I meant it was a choice to use Sailfish on its own, with Android or not at all.
I’m almost at the point that I can use my Sailfish Xperia X 10 III as a daily driver - but that’s only because I also need to use the Android support - a choice. I also have an iPhone 12 which I choose not to use these days. But I do agree with you that I couldn’t do my job now without some ios or Android apps, even if those Android apps are running Google Services free under Sailfish.
I can also see things from the app developing organisations’ point of view. With a duopoly they only have to develop, test and support two versions of their apps. If they had to develop, test and support for Tizen, Sailfish, Windows Mobile, and multiple other phone OS’s their costs are going to escalate accordingly. Why would they want to do that when they don’t have to?
the main issue with that duopoly is privacy of the users.
i have an Iphone 13 mini and don’t have a choice. if i want to know the balance of the electronic meal tickets, to know how much i have left on the account,to know how will i pay , with tickets and with money at the supermarket, i need to use an Ios, Android, Sailfish os with Android support ( where is the privacy, what is the point ? ) where is the choice in this ? so if i want to eat i need to play ? this is just an example where I don’t have a choice. welcome to George Orwell’s 1984
Then, as I said, download the free APK Editor Studio (it is a nice little free tool for PC to extract/modify/rebuild/re-sign APK files) or similar tool, pick some random APKs and see yourself what’s in their AndroidManifest.xml files…
Android apps not having any tracking/reporting/spying mechanisms are MINORITY because even if their authors don’t put there such things intentionally, then at least most of the SDK’s and API’s used to make those apps enforce various kinds of such reporting/telemetry/analytics in exchange for being used for free (i.e. unless you choose to pay commercial licence for using them). As I wrote, tracking connections to Crashlytics, Firebase, gms (Google Mobile Services), Google “app measurement” services, and so on, are COMMON. And on top of that, in so called “free ad-powered apps” (i.e. most of them) there are plethora of references to various ad servers (most often Google and Facebook) which also are data harvesters, allegedly to adjust the ads to your liking.
I am not saying that those mechanisms steal your confidential and private data. but they do regularly track you.
Except that Android support has unrestricted access to your SFOS-side private data, like contacts, messages, etc., which a malicious Android app can freely and happily misuse. Sadly, after all those years, there is still no configuration to decide what kind of data is shared between SFOS and Android support.
Well, it is limited, but not “very”. Contacts, messaging, call logs, clipboard, etc., are quite a lot of private information to be cautious about.
@wetab73 Contacts, yes, they can be accessed by the Android part. Gallery and clipboard as well!
But call logs, messages, phone and browsing history cannot (as far as I know)!
When I was “forced” to install viber because one of my work contacts required it, I remember that the automated Viber call came in, but the app Viber could not detect it. And with the SMS method, the code was not automatically filled in the app (which is the case in Android phones.
Let alone everything else, even just contacts, gallery and clipboard are quite a lot. I mean, sharing that data should actually be considered an advantage and a highly useful function, if only there was any control over it. Sadly, not only there is no way to restrict it, but many people are not even aware that their contacts or pictures are freely accessible to Android, thinking that it is an entirely sandboxed thing.
Not really, unless you disable Internet access (or at least background data usage) for such apps, which usually at the same time cripples their actual functionality, so it is hardly acceptable. There are no other permissions directly related to controlling those metrics/statistics/tracking functions. And they are usually set to autostart on “Boot completed” or upon various events like e.g. “Battery low”, “Charger connected”, “Connectivity changed”, and so on. Let alone spying/tracking you, they also eat an awful lot of battery.
As for apps from F-Droid, it is worth to always carefully read their description. Some proudly inform that they are completely free of any tracking and ads (see e.g. the description of GPS Cockpit), whereas in case of others there is a warning that they contain “Undesired functions that you may not like” (see e.g. GPSlogger).
Anyway, it would be really great to finally get any sort of control over what is shared with the Android support. Even just simple switches to allow or forbid sharing Contacts, Gallery or Clipboard would be a huge security improvement.
My belief is that, since your data is accessible, I do not trust that ALL apps wont lay their hands on it, even if permissions are not granted. My visualization of android apps in my head is like a giant leach!
I remember setting up a FireFox browser on my old android (Android 9.0), making sure that all security settings are enabled (do not track, no cookies etc.), disabling location permission, switching off location, etc, and Google could locate my exact location (bottom of search results).
Personally, when I hear Android (even AOSP versions), I think of a giant data-sucking leach, a trap with a thousand bypasses in order to collect as much data as possible and connect them with your personal profile.
@wetab73 is right to be concerned. But my view on the security matter is this:
Since there is no absolute way to protect your personal data nowadays (every minute passing makes things even worse), I try to make it, at least, difficult for them to get them, and associate everything I do with my personal profile. At least I HOPE I do that!
this is exactly why i was questioning in the title of the thread, what’s the point ? sailfish and android support ? Russians knew it, because of this they disabled android support, not because of money, license fees and what not… Google is a data absorbing octopus
yes, google can jeopardize a whole country’s sovereignty if they wish…
Please stop trolling.
You could use Android apps with a far better control of your privacy by granting (or denying) individual access rights as pointed out above.
And for Russia:
They needed something they could control. They could have chosen AOSP as well, with an unclear future.
Still, the majority of people is using standard Google Android in Russia. AuroraOS is not available to the public.
By the way:
Nobody is forced you actually install Android support on SfOS.
How is ‘Purple Lambert’ related to Android? And hasn’t Kaspersky been banned in many countries anyways? Why trust them?
The point is that Jolla have decided that providing Android support makes their OS much more usable due to the lack of native apps - both from commercial developers and those organisations who produce apps to access their services - like banks for example.
There are some users who can do without Android support - and for them, that’s great - but there are others who can’t - like me and, of course, you:
So, in essence, you have already answered your own question.
And, as many have said in this thread - its a choice. You can use Sailfish (totally free of charge in fact) without Android support if you wish. Or not use Sailfish at all if you choose.
That’s probably all the answers you’re likely to get to this question - so probably best to move on now
Yeah, for common folk, it’s almost the same pattern everywhere on the planet! Apple (and last few years Samsung) are a “must” for status uplift!
AuroraOS was meant to be used by Russian Government personnel (correct me if I’m wrong!). For security reasons of course, since Android OS was built by the once 100% American Google (now Blackrock-ian and Vanguard-ian ).
I’m the ‘grab your coat and take your hat’, just doesn’t install android, ‘leave your troubles at the doorstep’, and ‘on the sunny side of the street’.
I wonder who is spying on me?!!! Nah. It’s all public on github.
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You don’t seem to realize, why your location was shown by Google. It was by your IP address. Firefox’s permission for location concerns GPS. And all that has nothing to do with Android nor Android App Support permissions and privacy. Be kind and stop trolling.
).