. Here's the full quote for anyone that didn't check the above link:
Many companies and individuals are trying to mislead people about the future of GrapheneOS to promote their insecure products and services. GrapheneOS is not going anywhere. We've made it clear we're shipping Android 16 soon and that the supported devices will remain supported.
android peaked with the pixel 2. then everyone went overboard on bezel-less displays and fast refresh rates and smart assistant services and brought the whole damn thing crashing down.
I don't think the issue with phones is the smaller bezels or better displays.
That's not what's ruining them.
Fast refresh rates are amazing. I cherished my old Razer Phone 2.
I think it varies from person to person. My gf can't tell the difference at all, even when she really tries, neither can a friend of mine (who also use the most insane jerky screen settings on his TV). For me, I can't imagine going back to 60hz ever again. It feels like something is physically wrong with my phone if I turn 120hz off.
Sadly iOS is not much better
But is it even slightly better? It's debatable. Both are completely awful, but I guess iOS is just terrible in different ways.
My last iPhone was a iPhone 5. Or 6, maybe?
Fast forward, and I've been on Android until right now, when I got an iPhone 16 in a loss-leader sale.
...And I am astounded by how much worse it is. My old jailbroken iPhone's UI was both simpler and 100x times more customizable and useful than all these bizzare required gestures; I spent days trying to teach my Mom and grandpa how to use it, to no avail. At the same time, its as uncustomizable as ever.
I had basically every feature the 16 has now, like the action button, and more. And it somehow feels slower in browsing than my SD845 Android 9 phone.
It wasn't perfect back then, but the App Store is flooded with garbage now.
I literally want my iPhone 5 back. WTF has Apple been doing?
true
Up until about two weeks ago I could use wallet on my rooted pixel with lineage and play integrity fix.
Some recent change on their end and it doesn't work at all anymore. I guess they don't want to know what I'm buying.
i hard heard people use a smart watch to get nfc payments working
Stroke posting
I'm trying to make my own smart watch as a hobby experiment at the moment, and one of my most important features is NFC payments. It's a nightmare, although I understand why. Currently my plan is to buy another smart watch or smart ring and take the NFC chip from it, which is maddening, but more or less my only option due to contactless payment security.
To do contactless payments, your bank must effectively permit the specific device, otherwise go through GPay or Apple Pay, who in turn just do the permitting themselves. Anything outside of the standard ecosystem just gets overlooked.
The best workaround while avoiding these companies is to find a smart watch or ring that has compatibility with a proxy card, such as Curve. But beyond halving the price of the accessory, this is pretty much an arbitrary decision.
Can I get a rundown of the few non-flagship phonemakers that are currently out there? I have heard of The Nothing Phone. Are there more companies that put together Androids to operate within the US?
The big problem with anything not Google or Samsung is, as it's always been, software support. You get 2 or maybe 3 years of updates and then the device is trash. So you can save a buck on the short term but it will cost you more in the long run and you'll have shitty devices all the way along anyway.
You can buy a 2 year old Pixel for $2-300 and it will last you another 4-5 years (unless Google remotely nukes your battery).
Just because it doesn't have latest Android doesn't mean it's trash. And Fairphone also aims for 7 years support just like your Pixel example.
You get 2 or maybe 3 years of updates and then the device is trash.
Yeah, I've noticed this as well...
... which is why I was surprised when I read that Nothing Phone 3 will get 5 years of updates + 2 years of security updates.
https://www.androidauthority.com/nothing-phone-3-software-updates-3568533/
Nothing’s Co-Founder and Head of Marketing, Akis Evangelidis, has confirmed that the upcoming Nothing Phone 3 will ship with a “5+7” software update promise. ...likely means the phone will get five years of Android version updates and seven years of security patches...
Although, you can't install GrapheneOS on Nothing phones... so, 🤷
anything not Google or Samsung is, as it’s always been, software support.
Motorola.has 5 years on most of its new phones nowadays
All phones that are sold in the EU now have to have 5 years of updates after the phone is no longer sold.
Basically, all phones have 6+ years of updates now.
Besides Nothing Phone, you've got Fairphone (sustainable/repairable), Sony (great cameras), Asus (gaming focused), Nokia (budget-friendly), OnePlus (speed/value), and Xiaomi (if you can import) all working to varying degreees in the US market - tho carrier compatibility can be trickly so always check bands before buying.
i have oneplus12r this my first non-pixel phone, you might want to visit the oneplus sub to look for other peoples experience. if you are looking for good deal on phones, online stores like swappa is a good start. i like the battery life of it. midsize cost, if your looking for budget , you can go motorola series, i did consider it at first.
Motorola is full of bloatware. Can not recommend.
The hardware is fine, though.
Daily driving the cmf with /e/OS from Murena for few months now, warmly recommended.
I find myself using desktop Linux more than my mobile device, even on the couch with the family. Monitors on arms that can swing out of the way ftw. No cute advice for keyboards though. We have wireless ones around but I still use my wired Deck Legend on my lap. It’s an old mechanical keyboard that’s built like a tank, with the PCB literally mounted to a sheet of metal that is mounted inside the housing, lol.
It’s almost a shame, because smart phones are still absolutely amazing to me as far as the amount of scientific and technical advancement that can fit in the palm of your hand. But I look forward to the open options various parties are working on.
I really want to try a pinephone or something with Ubuntu touch. It’s likely not daily driver ready but I’m still curious at how far along it is.
Can't speak for Ubuntu Touch but tried PostMarketOS on PinePhone and PinePhone Pro.
The PP works well, good support for most things included SIM, camera, BT, etc but it's big and bulky, also IMHO not powerful enough for Waydroid so no Android apps, "just" Linux. Relying on the browser to avoid using app is rarely practical as it's too slow.
The PPPro being more powerful should cover the gap... but some lack of support, specifically the camera, makes it tricky as daily driver.
Both PP and PPPro don't have great battery and/or power management so you can go through a day of usage, barely, and you might get stuck in a cycling loop if you depleted it entirely. That means also as daily driver, if you are not very cautious, it's tricky.
So... we are nearly there but unless you have a very VERY minimum usage of your phone, basically a dumb phone with a bit of CLI to remote connect to your own server from time to time, it's probably not practical for now.
Maybe the Liberux NEXX thanks to its power would have closed the gap but the failed crowd funding campaign shows that price point does not have a market fit right now.
So… we are nearly there but unless you have a very VERY minimum usage of your phone, basically a dumb phone with a bit of CLI to remote connect to your own server from time to time, it’s probably not practical for now.
....and, that's me.
I gave up on my phones. There's no way to remain connected to the modern world and my own without just keeping everything off of my phone and using it entirely in stock NPC mode. Trackers? Adware? Malware? Doesn't matter, I only use it for calls, banking apps and cash apps. How do I access my personal, more 1337 haxxor shit?
Laptop, although I can do a lot of work over ssh on phones and use things like syncthing and nextcloud to get around the ecosystem, still, but for the most part, I'm back in 2007, baby! We're carrying messenger bags! We don't care!
Thanks for the write up! It honestly sounds like it’s be fine for me. My iPhone is already extremely bare and stripped down. I barely use the camera too, so like, idk I don’t feel like I’d be missing much?
If I could buy a super cheap used one for testing, I’d do it. I’m waiting for my iPhone SE to die on me anyways before making the switch.
I'm thinking about getting the new FairPhone 6 when it comes out and running /e/ OS, but I'm so reliant on Google Maps and Gmail (my email account, not necessarily the app ... but I do rely on the app).
I'm afraid that I'll either install Google apps and end up with a phone just as compromised as a stock Android install, or if I don't it will be too much of a pain in the ass to use.
There are Maps alternatives. For instance, Organic maps or the fork CoMaps. Not nearly as good UX as Google Maps.. and zero traffic data available.. but the upside is they work entirely offline.
Two most important open source projects right now are PostmarketOS and Servo.
Still use my Windows Phones with Windows 10 Mobile as my daily drivers. Best OS to date.
one of the best products Microsoft ever produced. I absolutely LOVED my old Lumia. great phone, the OS was perfect, just an awesome all around phone. wish I still had it.
Eh, even if they got it right and more popular, it would have enshittified quick.
I loved my Lumia 1520, but it just doesn't hold a candle to a modern Android phone with LineageOS installed. Both in functionality and in privacy.
I'm on hyperos and every time I have to touch anything pure Google I feel like I'm on a windows PC.
Don't get me wrong, hyperos isn't a pinnacle of freedom, but all I do with my phone is basically using Firefox and take photos (+ signal, & SMS) and use the lichess app.
It's so infuriating, they steal our data, but just needs more. I'll try a Linux FOSS system next phone.
Linux phones will hopefully fix that soon(ish)
It's gonna be the year of the Linux phone, I can feel it!
It's the year of the Linux phone!
the ecosystem is so weak at this time, So maybe in the future it will improve?
Ik you can run Android apps via a container or smth
PostmarketOS using Waydroid for the neccessary apps, anyone has experience to share?
Maybe it was better when Android phones didn’t get updates. Eh? 😉
Tried to restart my fairly new Pixel phone a couple days ago by holding down the power button, but instead of showing the Power menu it prompted me to ask the Digital Assistant something. Excuse me? I don't remember enabling that. Every other phone I've ever had, holding down the power button has always been the way to power down or restart. I had to search Settings to find how to configure the power button to control the power. Or course maybe I could have asked the Digital Assistant - but fuck that.
https://grapheneos.org/
https://calyxos.org/
https://e.foundation/e-os/
https://lineageos.org/
be free
i'm currently using redmi note 13 pro, can i install any of these OS?
Graphene is the only one that gets rid of webview right?
Yep, this is how they trick people into inadvertently using their shitty ai Spyware. Welcome to the future, yay. Fuck Google and Samsung.
So, how do you power it down?
In Settings you select Power as the function of the Power Button instead of Digital Assistant. Then the power button works like it should.