android phones can install apps without an app store
degoogled android options are best - graphene and calyx
Discussion
Haven't heard of calyx
I'm a technological caveman but still managed to install GrapheneOS on a pixel. It feels no different to Android. Very doable
Sadly, the majority of people won't make a switch for a number of reasons. A lot of them could, and should, make an effort.
Being able to install apps on an android phone without the app store is the feature I don't think apple users are quite grasping here, we need to scream this one from the rooftops for their sake. I love graphene, but even google is better than this.
Oh you can very well install iOS apps without the appstore. Via Testflight, via enterprise signing, via sideloading an .ipa-file. I have a few apps that did not come from the appstore.
That's interesting, why don't damus users just do that? Is this about getting visibility to the average user?
Sadly I’ve been an Apple fanboy until I became a bitcoiner and understood the need for decentralized uncensored networks. So this is new to me. What is a safe why to purchase a “degoogled” Android phone. Any tutorial sources on setting one up would also be appreciated. I’m definitely set on getting off the grid
Save yourself a thousand bucks and buy a used google pixel, it HAS to be a google pixel, as far as models go I would suggest going with the 4 or later as older models are out of support. Once you have it youll click click click boom you have graphene, don't worry, you won't be compiling github repos or anything difficult.
GraheneOS for the win
#[0]
iPhones as well all you need is Xcode 😅
I ❤️ Calyx, way better experience than stock phones with bloatware you can't remove.
Even with the insane lead dev leaving I'd still go with grapheneOS.
#[0] In case you didn't know this because you're an Apple slave
Curious to know why the most often supported hardware seems to be Pixel devices - aren't they made by Google? Is it effective to de-Google a piece of Google hardware?
duh - just searched and see that Pixel 6 and 7 are manufactured by Foxconn. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_7#Hardware
I own one of these: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Librem_5
I am not affiliated otherwise.
When it comes to not being pwned it passes a high bar - and for everyday use, it is also bar.
Not my daily driver yet.
Sure thing! Once the devil is out of it they are the best pieces if hardware. Reason for pixel is bootloader accessibility
How many people has the technical skills to install Graphene and side load apps?
Pretty easy even for non techy people tbh
This isn’t about always getting around the walled gardens. Obviously this is possible through calyx and graphene.
Sometimes it’s about fighting for the average user to have access to privacy and freedom tech as well.
F-DROID
Wen N phone- nostr?
Wen B phone???
I hear LineageOS is good too. LibremOS and PineOS are other options that may or may not work as well.
Been running Calyxos on a pixel 5 for over a year now. Can testify literally anyone can flash their own phone to Calyx. If you can follow instructions you can do it!💯
Without a solution for us non-tech-people this is not going to take off at all. And i‘m not a pessimist.
#[1] have you made any content showing how to do this? Or are there any resources you’d recommend checking out for us non-technical people?
Best yes - but also limited. Can't sadly just pick up any phone and degoogle it... That'd be quite a dream, ngl.
What do you mean? Google Pixels are the most easily degoogleable.
That's the point. You can't just take any nice looking phone - be it a Xiaomi or Motorola Razer (the flip ones) - and degoogle it. You are tied to the maintainers painstaikingly extracting vendor blobs and wasting literal gigabytes of storage for an Android buildroot (50GB avg.). And once said maintainers grow bored, the related phone support might be dropped. I was lucky to find out that my Razer Phone 2 was fully supported; has been my daily driver for two years and some now. But a friend, who bought an Oppo Find X5 Lite (aka. Reno7 5G) can't. Fastboot runs as a user service (fastbootD), bootloader unlocks are not supported.
So - yes. Degoogled phones are great, if you happen to have one that is supported...
Switch the paradigm. By phones for the OS you want to run. I never got caught up in getting a phone for it's hardware other that smaller size, but I suppose some people want fancy cameras.
Yeah... Cameras, foldables, and screens. And mobile gaming is growing quite a lot here, so a good CPU is often asked for too.
Sure they can! And GrapheneOS is amazing. Been usinig it for almost 2 years now and there's no going back to iOS
I'm being told iPhone can, too. As far as I know, they can't by default, but if they can, why is App Store banning an app even an issue at all? People are familiar with browsing to a site, downloading something, and installing it.
What's your opinion on Lineage?
Don't forget LineageOS... the OG. afaict it's better than the others anyway and supports more phones.
True
Glad this topic is being mentioned. Privacy is a must. Keep in mind that GrapheneOS and CalyxOS are different in many ways. Calyx still uses google services by default, and lacks frequent security updates. This is not the case forma Graphene, since BY DEFAULT,there are no google services installed. Please do check with each dev team before installing. Stay safe! (And stack sats :) )