Annoying as fuck but at least still possible to use F-Droid after the one-time, day-long "setup."
this post was submitted on 19 Jun 2026
32 points (94.4% liked)
F-Droid
10740 readers
10 users here now
F-Droid is an installable catalogue of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform. The client makes it easy to browse, install, and keep track of updates on your device.
Matrix space | forum | IRC
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
@avidamoeba
For the time being. There is no stopping them making it store specific.
Exactly. I'm not feeding into Google's bullshit. iPhone is no better. It's looking like my next phone will be a flip phone.
If Jolla phones keep it up, might look into that one.
💯
only if you open it up permanently, totally negating any kind of attempt at an improvement over safety
LineageOS, GrapheneOs, or PostmarketOS.
As long as it doesn't have Google Shit Services on it, you're fine.
@shortwavesurfer
Trouble is banking apps do not work. For India UPI apps give error. Developers of closed and proprietary apps are forcing GMS, integrity, PairIP and everything into it.
Use yourbank.com from browser.
If your bank does not allow you to use the web browser to manage your account, then that tells you you need to switch banks.
My bank tried pulling shit like that with me and they lost a customer because of it.
I want to knock people upside the head who use the excuse of their banking app because it seems more like an excuse to not do anything. Like, "oh, I'm so lazy. My freedom is not worth the amount of hard work I would have to do. I have no integrity."
Easier said than done, in my country there isn't a single bank that hasn't reinvented the wheel, all of them have a dedicated app to show the otp for the login
Really? Most banks are multinational. They often have app code but alternatives such as the physical code generator, or SMS and OTP codes.
I'm with 3 major banks, 2 with significant overseas presence and I've not yet once had to install an app
Oops, months ago post, but point still stands :).
Here a decade ago you could get a scratch card with a code table, or a physical otp generator, but now you can't. It's app or SMS and you'll get charged 50 cents per SMS received
50 cents? In the UK SMS are free with most networks.
SMS are free also, but, the networks see them as a cash cow. Why letting users receive them for free when they can charge them 16 cents each? Example faq: https://www.windtre.it/come-faccio-per/cosa-sono-e-quanto-costano-gli-sms-bancari
And the same for the banks. They say "ah we need to buy the most premium finest quality priority service in order to let you get them as soon as possible" and charge the user 30 cents each. So, 30+16
A double scam
Oof, that's rough.
Get yourself a cheap-ass Android phone and use that as a secondary device only when you need to use your bank. Otherwise, it can remain powered off at all times.
I thought the BHIM app still worked on grapheneOS? Or is that no longer true?
Also most Chinese android devices don't have gplay services installed on them by default anymore, although it is possible to install it afterwards.
I love having shizuku, and canta, because when the day comes, I just have to connect shizuku and using canta I can delete google play services and just start using microG
You can only uninstall those apps from the current user or all users, you can't delete Google's pre-placed apks in your system, which you will need in order to install microG
Can we install a stub package called com.google.android.verifier so the silent installation of malware will fail? It's technically feasible?
@Moonrise2473
Probably, probably not. Something similar to microG may surely be possible.
Future may see something different like this: https://security.googleblog.com/?utm%5C_source=chatgpt.com