335
Google is Killing Open Source Android Apps (Here's Why)
(techlore.tv)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2025
335 points (97.7% liked)
Android
20404 readers
9 users here now
The new home of /r/Android on Lemmy and the Fediverse!
Android news, reviews, tips, and discussions about rooting, tutorials, and apps.
🔗Universal Link: !android@lemdro.id
💡Content Philosophy:
Content which benefits the community (news, rumours, and discussions) is generally allowed and is valued over content which benefits only the individual (technical questions, help buying/selling, rants, self-promotion, etc.) which will be removed if it's in violation of the rules.
Support, technical, or app related questions belong in: !askandroid@lemdro.id
For fresh communities, lemmy apps, and instance updates: !lemdroid@lemdro.id
📰Our communities below
Rules
-
Stay on topic: All posts should be related to the Android OS or ecosystem.
-
No support questions, recommendation requests, rants, or bug reports: Posts must benefit the community rather than the individual. Please post to !askandroid@lemdro.id.
-
Describe images/videos, no memes: Please include a text description when sharing images or videos. Post memes to !androidmemes@lemdro.id.
-
No self-promotion spam: Active community members can post their apps if they answer any questions in the comments. Please do not post links to your own website, YouTube, blog content, or communities.
-
No reposts or rehosted content: Share only the original source of an article, unless it's not available in English or requires logging in (like Twitter). Avoid reposting the same topic from other sources.
-
No editorializing titles: You can add the author or website's name if helpful, but keep article titles unchanged.
-
No piracy or unverified APKs: Do not share links or direct people to pirated content or unverified APKs, which may contain malicious code.
-
No unauthorized polls, bots, or giveaways: Do not create polls, use bots, or organize giveaways without first contacting mods for approval.
-
No offensive or low-effort content: Don't post offensive or unhelpful content. Keep it civil and friendly!
-
No affiliate links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
Quick Links
Our Communities
- !askandroid@lemdro.id
- !androidmemes@lemdro.id
- !techkit@lemdro.id
- !google@lemdro.id
- !nothing@lemdro.id
- !googlepixel@lemdro.id
- !xiaomi@lemdro.id
- !sony@lemdro.id
- !samsung@lemdro.id
- !galaxywatch@lemdro.id
- !oneplus@lemdro.id
- !motorola@lemdro.id
- !meta@lemdro.id
- !apple@lemdro.id
- !microsoft@lemdro.id
- !chatgpt@lemdro.id
- !bing@lemdro.id
- !reddit@lemdro.id
Lemmy App List
Chat and More
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Yeah, I'm fixing to move to either /e/OS or LineageOS. I'm leaning /e/OS, but I'm worried it's less supported than LineageOS for a newbie like myself. On a side note, I also need to go through all my Authy 2FA keys and refresh them because Authy is too locked down to work on anything but a "real" android phone. That's going to be another PITA.
I am enjoying /e/ on the Fairphone.
Im very tempted to just get a small cyber-deck setup and "call" it a day ;). https://www.clockworkpi.com/shop is VERY close to what I want.
Serously, the only people that "Call" me are spam callers. Everyone SMSs or something similar. A small linux device can do the same when you think about it. The only thing I am missing is a directions app and Ill personally be fine.
If by "directions app" you mean navigation, there are several on F-Droid. I keep seeing lots of positive talk about Organic Maps lately if you need somewhere to start.
Comaps... Organic maps had some drama about how they handle the money and control a single point of failure with the map server address. So it was forked to comaps.
Android auto support? My biggest complaint about organic maps it was always coming soon.
This is the first time I've seen a device like this, super cool. Thanks for sharing.
I honestly don't use my phone much either, it's as you say, mostly for text based messages.
Luckily I don't get spam calls because in my country we have pretty good privacy laws still:
like my number is set to private and I'm on the "Robinson" list, and if someone calls that's not in my contacts list I don't pick up. Cold calls is how they get ya, and once they know there's someone picking up, it's like sharks smelling blood.I do still use Google Pay quite a bit, but I'm fine going back to card. I don't even know if NFC works in LineageOS or /e/OS.
And like you said, as long as the phone can do some GPS stuff for navigation, that's mostly all I need. And browse the internet (IronFox) every now and then.
I don't use my phone a lot but do. I listen to podcasts and books mostly. Then navigate with it. But don't really touch the phone.
Yes, NFC works in custom roms. You can replace Google Pay with Curve Pay and others more local options. Some countries have independent payment systems that work ass contactless payment.
That's good to hear.
Google's version of android isn't the "real" one, it's the (soon to be even more) defective one.
Oof. One of the things I love about Aegis is that I can export and import encrypted MFA configs, to recover from a lost or reinstalled phone.
Yeah, I really shot myself in the foot when I originally went with Authy. I remember looking around for an alternative to Google Authenticator back in ~2014 when I got my first smartphone, and Authy was recommended at the time. Had I been more worried about FOSS back then I might've picked a better solution.
I feel you. I went months (or year?) living with several different auth apps, because I didn't want to deal with redoing them.
I'm happier now that almost everything I still use works with Aegis.
With all the glowing reviews I'll probably go with Aegis then. I had been looking at FreeOTP and FreeOTP+ as well.
I would go Lineage OS since it is more mainstream
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking as well. I just like /e/OS defaults better. But having tried LineageOS via Waydroid I think I'll be fine using that. I can probably harden it manually if needed.
Try Iodé, try crDroid, ResurrectionRemix, Havoc, or Bliss. They all have nice features to offer.
I’m running /e on a Galaxy Note 4 and it’s nice but nothing magical.
Thanks for the suggestions. I'm on an older phone, Samsung A52 5G so there's not a lot of options. Of the ones you mentioned I checked and crDroid was the only one that supported it for sure.
crDroid is a really good one. I have it on a few devices. Quite a bit older even than yours and it runs beautifully. One of my faves.
There used to be an exploit in an older version of the Authy desktop app that could let you export your 2FA keys, but i dont think you can sign in on the old desktop apps anymore (iirc the app was made in Electron and they left chromium's developer tools enabled in it, which allowed you to run your own JS or something like that). It's always a pain to move 2FA keys to a new app.
I spent the whole weekend going through every possible step. I installed Android-x86, I installed Android Studio, I installed Waydroid. Authy will not run on a rooted device.
I downloaded the Snap version of Authy Desktop v. 2.2.3, but alas, they've closed all the loopholes.
Yeah. Sucks. But I've been registrering all new 2FA keys in both Authy and KeePassXC since I moved to Linux, so hopefully it's not as bad as I think it'll be, at least I'll have KeePassXC TOTP setup for maybe >20% of my accounts.
You can hide root and all other stuff. Only thing you can't get long term is Google Device and Strong integrity.
This right here is the biggest barrier for me. I have so many authentication keys that I need that are on my Android devices and I have no idea how to transfer them to something else.
/e and others like it are just flavors. I happen to like Bliss and crDroid and several others as well. But they aren’t exactly unique, so whatever ROM will work for what you need is what you should go with.
Thanks, that's actually great to hear. Otherwise I could've spent weeks looking into the differences. Surprisingly crDroid is offering a version based on Android 16 for my device, they seem ahead of the curve.
I’ve tested quite a few and most of the differences lay in what kinds of customizations have they built into the settings module. And most of them are aesthetic or things like easy switches. There’s really not much difference at the functional level, except for some come with MicroG integrated already which simply saves you time and occasional nuisance of installing it. But really, whatever you can find that works is good. Ironically, Lineage itself is the most vanilla and least gadgety; most of the others are built on either Lineage or Cyanogen. Understandable since they were early progenitors of the custom ROM if I’m not mistaken.