this post was submitted on 14 May 2025
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Unfettered capitalism is just fucking exhausting. What a bunch of assholes. I really need to degoogle my life. Idk how to strip android off my phone and replace it with whatever, but I guess I'm about to find out.
Edit: ty all. I'm gonna check out f droid and go from there!
It's definitely exhausting.
The silver-lining is that we really don't have to go along with it. We have the choice to use alternatives, we just choose not to.
Ughghghg. I'm soooo lazy tho!
The problem in this case is the Google Play Store, not Android.
Google is blocking Nextcloud from updating their app on the Play Store unless they remove this vital permission. But nothing is stopping Nextcloud from making their app available on third party app stores with the approriate permissions.
If you download the app from F-Droid instead, it should work correctly.
That is not to say that what Google is doing isn't monopolistic. I'm just pointing out that you can bypass this restriction by not using their app store.
I hear ya. I'm feeling the need to cut ties with Google all together. They're not getting any less evil. I'm gonna look into graphene os I think
I've been wanting a Linux-based degoogled phone for a while now, and though it sorta exists if you happen to have the right phone model, it definitely isn't ready for the everyday consumer. But if it's something you really want to do, there are a few options out there. I've done the best I can from not using the google ecosystem at all beyond android, which is my last big hurtle.
I've been looking at possible phone options too. There are several degoogled Android options but it's still Android of course. And switching to a Linux phone seems like it would be really limiting without access to Android/iOS apps. Do Linux phone users just use the browser to replace all those apps? I guess it could work, though it seems less ergonomic.
You could run Waydroid on it, which I think would let you use most of the apps you need, except maybe banking apps and the like.
I would love to make a move, but my reason for not trying out for example postmarketOS yet, is the lack of access to several of the core phone features. From the postmarketOS wiki page, for my phone (Fairphone 4), it lacks access to camera, GPS, NFC (don't care), audio and battery (not sure what is meant by that), and has partial support for calls (not sure what is meant by partial support).
I just now checked the status for Ubuntu Touch however, and it seems like they have actually gotten these things working. Interesting!
FuriOS is a newcomer and promising. I was very close to getting that but a few issues prevented me. Hopefully my next phone will be full Linux. Really, really want to ditch android. Governments also need to stop catering to the duopoly and make stuff for all platforms (or rather just secure web apps.) And force banks, etc. To do the same.
Oh, first time hearing about them. Interesting. Does not seem flashable on other phones than their own at the moment? In any case, the year of Linux mobile is certainly nigh!
I don't think we need a Linux-Based Phone, A deGoogled Android fork would do, and it would be a familiar place for most users.
Hopefully a company like Samsung offers deGoogled options in the future.
There are already: GrapheneOS (only for Pixel phones) and /e/os for example.
Samsung aren't exactly good guys either. At this point I'm not sure there is a company who isn't out to put profit over everything else.
I know Samsung aren't good guys, but a big company like them ditching Google will open the floodgates for others to also be able to do it
Samsung? that must be a joke right?
I agree that android itself is not really our "opponent". It'll take at least a decade until the community puts together something as remotely capable as android. It would be much easier to take AOSP, or Calyx, and revert google changes that do not tie users into google services, but still were strongarmed in there by google, several things that are limiting user freedom (that is, without accessible options to turn the restrictions off).
Samsung is just an example. I would like any big manufacturer to fork Android and strip Google out of it.
If Samsung does it, it would be great for the deGoogle movement, and would open the floodgates for others.
I'm not sure about that. samsung is not that respectful of ownership righs, in my eyes at least
I'm not saying they will be the solution, I'm saying they will switch many people away from google. Which is better than what we have now.
well, they have an app store, an account systwm and their own push notification provider, so it could happen
Take a look at GrapheneOS.
I think I'm gonna do just that
Android without Google services is basically taking the capitalism away.
Install LineageOS or GrapheneOS without installing Google Play.
Slap on F-Droid for apps and you have a phone that doesn't talk to Google at all, and is completely beyond their control.
You can just install it off f-droid instead of the play store.
The thing is that this isn't even unfettered capitalism.
Unfettered capitalism would be so much worse, which is saying something.