>One of the most annoying aspects of GrapheneOS is how its lock screen works. There is no way to display the lock screen without the phone being locked.
We already have to trust that none of the people involved in the official images are foreign (or even domestic) intelligence agents, so it's not that different.
That guide is outdated and chock-full with misinformation.
The author should not have conflated GrapheneOS and Android, it makes it seem like problems are GOS's fault, when it applies to all Android devices. It would be more accurate to call it an iOS to Android migration guide.
You do not need to treat GOS any differently than any other Android variation, you can use all the same apps you would like, there is no rule against using privacy invasive apps on GOS. If you want the best apps, sometimes you have to go with ones made by trillion-dollar companies that vacuum up data. GOS can even let you use these apps in a privacy-preserving way, with the network toggle and sandboxing.
>It is not trivial to synchronize data across machines in a secure and decentralized way. Privacy and decentralization are difficult problems to solve, with ever-changing goal posts. Apple decided to abandon even attempting to do this, and instead went with a band-aid approach that it calls “iCloud”.
I wouldn't underestimate iCloud with advanced data protection, it is arguably the most comprehensive and affordable e2ee cloud plan available.
>No globally-consistent way to “Undo” an action (unlike Shake-to-Undo on iOS).
I don't think this is a good feature, I am glad it is not built into Android.
>Sometimes the screen cannot be turned off when on a call.
I've never experienced this.
>OS can’t handle lots of files in folders. Folders with thousands of files are very slow to load and sync. Sometimes music apps fail to load all songs.
I have a 30+ GB music library and I have not had any issues. Android has a plethora of amazing music apps compared to iOS. See Powerampapp.com.
>Poor UI guidelines cause serious problems. For example, many music or video players don’t work well with the timeline playhead because it’s too close to the edge of the phone’s screen. Attempting to scrub near the beginning or end of a song causes Android’s gesture navigation (back button) to be triggered instead, closing the app.
I find the UI on Android to be much more fluid, reactive, and functional. This may have just been the specific app. GOS or Android cannot stop someone from making a buggy app any more than Apple can. There are many more Android apps that are Free and Open Source, which has a huge host of benefits. Material 3 expressive is the newest google design guideline and it looks a lot better than liquid glass imo. Yes, this is more recent against this blog, but it is being recommended now.
>Sometimes toggle swtiches in settings are also menu items that can be clicked to access more settings. Extraordinarily confusing UI/UX.
Apple also does this, see wifi in control center. I don't think it is confusing once you use your phone for a few days.
>Essential features like text-to-speech, speech-to-text, or “look up definition” have to be manually installed and setup.
I see less system apps as a pro, although GOS is working on, or added a built in tts or stt functionality recently iirc.
>Doesn’t always recognize wired headphones when they’re plugged in the first time. Sometimes even the second time. Could be related to one of these issues.
This has not been a problem for me. The usb control is a massive security improvement and comes with a sane default. Just works in my experience.
>Max volume is rather low for wired headphones, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to increase it.
Have not had a problem with that.
>Seemingly no way to select text in photos without an Internet connection, unlike the built-in AI-based offline-first feature in iOS Photos.
Ente photos has good device-based OCR.
> the GrapheneOS community also recommend the Aurora store
Aurora store is not recommended because it weakens security with no privacy benefit.
> One of the most annoying aspects of GrapheneOS is how its lock screen works.
This is completely outdated, inaccurate and confuses the way the lockscreen works.
>No privacy-preserving Maps app at the level of quality of Apple Maps or Google Maps.
Again, not a GOS problem. You can use the apps from the companies that spend millions on their Maps apps, or you can use the perfectly functional maps based on OSM.
>App Store madness.
If you don't want to be confused, just use the play store like is stated. It is secure and consistent. You ask for more freedom, you get the more freedom. Again, more complaints about apps specifically, not even the app not working due to GOS hardening, just the app.
>Contacts, Email, Calendars
There is no reason you can't use iCloud mail, proton mail, or Gmail on android. The vast majority of even privacy concious people do not self-host mail.
>Passwords
Even more user friendly, you can use free bitwarden, which is better than Apple Passwords or others that are not cross platform.
I switched from iOS to GOS a few months ago, and I have had nothing but good experiences. Contrary to what you may hear, GOS works absolutely fine out of the box. I have never had an app that doesn't work, you can install polished closed source apps without network permission, and the UI is miles ahead of iOS. I highly recommend anyone to try it out.
The author is being a bit pedantic though. Complaining about stuff that can't be fixed. For example yes aurora store sometimes doesn't work and definitely not over tor. But that's because its 'anonymous' option uses pooled Google accounts. Google tends to block them when they see thousands of users using the same account and blocking traffic to their servers over tor. Yet connecting directly to Google is the safest option here.
And Google maps does not require a Google account. I always use my android phones without any Google account and maps works fine. I think OSMAnd is way way better anyway but they don't have the public transport integration so I still use Google maps for that once in a while. For everything else OSMAnd really rocks and its maps are better than what Google and apple offer especially when you're not a car user.
But really expecting apple level polish from a free outfit it's just not fair.
Oh thanks but it doesn't seem to support the metro here in Spain :( Google always sees live data like real arrival time and line closures.
Even the transport company's own site doesn't show that very accurately. But they're very manipulative. For example if a train is coming soon the signs upstairs don't show it because they don't want people rushing. Google shows the real data though, not their lies.
> OS can’t handle lots of files in folders. Folders with thousands of files are very slow to load and sync. Sometimes music apps fail to load all songs.
> Poor UI guidelines cause serious problems
> Doesn’t always recognize wired headphones when they’re plugged in the first time. Sometimes even the second time.
> Max volume is rather low for wired headphones, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to increase it.
> No decent Photos app alternative, except Google Photos but apparently with a lot of issues (I'm paraphrasing this one, it's really long)
> Google Wallet does not support NFC payments due to restrictions that Google imposes
> App Store madness
I recognize that some of those are features and not bugs for some users, like the "App Store madness" and the lack of a Photos app alternative, but overall those seem like huge gaps that make it a non-serious alternative.
Not sure why you are being downvoted, as this is a very valid conclusion for you to arrive at, individually.
To those downvoting, please note that this person did not say that nobody should switch, only that the information provided was a clear indication that it is not the right fit for them.
I, for one, greatly appreciated the detailed pro/con list in the post, as many of these would be genuine annoyances to me, and would have probably taken several months to encounter all of them.
> Once payment enters the story opportunists and exploitation enters the chat too.
It turns out that it's quite helpful to be able to afford the cost of room & board, food, and utilities as part of being a helpful companion to others. The fellow I spoke with said the pay wasn't much, so like teachers, most of the people who take these important benevolent jobs aren't doing it for the money. If they were in it for the money they'd be working for Facebook.
Thanks for mentioning Lobster. This guy seems to have learned many lessons of language simplification and design. Looks like a promising language and I wish it success.
An honest discussion about this cannot be had on this site, it's kinda funny how pointless all the comments are here. Yours is the closest anyone is allowed to get and I wonder if yours will stay up.
No I'm talking about who is responsible for all of this. You're allowed to misunderstand (as you did here), you're allowed to downvote (as they do to me), you're allowed to lie, and allowed to be mistaken. But truth is nowhere to be found on Hacker News on this subject. There can be a million comments. All of them varying degrees of wrong or closer to the money and then removed.
It is funny that the AIPAC influence narrative is allowed now, but think tank papers are greyed out and will disappear soon. So I guess "blame Bibi" is one of the desired narratives now.
Yeah, I find it funny how we're now defending these AI companies, when they're clearly still an enemy of the working class.
They've made it incredibly clear their plans are to disenfranchise labor, and welcome in a world of God knows what with their technologies. Like they're making a stand on mass surveillance, this seems a bit like a red herring, cool they stop using their tools for war fighting, but continue to attack their fellow working working class?
All three of these companies are spending hundreds of millions to psyop decision makers across every industry to give your salary to them. Get out of here, with "We will not be divided" OpenAI, Google and Anthropic employees are not friends of labor and should not use our phrases.. or they'd sabotage and or quit.
And why is there no mention of how we caught OpenAI being used in government dashboards through Persona, only two weeks ago, that were directly connected to intelligence organizations and tools to identify if you are politician or high profile personds? OpenAI has been complicit in this since last January when 4o was the first model that qualified for "top secret operations"
(kind of weird how 4o went onto cause a bunch of people to go literally insane and commit crazy acts of violence yet is allowed to be used in the most sensitive aspects of government.. nothing to see here).
If the AI companies and the current administration are both enemies of the working class - I am not necessarily saying that they are, but for the sake of argument let's say that they are - then it probably makes strategic sense for the working class to encourage them to fight each other while supporting the side that is less dangerous. Which side is less dangerous to the working class, I do not know. My point is that there's not necessarily any strategic contradiction between defending the AI companies and supporting the working class.
I look at specific actions in context. What Anthropic did today was amazing in my eyes for reasons that are widely held and stated clearly by Anthropic.
At the same time, I might gesture at other actions they’ve done that fall short. This is not inconsistent; this is simply acknowledging miltidimensionality.
Or its just incredible marketing.. I don't really care about what LLMs do in a military context, they'd probably make a military less effective which is good in my opinion. I find it a pretty silly notion to use them outside of maybe signals intelligence, seems actually dumb as hell to use them for targeting. Other types of ML models in a military context worry me far more than neural network powered autocomplete.
I think we should worry way more about Anthropic's attack on the working class, Dario has been very clear those intentions, and we shouldn't be patting them on the back. We should be boycotting all of these companies that say [insert computer i/o career] is dead .
If you must use Think For Me SaaS use an Open Source model.
We should care because if they win they empower others to stand up as well, and not just in the area of AI safety. Courage is contagious, and whatever else you think of Anthropic, they’re showing real courage here.
I'm not debating whether or not they're being courageous. I'm referring to self-preservation, this is a natural instinct that should be in all people. Have you seen T2? District 9? The Matrix? And a few others I could mention.
Notice the "Knowledge Graph" feature that lets you "Visualize hidden connections between People, Orgs, and Places" just like the cork board meme.
This is the essence of what good "conspiracy theorists" do. Whenever investigative journalists uncover a conspiracy among the elite, they are talked down to and dismissed as "conspiracy theorists". But that is what good conspiracy theorists are: investigative journalists.
For sure - "conspiracy theorists" are just another group of people trying to find truth, patterns in the world and trying to connect the dots.
The cork board feel was very much intentional in some of the visualizations.
Specifically, the "lie web" visualization that uses "red yarn" visuals to connect detected contradictions across different entities and documents.
If I had the skills, I would totally map that onto a cork board.
After recent attacks [1] on the site, it appears the site may be gone for good, as it appears down for several days. A major loss leaving the Internet with only a single archiving service remaining.
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