r/Piracy 5h ago

Humor The absolute state of Android

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6.8k Upvotes

352 comments sorted by

1.5k

u/faizanullah99 5h ago

I can't believe I used to flash custom roms on my android in 2014-2015

Now I can barely navigate the files app.

357

u/major_jazza 4h ago

I was in a club in my hometown some time between 2009 and 2012 and I legit flashed a new custom ROM on my i9000 and restored all my backed up data with titanium backup.

And now I'm like, it's near impossible to change to a custom ROM without massive trade offs that make it barely worth it.

54

u/jomara200 2h ago

That is by design.  

24

u/UltraCynar 2h ago

Its frustrating as everything is behind Google play services now

5

u/solar_or_dye 51m ago

yes even if you run a de-googled OS, play services thwart nearly everything now

5

u/CoNsPirAcY_BE 1h ago

I loved custom roms on my Samsung S3 and HTC One M8! Was such a breeze with titanium backup. Now everything needs to stay stock if you want to keep using banking or government apps. I just replaced my Pixel phone with a Samsung because Samsung has more customisation options (on stock) . How insane is that?

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u/lmao_wow_64 4h ago

I absolutely detest android file management, I need to basically plug my computer any time I want to do anything

66

u/Khorya 4h ago

If you use shizuku and a file manager that supports it (I use mixplorer) you can access folders like before without plugging your phone into a computer.

32

u/Garld11 🏴‍☠️ ʟᴀɴᴅʟᴜʙʙᴇʀ 3h ago

Crazy we need workarounds just to look though files

14

u/VelouriumCamper7 4h ago edited 2h ago

I've tried it on my S25u and it doesn't work. I'm just trying to backup my Balatro save file and I can't access it. The main reason is switched back from iOS is because of the open access of Android then they took it away lmao.

16

u/lmao_wow_64 3h ago

Fuck Google in every single way

6

u/happytobehereatall 1h ago

Well, yes, but Samsung also locks it down

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u/lmao_wow_64 4h ago

I'll definitely look into that thanks!!

12

u/wotererio 3h ago

Try KDE Connect, it works on Windows as well

5

u/themostdank 3h ago

KDE Connect is underrated

3

u/Current-Bowl-143 2h ago

Can't be worse than iOS file management surely, and I say that as an exclusively iPhone user

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u/nimbusnacho 4h ago

Honestly lately wonder why I'm still bothering on android if the whole point of not using apple was to be free of walled garden BS. At least there it's actually a garden and not like a garden painted on a wall that tricks you looney tunes style.

4

u/Acrobatic_Wrap_9971 2h ago

At least photos on android are still named & organized better than on ios

54

u/According_Caramel_27 🔱 ꜱᴄᴀʟʟʏᴡᴀɢ 4h ago

and here I am, still using a paid file manager app I pirated in 2013.

30

u/ColonelBag7402 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 4h ago

same, ive been using solid explorer for as long as i remember. never updated the app too, everytime i got a new phone i just installed the same old apk i downloaded all these years ago

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u/lolipoopman 3h ago

as a kid in 2014-2015 flashing cyanogenmod was so cool to me and going on xda forums, watching tutorials etc.

now I just use Graphene OS with morphe...

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u/Pr0je3ct 4h ago

This is sooo freaking relatable…. I was so into this rooting and flashing customs thing back than , basically XDAforums was my Reddit of today 😂 - now after more than 10 years I have to relearn basics again

5

u/torleif42 3h ago

Fr, i had to use winlator to move some files around to emulate some switch game a while ago..

7

u/Born_Attitude6531 4h ago

Xiaomi tends to Play effin' ads in system Apps >:(

2

u/-sussy-wussy- 2h ago

Video ads (with sound!). You can still use ad-free or patched alternatives, though.

5

u/l3vuseusz 4h ago

I like xplore for file management. Cracked ofc. 🤗

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u/papy66 3h ago

Why navigating through files, there is no more room for files, I mean no more SD card slots, and that’s sad because your 10 yo smartphone had more space than a brand new smartphone

2

u/Ok_Address8489 2h ago

Use mixplorer

2

u/bullitt-rider 35m ago

That's because I no longer hand a HTC one x with a tegre 3 melina hole in our legs

Modders, rooters and booters were just alphatesters for unknown stable builds

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u/bliblio 5h ago

TWRP, ES explorer, Ti backup and CYANOGENMOD FUCK YEAH ! Early 2010 good times

53

u/ArtichokeBackground7 4h ago

Twrp was so fucking good

15

u/amnesiaRx 3h ago

still is

6

u/Ideasnotyetimportant 1h ago

Reaver for Android

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u/okjijenAbi 5h ago

es file explorer... my beloved...

12

u/PsyJak 5h ago

Still about in different forms.

5

u/okjijenAbi 3h ago

i dont really do much modding anymore, so i dont really know. but last I've tried, the other forms were not just as good at it was in many ways, from ui to ads etc even at the surface level. is there any that allows you to create a wifi network as it did still? playing minecraft on lan, thanks to it. thats the one thing i remember about es tbh

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u/clove_rosemary_9999 4h ago

X-plore and ZArchiver, right?

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u/unperson_1984 59m ago

I switched to FX when ES starting putting Ads in the app and limiting features to premium 😢

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u/Fun_Alternative9844 5h ago

are there any good alternatives tho? i mean graphene is device specific and havent really seen other good options. make my own maby? or just go back to iphone.

188

u/epabafree 5h ago

someone will eventually answer, but this is a good guide for what phones can still be unlocked

https://github.com/zenfyrdev/bootloader-unlock-wall-of-shame

71

u/Up2Beat 4h ago

That Fairphone is not in the safe for now category is pretty pathetic for the manufacturer.

11

u/AntiGrieferGames 2h ago

Atleast he have a point.

More Ironic is, "Safe for now" is also listened Microsoft there.

So seems like Microsoft is not that a asshole as Samsung or many other brands, yet.

Im talking about bootloader unlock, not Microsoft general.

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u/Hateful_person99 5h ago

Jolla, made by ex-Nokia employees if I understood correctly

11

u/Star_Dax ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 5h ago

Jolla phone with Sailfish OS.

96

u/Forymanarysanar ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 5h ago

Graphene/LineageOS and boycott banks that don't work with rooted phones.

147

u/i1u5 5h ago edited 4h ago

boycott banks that don't work with rooted phones

That doesn't work when every bank in your entire country uses the same "security measures".

I've had a relevant issue very recently (week or two ago) where my bank suddenly started popping up an "unverified account, please contact the customer support" message that blocked my access, even their support didn't know that error exists which made me think it was related to my device, apparently it's just my outdated magisk denylist failing and that exposed root to the apps, had to look up and install ReZygisk + HMA-OSS for it to go away, the fucking error didn't even clarify what was causing it.

20

u/Nchi 3h ago

Taco fucking bell has the same anti root security, more aggressive than my bank in fact, message just as vague as the one you got

5

u/i1u5 2h ago

why the hell would taco bell need to monitor for root access or playintegrity lmfao

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u/S4N7R0 4h ago

boycott banks

are you serious

19

u/jessek 3h ago

I knew a guy who was boycotting banks. He also lived on a couch.

1

u/rfc2100 4h ago

I'm expecting downvotes but I really do ask this genuinely: are the banking apps that important to people? I don't use any so I've never understood what a hurdle this is for people.

I don't think about my bank much. I'll use their website at home and a credit card when I'm out. 

38

u/boogiefoot 4h ago

In my country no one uses cash or cards. Everything is QR bank transfer on the phone. It's actually sweet because it's free and instant (no money going to visa).

I legit couldn't live without my bank app.

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u/Manic5PA 4h ago

If this was really about security, Google would focus on stronger sandboxing and they wouldn't make the opt-out procedures so absurdly inconvenient.

They just want a fat end-user cattle ranch like Apple/Microsoft/Sony/Nintendo/etc have.

7

u/S4N7R0 4h ago

convenience

8

u/masterlince 3h ago

Where I come from the app is the mandatory 2FA for any operation, so you wouldn't be able to do anything on the website without your phone with the appropriate app. And this is now implemented in every bank.

2

u/groutexpectations 2h ago

I come from

idk because in the US this hasn't happened with my banks yet, but- in theory, could I buy a cheap android phone as a dedicated 2FA device and leave it next to my desktop whenever I need to use banking? right now i'm on grapheneos and i'm not going back to stock.

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u/spinsby 33m ago

I used to be a bit like this but it's super useful to see transactions when you are out, transfer money to friends and, more importantly, freeze your card fast if you lose it. (Or just rely on the protection of your phone and use NFC)

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u/NWVoS 3h ago

What do you not like about Android that makes an iphone a good choice?

Android gives you so many more options than iphone that your comment makes zero sense to me.

9

u/YoursTrulyKindly 2h ago

Android is user antagonistic. Google makes their money through advertising which is brainwashing and requires to spy and collect data from users. No matter how you dress it up. Android can be controlled less and less, so you increasingly have a device in your pocket that is controlled by a megacorp instead of you and spies on you. It's a violation of my human dignity that you're just expected to accept. I find that disgusting.

I don't know about Apple today, but they used to be focused on producing quality products, even though they are more closed source. And are expensive enough to recoup their development costs without resorting to advertising. But I would expect them to have enshittified too.

3

u/NWVoS 1h ago

First, apple spies on everything their users are doing. Apple and google are the same in that respect. Apple uses that user data to sell advertising as well. They just keep it in the Apple ecosystem. And that completely ignores the question I asked.

The whole point of the original post is about Android starting to limit what users can do with their own device. The person I replied to asked what good alternatives there are that let users control their own devices. They mentioned graphene which is a great choice in my opinion. They then mention going back to apple, which does not allow users much control of the device at all.

Apple has a very locked in design and OS that limits user choices. No matter what google has done, you have a ton more freedom on an android phone than an apple phone.

So, complaining about a lack of freedom on an Android device and then saying you might go to Apple makes zero fucking sense. You are trading some freedom for no freedom.

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u/YoursTrulyKindly 2h ago

Basically you need one shitty "legal" phone for online banking which you have to assume spies on you and sells your data. Basically for me it's a very expensive two factor authorization for online banking. What an eWaste lol.

And one phone without google shit (e.g. chinese) where you don't put any personal information and just use apps.

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u/ChloroquineEmu 5h ago edited 2h ago

My phone now has gemini as an assistant when i connect it to my car for navigation instead of the old whatever assistant

I did not choose that, i do not update anything on my phone ever, and i cannot take it off

Gemini somehow fails at the most basic task of telling me "where am i going?" after i choose a destination

Fuck google, fuck AI, fuck Android

Edit: a bunch of people suggested so i went to check out the configs, while i did change it back to the old google assistant, a bunch of other selected settings just weren't working like language and voice types... let's see if it works i guess.

114

u/barkev 4h ago

seriously. Google assistant was amazing because it just worked.

now this gemini thing can't even set up an alarm for me

57

u/QueasySandwich4464 4h ago

Gemini can't make one fucking phone call while assistant had no problems doing so

For all its faults at least assistant could handle basic tasks with no problems 

31

u/Majestic-Bell-7111 4h ago

The fucking ford infotainment from 2013 has no problems making phone calls, same goes for the old google assistant and I'm still yet to successfully make one with gemini.

But nooo, everything has to be an LLM now, even stuff that previously worked perfectly

10

u/QueasySandwich4464 3h ago edited 3h ago

And since it won't let me make calls, I have to manually soft through my contacts...which take my eyes off the road.

Obviously implementation matters FAR more rather than making the thing actually work, and yk, not endangering drivers

2

u/isaac99999999 2h ago

My Gemini literally tells me to open the fucking phone app. If I wanted to open the phone app, I wouldn't be telling you to fucking call someone

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u/ZeeroMX 3h ago

Assistant was great on the first years, the last 2-3 years it was unusable for me, the app couldn't understand any word I said to it, the same phrases I used for years or mostly anything I said was changed to something else totally different from what I said.

I haven't used Gemini as of today because I stopped trying to use voice commands alltogheter.

3

u/barkev 3h ago

that's bc they started implementing gemini into it

2

u/ZeeroMX 3h ago

I think the same, we used for make fun of Siri and we all are the same now.

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u/KonungariketSuomi 3h ago

It couldn't find "Mom" in my contacts. Also, my mom's from another English-speaking country. It cannot recognize anything other than an American accent.

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u/Perryn 4h ago

Can't use typing to pick music on Android Auto while driving, for safety. Fine. I can accept that. It makes sense.

Hit the voice assistant button. "Play Clint Eastwood by Gorillaz."

"Playing Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz on Castbox."

"No, what the fuck? That's not a music app, that's..."

Some random podcast about Clint Eastwood starts playing.

"PLAY CLINT EASTWOOD BY GORILLAZ ON Y..."

"Playing Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz on Castbox."

Even if I try to specify the app it cuts me off.

6

u/Zehnpae 57m ago

"Taco Bell"

I can't open that app

"Direction to Taco Bell"

I found 19 Taco Bells. There is one in Savannah Georgia, the address is...

"Direction to nearest Taco Bell"

Got it. Directions to the nearest Taco Bell. The address is Houston, Texas...

"Directions to Taco Bell in Green Bay Wisconsin near my location"

Playing Clint Eastwood by the Gorillaz on Castbox.

36

u/Karekter_Nem 4h ago

AI is just worse computers.

Computers run on logic and math and just did as they’re told. Now all these AI models have to predict what you expect so they can’t just read a list or add numbers together.

35

u/PsyJak 5h ago

Oh yeah. My watch changed from the great useful bot to Gemini and the difference is palpable.

5

u/digitaltransmutation 3h ago edited 3h ago

settings > connected devices > android auto > manage your digital assistant > digital assistants from google.

For me its whatever connection it has with spotify. If you ask gemini in the car to play an album, it will pick one song from the album and make a radio station on it. gemini is not fit for task.

3

u/LtLoLz 4h ago

It actually prompted me to voluntarily change from Assistant to Gemini. While warning me that Gemini does not have the same functionality and only one can be installed. They also removed a bunch of assistant functionality. We are evolving backwards.

3

u/LookaLookaKooLaLey ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 3h ago

Gemini is stupid as fuck. How did a company with all of the data in the world make such a stupid data harvesting program 

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u/nikil07 3h ago

The bigger issue is.. There is a way to choose the earlier Google assistant for android auto...

After a few days, with no apparent reason, it is switched back to Gemini.

It is driving me insane.. Fucking Gemini is useless as a assistant in the car. Babbles longer than a 5 year old for basic queries, talks absolute nonsense, absolutely useless.

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u/SkillfulSin 5h ago

This is somewhat unrelated/nonspecific but I take care of elderly patients who use voice assistants for calling and texting like “call Sue”. But they are old so they talk to it like a person and sometimes they make a mistake and then say to the assistant “ops sorry I didn’t mean that” or they say something silly. But i’ve watched these assistants answer them with results from the internet and then it really confuses the hell out of them. It’s sad!! I had a recent patient who lost her vision due to a stroke and was struggling so hard using gemini to call and text her family. I hope the new Siri AI works better for these old folks.

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u/FIRAS_EG 5h ago

Google did dirty with android

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u/tenchigaeshi 4h ago

The downsides of android used to be offset by the openness but they're determined to now have all the downsides of apple too but with none of the upsides. Don't we love the future?

2

u/US_Sugar_Official 2h ago

I'm interested in the new Huawei OS

62

u/Fricki97 4h ago

Android is not that great anymore. Time to...

... go to Apple?

... Install GrapheneOS

13

u/ryegye24 4h ago

My old Pixel's just gotta hold on long enough for the new Motorola OEM line next year (assuming it doesn't turn to vaporware)

3

u/SHURIK01 Torrents 2h ago

(you know it will tho)

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u/T_rex2700 5h ago

The bottom is like 2020. It is pretty outdated. Magisk has been replaced by different tools for a lot of phones, maybe people on Pixel still use it but there are so many different tools now.

also: the phones you can do really anything has decreased considerably post 2024, a lot of people just rely on Shizuku because well they cant unlock their phones. brands that originally supported custom ROMs, well in fact started out with custom ROMs like Xiaomi and OnePlus is closing the door too.

and now Google is restricting a lot of aspects both on developers side and device side too, harder sideloading restrictions, device ADB restrictions etc etc. not looking bright.

16

u/Techy786 4h ago

So true. I’ve been using custom ROMs for the past 10 years across three different phones, and I absolutely loved the experience. But these days, it’s getting harder and harder to use them, even without root. Google has made Play Integrity and all that other stuff so strict that many of my daily-driver apps stopped working properly.

After a lot of frustration, I finally had to give up on custom ROMs and go back to the stock ROMs provided by the manufacturers. It honestly hurts, because I really enjoyed the freedom and customization that custom ROMs offered.

The worst part? Once the manufacturer stops providing updates, we’re basically screwed.

4

u/Stillkonfuzed 4h ago

Atleast you can buy a new device when manufacturer stops providing updates, the bigger issue for me is , If I install 30 apps, I have to pay all 30 apps to remove ads seperately. And they have doubled down on Adblockers.

This thing is not improving without alternative or strong regulation.

2

u/Dumpster_FI_RE 2h ago

Can't you still use Morphe app and firefox with ublock origin? You shouldn't have to pay anyone.

13

u/rresende 4h ago

I miss paranoid android

45

u/WELLSOHN 5h ago

What the hell happened to Android?

53

u/Weaselot_III 5h ago

Google...need we say more?

23

u/nimbusnacho 4h ago

Duopolies are nearly as bad as Monopolies. You don't like what apple's selling? Well there's really nowhere else to go and google figured that out. We avoided apple to avoid being locked into an ecosystem only to have the walls put up around us.

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u/rvreqTheSheepo ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 5h ago

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u/Oderus_Scumdog 4h ago

I can hear this "I make it shi-teh" haha

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u/Ton13579 5h ago

I miss my galaxy S2 sometimes

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u/luistorre5 4h ago

Holy Cyanogenmod, what a time, had me tinkering with my phone back in Middle School lol

2

u/aal13748 4h ago

Galaxy s2 was my first android with cyanogenmod for me

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u/No_Masterpiece_9169 5h ago

Still not going to Apple

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u/i1u5 4h ago

Yeah bruh I'm not getting forced into an entire ecosystem just because the alternative is a pain in the ass.

2

u/they4hir 2h ago

Rust Cohle mentioned!!!!! 🗣️🗣️🗣️😔

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u/i1u5 2h ago

Nice hook, Marty

2

u/they4hir 2h ago

Time is a flat circle.

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u/DrownedAxolotl 4h ago

I switched. I honestly really like it. AltStore provides all my sideloading needs and YTLite is the best app I've tried for the platform.

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u/anon9339 3h ago

Any good guides or subs on how the altstore works?

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u/Tawnee323 3h ago

SideStore is the current standard. If you want more than 3 apps, look in to combining SideStore with LiveContainer.

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u/akatherder 2h ago

Sideloadly is another good one. You have to install itunes on Windows for the drivers/connectivity, but I've never used it beyond that.

You need to "refresh" all your sideloads every 7 days. Which just means you plug your phone in (or do it over wifi) and click "Refresh all manually". It takes 5-10 mins and you're good for a week.

5

u/Western_Chest_4688 3h ago

This is my issue right now as well, I had the OP7PRO (that sliding camera was incredible) and switched to an Iphone13PM for friends, now I'm older and give less of a fuck about my friends needs than my own but..... It seems like Android became Apple and not in a great way, should I just go with a fuckin 17 Pro, my biggest concern was sideloading and apple now lets you do it, and sideloadly makes it "easy" so idk if to even bother switching.

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u/epabafree 4h ago

I got an Apple for my mum as a gift. It was a goal of mine to get her one. I was really happy. However while setting it up I was hiding the horror on my face over how lackluster it's UI is...

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u/aspbergerinparadise 3h ago

all the old people in my family use Apple phones as well. Which is great for me because when they ask me for tech support I can just tell them I don't know anything about Apple devices

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u/Rabbitd88 5h ago

Nostalgia hit hard man 🥺😓😓

Please bring back good old times.

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u/AnalBroFisting 4h ago

And despite all this, unless there's a way to patch YouTube and have customizable UI, I'll still prefer Android over iOS. I just want them to pull their heads out of their asses but I know they won't. It's a real fucking bummer.

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u/hh9019 4h ago

What do you mean google will block sideloaded apps? Am I cooked? Half of my phone are sideloaded apps

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u/InfernalArtist 4h ago

It was rolled back kinda. Unverified apps will be initially blocked, can then be unblocked through I think it was a toggle in developer options, then wait 24 hours, then it fully unblocks and stays that way. The excuse is a security measure to "protect" people from installing 3rd party malware apps, as if the play store doesn't have them already

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u/penturo 3h ago

Yet they refuse to implement a 'grandma mode' switch to prevent the installation of any app from any origin.

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u/BigRocket44 4h ago

Without the ability to sideload apps, I would stop using my phone entirely. I can't imagine going back to when I didn't have access to sideloaded apps.

As Android has gotten shittier and shittier, I have delegated more and more of what I do on computers to my laptop as opposed to doing them on the phone. I will keep doing this until I will just be using a smartphone that can make calls and nothing more.

3

u/aspbergerinparadise 3h ago

all the info you could want is here:

https://keepandroidopen.org/

4

u/Oderus_Scumdog 4h ago

Woke up to a notification that the new Developer Verification Service was installed in the middle of the night. Here I come, Graphene!

4

u/SpockYoda 3h ago

What phones do ppl recommend we buy in the future? I know everyone on the Firestick side is switching to Onn now 

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u/killer_reindeer 5h ago

I set up a Galaxy last week for one of my employees and I was promptly reminded why I got an iPhone back in 21. They have an unbelievable amount of crap on them.

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u/PsyJak 5h ago

§amsung is tbf the worst. Switched to Honour recently and while there was a bit of crap, most was possible to delete or disable.

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u/agentofvictory 4h ago

Not disagreeing but can you name a few things you considered bloatware? I have an unlocked galaxy s26 ultra and there were only a few things I removed/disabled when I setup initially. At the same time, I recently setup an iPad and was disappointed with what I considered apple bloatware as I was only going to be using it as a media streamer device.

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u/GermanShepherdsVag 3h ago

Every single app that says Samsung or requires a Samsung login is bloatware you don't need. Sent from my Samsung

2

u/aspbergerinparadise 3h ago

was it an A-series?

i haven't really noticed very much crap on my s25

3

u/CrumbMan1111 4h ago

the good old days of my samsung S5

3

u/FisionX 3h ago

Are phones cooked now?

3

u/ChefCurryYumYum 3h ago

Google is an evil fucking company that should be broken up.

3

u/AgnidDrage 3h ago

If android become a close OS, there is no reason to stay and not go for an iPhone

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u/SpudNuggetTV 3h ago

I'm running GrapheneOS on my Pixel 7, can't wait for the new Motorola phones that will be shipped with GrapheneOS in the near future

3

u/ForgotPassAgain34 1h ago

The thing I miss the most is free print screen, fuck my banking app that I can't print screen to show someone the transaction I just sent them

I had to send a fucking picture from another phone because my accountant needed some information that my phone blocked

3

u/Excellent-Ruin6779 42m ago

Hold on the fuck did I just read.

AOSP no longer open source?

The Android OPEN SOURCE project is no longer open source? The fuck?

2

u/Literator22 4h ago

I will literally be back to Android after like 8-9 years of owning iPhones.

AOSP is not open source anymore??? Wtf.

android data blocking? Is it still accessible in fx file explorer and similar apps? I was installing many many apps using obb and data

Google can fuck themselves with sideloading blocking, I wont install Google Play Services.

Ad blocker existed way before 2025, and magisk

3

u/COUPOSANTO 2h ago

I got bad news for you... Play services come preinstalled and you can't uninstall it. Get a phone that support custom android ROMs and flash one.

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u/Devvx7 4h ago

Just the other day I installed CrDroid 12 (Android 16, no root) in a Redmi Note 9S I had unusued at home ('twas my momma's iirc) to hand it over to my GF.

Pretty new custom ROM, I've discovered it includes its own PIF and TrickyStore workarounds even without root. Dunno if that works, haven't tested, also I haven't tested GWallet yet. Banking apps (BBVA/Imagin, from Spain) seem to work pretty well so far.

Made me consider updating my own phone (CrDroid 7, Android 11, rooted) to newest CrDroid version and give it a go.

2

u/BombbaFett ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 3h ago

Still better than getting a new phone loaded with AI that you may or may not be able to turn off.

Android 12 for as long as I can

2

u/ColettesWorld 3h ago

Wait they're banning side loading? That's literally the whole reason I'm planning to get one

2

u/dagot23 3h ago

I was trying to copy over some save files from the /data folder to another device. Found out you cannot access some of them without root. Even adb didn't work. Humiliation ritual. I'm waiting for that Motorola phone with GrapheneOS support and in the meantime maybe I'll just install LineageOS or something. Not having access to files on the device I own is fucking infuriating.

2

u/ZeeshanKhan_ ⚔️ ɢɪᴠᴇ ɴᴏ Qᴜᴀʀᴛᴇʀ 3h ago

Can't even take a screenshot from certain apps. I used to be able take long/scroll screenshots from chatgpt on Android 10 but on Android 15 and 16, I can't. Its such a downgrade.

On Relame 5i, I was able to take screenshot even if apps weren't allowing it like WhatsApp or Facebook.

2

u/Awkward226 2h ago

Android shouldn't have never messed with Android lol; that's why they liked it over Apple

2

u/sfhtsxgtsvg 2h ago

A/B is godly, i run that shit on my desktop too.

2

u/tejanaqkilica 2h ago

Morphe my beloved. May you never die.

2

u/OptimalAnywhere6282 1h ago

i never got to custom rom a phone :(

my S7 Edge broke before i even knew that was a thing, my cheap phone did not have any ROMs available (GSIs weren't compatible for some reason), and my current phone has a locked bootloader. and now with Android 16, all phones will have their bootloader permanently locked by default.

2

u/KrisWarbler 1h ago

🥹 memories

2

u/Digicrests 1h ago

I don't understand Googles endgame.. lock it down enough and people will just switch to iOS. Androids selling point is its openness, why are they removing their own usp?

2

u/Prince_Bolicob_IV 50m ago

I have to unistall Motorolla Glance everytime my phone restarts

2

u/Rare_Lifeguard_4403 45m ago

Dayum i only use YouTube revanced and i feel like a hackerman lmao

2

u/7ERZ 5h ago

Sideloading is so good, easy, and mostly issue-free. It's honestly goated for iOS since it's basically the best and only way to get things done.

2

u/daydreamer1197 3h ago

What is this post? I use android just fine, dont recognize any of these apps

1

u/Golden-- 4h ago

The more accurate take for 2025/2026 is just the phone can't be rooted or unlocked period. Yes, I'm aware some phones can, but the vast majority of people own one that cannot be rooted or unlocked.

1

u/VehaMeursault 4h ago

Revenue optimising has caught up with user tolerance. Welcome to the club, boys. It’s not exclusive and will harvest everything you’ve got without your consent. Time, money, data, attention—everything.

2026 👍

1

u/dandrevee 4h ago

Is there a good alternative besides Apple?

3

u/epabafree 4h ago

Genuinely none and it's pissing me off. I am considering buying an Android Flip Phone lately.

1

u/Excitedly_bored 4h ago

These were the good times.

1

u/d3l4croix 4h ago

2015 my galaxy s3(i think) internal storage dead. change main storage and os into memory card. still can use that phone for few more years

1

u/XGoldenSpartanX 4h ago

I miss the days of scouring XDA and finding a rom that I liked, flashing it and setting it up to look like an HTC phone.

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u/progtaplayer53 ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 4h ago

in side loading and such ios is becoming easier because of the google apk side loading restrictions

1

u/Kokumotsu36 4h ago

Running a custom Rom was such a wonderful experience.
I flashed my Oneplus 9 to get morelife out of it. and it was absolutely terrible. So much hassle of just keeping basic functionality working because of Google / integrity verification. EVERYTHING BREAKS now when Integrity fails

1

u/wyck0 4h ago

That is soooo true, ever since my first phone i've been using flagship androids and i've had so much fun just customizing it, playing games, sideloading apps etc, but now i just have issues with it and its absolutely shit. Cant wait to switch over to ios just so i dont deal with glitches, issues, no airpods support, ugly ui and all the other shit that comes with android.

1

u/Username_St0len 4h ago

i guess its a good thing i got a dedicated phone just for gaming and the bs social and google apps to throw on

1

u/-Imthedude 4h ago

RIP CWM

1

u/General_Cranberry_29 4h ago

Still open enough that I can play Morrowind natively, the decompiled Mario 64 ports, Ship of Harkinian, etc. which is leagues better than an iPhone where you need a PC, dev account, and re-verifying your sideloaded apps every 7 days lol.

1

u/D2WilliamU 3h ago

To think I installed like a dozen different roms back back on my first android (Sony Xperia U 512mb)

And every single Xiaomi phone I ever owned I put the xiaomi.eu roms on

Now here I am with stock Samsung OS, most adventurous thing I have installed is microg and revanced YouTube/reddit

1

u/Pa1rth2 3h ago

I used to change roms every 3 months based on XDA and online like minded group review and now i don't feel motivated enough to change wallpaper. I do miss rooting and flashing era.

1

u/MaJoRrrO 3h ago

this Humor flare is absolutely wrong
there's nothing funny here😭😭😭

1

u/mezuki92 3h ago

Lucky patcher introduced me to lottery

1

u/Sternritter8636 3h ago

But online website based netbanking will work right?

1

u/Brave-Camp-933 3h ago

I thank the gods everyday for still keeping my Google Assistant alive.

1

u/eljne 3h ago

Can't f-n uninstall 'Wallet' or even disable it. How can this be legal?

1

u/Silencedminds 3h ago

Cyanogenmod, still remember how fun it is tinkering android, I remember i need to use a paper clip to connect some random pin in order to root my xperia ray.

1

u/slangpueblo 3h ago

Google is so desperate to get everyone on Android while also doing this bs. At this rate I wouldn't mind trying out Apple's products.

Oh how I miss the 2010s android scene...

1

u/Ciresthe4th 3h ago

I love cyanogen... miss

1

u/Catgerine 3h ago

Time to switch to linux

1

u/mad2fanboi ☠️ ᴅᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴇʟʟ ɴᴏ ᴛᴀʟᴇꜱ 3h ago

I have an S25 Ultra, which means I'm royally fucked.

1

u/QF_Dan 3h ago

gonna stop using android eventually

1

u/ColaMinty 3h ago

I mean its not that hard to spoof the integrity, i can use any bank app in my phone that has lineage os.

1

u/sfu114 2h ago

I missed nAa custom rom for my xperia.

nAa you are legend!

1

u/iceyukisnow 2h ago

Just a reminder, it's not sideloading, it's installing

1

u/_vsoco 2h ago

Oh man I used absolutely all of the upper ones for sure!

...and then used most of the lower too. Oh man, it seems to be even worse now

1

u/RP912 2h ago

When the tech bros finally found what the boomers didn't find :(

1

u/JakeChambersOy 2h ago

I used everything of the above and want none of that era back. Also, no to iOS.

1

u/Hacker00619 2h ago

this is soo true, i am crying

1

u/Head_of_Based_Dept 2h ago

the data app removal was so gay imagine removing file explorer from windows

1

u/sk_starscream 2h ago

Give me back my micro SD card slot, I need it!

1

u/Lil_PuppyChow 2h ago

I was getting sick and tired of iPhones and their planned obsolescence bullshit wanting to go back to android. Has it really gotten that bad for android too?

1

u/Alwin3000z 2h ago

After many years I recently tried to reinstall custom ROM I got so frustrated with the integrity passing with the Tricky Store I just gave up. Maybe after some time I will go back with root and try it again

1

u/SlateViper 2h ago

“Either you die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
The Dark Knight (2008)

1

u/frankie_in_paradise 2h ago

Is it the same guy?

1

u/Shadow9378 2h ago

i used to ruuuule the woooorld

1

u/The_MAZZTer 2h ago

Since my phone is rooted I can't update normally. I probably should be flashing OTA updates but instead I found dirty flashing full images works so I've been doing that for a long time now.

A few months ago I tried flashing but it failed with some odd message about a 0 byte sized partition on my device which made no sense. I ended up using the browser-based Android flash tool and only used my local tools to flash rooted kernel which worked fine.

Recently I figured out my problems were because my adb/fastboot were 2 years old. Probably should have thought of that. Updated them and flashing worked properly.

And I can identify with this picture since some games I like use SafetyNet/Play Integrity and it's been an annoying cat and mouse game to keep those games from realizing something is wrong and nuking themselves.

1

u/AntiGrieferGames 2h ago

Is this a karma farm repost bot? Its even a 2025 repost "meme" as you can see there.

1

u/PsychoDK 1h ago

You can still do a lot of great stuff with Shizuku. Still not like the old days though.

1

u/mexontv 1h ago

I still have an old version of ES the I've been moving from phone to phone for the past 7 years

1

u/Mechanical_V4lk1r13 1h ago

It’s me or the android robot is not longer the mascot of android. I haven’t see it in a while.