Although i use android i really, really don’t want Google stuff on my pc. I use android because it’s the only viable choice on mobile. But on pc I’ll avoid chromium as much a i can. And having installed many roms the hard way before i saw no reason to make an exception.

Plus i don’t like the browser doing something like that where i don’t know what it’s doing. If it was on firefox maybe i would trust it more, but even then…

I use my phone a lot lot. It’s a terrible addiction. But yeah, I’m not the usual user and my needs are different.

But I disagree with “spending twice the amount of time”. I’ve never seen that except on evil stuff that just handicaps the website on mobile for no reason other than “I’ll force you to use my app through pain”, when the desktop site is as good or even better than the app. And if it’s one of those companies, to me it’s a red flag. It’s not a service I’m using, it’s a company trying to abuse me as far as they can and I’ll be dumb if I continue on that abusive relationship and not break up.

But ending an abusive relationship is a personal choice. But to me they are inflicting that pain on them selves.

Oh, a good example is reddit. The mobile website experience is painful for no reason other than to force me to use their shitty app to steal more from me.

And what do you know? That was a red flag and that is a company I should have tried my best to avoid for that reason and many others. And now here I am on Lemmy, happier, and not forced a shitty app down my throat.

Ah, I didn’t do it that way… I think. I can’t remember. I certainly remember not wanting to because I don’t trust that way. Also I use firefox and I doubted it would work. I don’t know.

You are not going to like the answer, but… I just don’t do banking on a phone. I never did. Never trusted something that important on a device I’m carry around all the time. I do it on the desktop, which has an operating system I trust (Linux), that can’t get on anyone else’s hand.

I’m sorry. I wish I could give a solution. This has never been a problem to me but I understand it’s a massive thing for a lot of people.

On a more complicated option, the answer is: it depends. If you have a pixel with grapheneOS and you relocked the phone, I think a lot of bank apps will work. Or maybe a different bank doesn’t require that, or allows you to do it on the browser. I usually ask the bank before signing in if they will require me to use an app. If they do, I don’t chose them.

The reasons to require the user to use the app are almost always evil, anti-user, and shows it’s an organization that will fuck you up down the line, so it’s a good filter for me. A red flag.

But yeah, sorry. I’m just the wrong person to ask. Maybe someone else who looked into the subject can suggest something. I never even bothered finding a solution because I never saw a problem.

I agree. It’s just that you said it’s easy.

Maybe you were referring to unlocking the phone, which is really easy on stock android if you know how.

The day we don’t have the choice anymore is the day i stop using android. Or smart phones at all if the alternative is apple.

One thing i don’t usually see people mentioning is that personal data is money. Money is power. Do you want to give that company more power?

I absolutely do not want to make apple more powerful. With Android i can at least choose a company i dislike less, or even like, and give the power to then. Then i can even remove Google from the phone and not give them power. It may not be easy but it’s in the license of Android, while not so with Apple.

And that applies to every thing related to privacy to me. Do i want to make this company powerful? No? Is there an alternative? Then I’ll try that if i can.

If it’s too difficult to find an alternative i try to live with it. It depends on how much i hate the company and how hard is it to change.

My own privacy, funny enough, is not really that important to me.

Just like Ulrich thinking installing graphene being easy is just his experience, that is just your experience. I don’t have a single app that needs google play and that’s one thing i find it easy.

Whatever would need it i just use their website. Sure they try a lot to annoy you into using their useless app but it’s doable and becomes an incentive to find a better service.

As a GrapheneOS user, and someone who hates apple and would rather not have a phone than bend to apple, and while i agree with most of what you said, i would not expect the majority of the users to be able to install graphene. I don’t personally know anyone i would expect to be able to do by themselves. It’s easy for you. It wasn’t super easy for me, it would be difficult for most people.