google will take control of android in the future.

[biketool]

The key to fully using LineageOS with most google services or spoofed away to OSM navigation is https://microg.org/
It would be nice to import the microg components into waydroid for emergency use; though even waydroid/lineageOS/microg is a very heavy hammer to solve the problem of running required Android APKs.
Ideally I would like that we integrated a compatibility layer like Wine does to run individual android apps vs having to fully boot a second OS and leave all of those system app link icons across my phone desktop.(I have a script to clean the icons off but it is still a problem unsolved)

[zetabeta]

I am using de-googled LIneageOS for 14 years. (when I started it was called CyanogenMod). I have no issues with it,
Even my banking apps work.
Actually it works much much smoother now then 14 years ago when it was unstable crap.

what about rooted device!? many apps complain if there is a root access to user. in my view, rooting is a right, not a privilege granted by some corporation like alphabet inc.

If open android is crippled and unusable, then my pinephone with mobian is useful only as  a mug coaster,  if we compare it with that "crippled" android.

that was and still is my prediction for android. although u.s. justice department lawsuit might make things more complicated. my guess is that u.s. justice department has bunch of wussies and become feeble when alphabet inc starts to use money and power. linux mobile is where it is, but my prognosis is still not good for android.

many apps complain if they don't have "google play services" installed.

[KC9UDX]

It should be more obvious than ever in recent times that it is the Just Us division of the (shadow) regime.

Many apps do complain if Google Play Services is not installed. But the majority of the ones I use that do that still work anyway. A handful of them even have settings to turn off the nagging. The biggest thing I notice is that I get delayed notifications for certain apps (this is to be expected). But oddly once in a great while the private message app I use (named like a lane changing semaphore-replacement device ) will notify me immediately and I don't know how it does that.

I think I mentioned this earlier, and many people vehemently disagree. But my prediction is that even Linux will become a Microsoft/Google/Apple -like operating system the more people use it. Sure you might be able to peruse most of the code but some will be obfuscated and bloated to the point where you just have to shrug and use it anyway.

My biggest gripe is like your first point. If I root my device, even if root access is turned off (the apps detect a nonstandard OS) I cannot use the apps that I need to use anymore.

[Kevin Kofler]

Ideally I would like that we integrated a compatibility layer like Wine does to run individual android apps vs having to fully boot a second OS and leave all of those system app link icons across my phone desktop.(I have a script to clean the icons off but it is still a problem unsolved)

https://wiki.postmarketos.org/wiki/Andro...tion_Layer

Not many apps working yet though.

[bills2002]

Power corrupts. Absolutely.
The absolutely applies to the statement in that there is NO case where more power does not corrupt.
A lot of power corrupts a lot.
A little power corrupts a little.
A simple open source release manager...makes decisions that some will like...some will not (debian? wayland? systemd? what are you thinking).

Only the really smart with time and or money can say "forget it...I will roll my own distribution".

I really want a clean FSF approved modern set of hardware with a FSF approved set of software with zero footprint read only operating system...and everything else...everything is a VM locked/sandboxed application.
That sandbox needs to be auditable provable.

Now where can I find a CPU to trust...not arm...not qualcom arm...not anyone elses arm...intel? heck no. AMD? heck no.
Ok, lets pretend we have a CPU...
Motherboard? It's got other chips. Rinse repeat like the CPU.
Ok, lets pretend we have a CPU and a motherboard we can trust.
How far are we from the OS? Still a ways.

Nobody has a computer they can trust.

You look up a couple diabetes things...thanks google...now every time I open youtube you tell me I can cure diabetes by tapping a spoon against my ear.
and google...you did that intentionally...ya know, I know, that if I paid you a monthly fee...I would not get the diabetes cure with a spoon on my ear, nor the bed sheet tent pole if I drink baking soda, nor my swollen prostate issues if I dont drink warm water at night.

Humans are gullible idiots...thank goodness I'm a Martian!

buy it, sue if it doesnt work like the advertising says it does...and dont buy vendor lock in.
ps dont buy it if not open and not 100% repurposable/recycleable.

I also want a sandboxed Android emulator...on it's own network that my hypervisor has firewall blocked from the internet. I want android to get to 3 IPs...I can do that...routed through tor.
not holding my breath...gave up and settled for e/os.
who knows...no 3rd party audited source code...hell I cannot even guarantee it's provenance. (your big word for the day).

[KC9UDX]

Nobody has a computer they can trust? The ones I use for sensitive data were made in the 80s. By Commodore

[bills2002]

Got me there. Not sure the 6502 had an IME embedded processor...but I always thought SID was more powerful than people knew.

[Darin755]

google will take control of android in the future.

moderators may not like this topic, which is basically google and android bashing.

i predicted somewhere around that 2021, google will lock android somehow within few years. introducing fuchsiaos kernel, banning bootloader unlocking, using more closed components, changing api in android core and so on. google already has "google play services" and "google play", which are closed components and many android apps are dependent on those.

so i basically, repeat same prediction, open android is gone after few years, maybe 2027.

ungoogled android is still open now, but i predict that ungoogled android is practically gone after few years, android will be like what ios is now.

google/alphabet/youtube is reportedly slowing down youtube (some users report this). google plans to introduce banning ad blockers in chrome (i don't know chromium though), https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/11/...june-2024/ . these are worrisome developments.

just in case, apple's system are totally controlled by apple. including macs with m-chips.

looking back, maybe i knew more or less few years back, and i went to pinephone train. in short, there's not going to be software and hardware freedom in android.

AOSP is GPL licensed and has many different companies and people working on it. I don't see it going anywhere especially since they care about the apps not the base OS for data collection. Lineage OS has replaced the unmaintained AOSP apps and is like the old Android.

[Kevin Kofler]

AOSP is not GPL-licensed. It is Apache-licensed. Theoretically. In practice, it is mostly useless without proprietary hardware driver blobs. The only really FOSS distributions of AOSP that I know of are GloDroid and Replicant. All the other "de-googled" AOSP derivatives use the exact same proprietary driver blobs the official Android build for the same device uses.

[zetabeta]

i think this is good to add here.

https://developer.android.com/google/play/integrity

alphabet inc has added play integrity feature into android. this is not final step but a small step forward for central control. it means that, apps can ask from integrity api is system modified and is app installed through proper app store, usually google play. after check, app can decide does it run or not.

apps can ignore this api totally, but practically some apps require this, like banking apps. some people cannot use un-googled system.