You are absolutely correct, you got both of them right!

Say whatever you want, Snowden’s a fucking hero for sharing this.

It is not uncommon to find “Wine wrappers” to actually work better than on Windows itself.

Definitely try “Read You”! It utilises Material You, has a sick UI and the dev is really nice. I think there are a lot of features, but I’ve just left almost everything on default.

How is it cheaper though? I don’t support death penalty, but I fail to see how it’s cheaper to keep them alive?

All I can recommend is to delete all the fingerprints and just use the PIN at this point.

It should be the same fingerprint reader across the whole lineup, so I dont know what’s happened to yours. Mine works fine, not as fast as some ultrasonic counterparts, but I have no issue with that coming from iPhone Xs.

I get it, I have a similar situation, except since I came back to Android I have been nothing but happy.

I used to be into running custom stuff on Android before my switch to an iPhone. And I, too, have found it frustrating to be forced to respect Apple’s rules.

Now, however, I have a Pixel 7 and it’s been a perfect experience so far. Running the stock OS non-rooted, it finally feels like my phone.

To put it simply, a “custom ROM” in this context means a modified version of Android. Many of these versions are based on AOSP (Android Open-Source Project), which is still maintained by Google, but is in fact open-source and doesn’t include Google services. Therefore, there is a possibility to use Android phones (given you have one with unlockable bootloader) without any Google apps or account.

Trust me, if you care about what’s happening to Google and YouTube right now, you won’t love what has been happening to Apple and it’s products for the last decade or so.

It shouldn’t have been a while

Thanks! I’ve tried rooted stock for a while, but gave it up because the updates weren’t showing up. I didn’t know you could use any FOSS solutions to location services, I’ll have to research it more. I’ll give it a try once I finally decide to unlock the bootloader (I’ve relocked it afterwards, a big mistake).

Thank you for the extensive reply! This covers the question perfectly. Your comment made me realize that I am not ready to ditch some services at this point in my life. The good thing about privacy is that your decision is very rarely black or white. You can gradually flow towards more private solutions over time, giving up and replacing things you use little by little.

My bank doesn’t require a physical card and I don’t have it, checkmate xD

Yeah, I don’t get why you’rr getting downvoted, I completely agree with you. Once you’ve tried it, there’s no coming back, that’s why microG and other workarounds exist.

It’s good to know, thank you. Is GPay completely out of limits on Calyx (or any ROM in general)?

Great to hear that! I am very tempted to try Calyx, especially now that it has A14 builds for panther. Do you use GPay by any chance? If so, does it work consistently throughout updates?

Exactly what I am facing right now. I consider myself a privacy-concious person, but there is just no way of getting some things working consistently with open-source ROMs. The only major factor for me is GPay, which has become the only way I pay for things nowadays.

They’ve been doing it for years, but in slightly different ways. Chances are you remember one of their numerous pathetic attempts to prevent switching from their spyware.

As much as I hate to admit, it is not quite ready for me yet. Don’t get me wrong, a massive amount of work has been done over the past two years, but a lot of basic functionality is still lacking. In fact, you may find it ready for daily usage yourself, given that you are not planning on using unsupported features.

DP Alt mode is not supported yet, therefore any external monitor is basically out of reach while using Linux. Built-in speakers, microphone, and camera do not work. Video drivers only cover OpenGL versions up to 3.1, which is HUGE if you think about it, but might still not be enough for someone coming from MacOS. Battery life is not ideal, though it is still better than most of Windows laptops.

Look through the Feature Support list to get the whole picture.

What’s also worth noting is that most of those caveats do not apply to Mac mini, as HDMI out is already supported and, obviously, it doesn’t have any peripherals built-in.