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Comment by drnick1 | Hacker News Reader

> Play Services can either be run sandboxed or emulated with microG.

Play Services is absolutely not needed for a usable Android experience. I am running GrapheneOS without any Google crap and you could not pay me to do so.

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Many bank apps, and apps to interact with official state services, usually depend on Play Services. Sometimes it is all banks in one's country, so no, one can't just "switch to another bank" as US Americans on HN often assume.

Can't speak for all countries ofc, but the happy path isn't just the US. I've heard positive reports in Europe where banking apps work without Play services more often than not, and if it doesn't some banks will actually change implemented policy once a customer complains.

İ think this is the case in a small number of European countries and really it should change. İn two asian countries İ do business in, and one middle eastern one, the bank apps now provide a third harmonyOS alternative. The American banks I've used don't require an app, and HK banks will provide a digital token generator which is actually my preferred way. İ think that if it's the case you are tied to one foreign third party company to do banking it should be really something you protest about strongly and change it.

You can always just have a burner android phone in a drawer somewhere and operate it via remote desktop from a device you actually control

Many bank apps disable such remote access features in the name of security.

So switch the bank. Worked for me.

I know replying to these threads is your idée fixe, but you should at least read them fully before replying.

I don't see any problem with my reply. My idée fixe is not replying but freedom, and whenever people suffer from lack of it and it's possible to fight back, I suggest something.

This thread is relevant. See quote "in the name of security", correctly implying that it is not a good reason and that users should control their devices.

If you just look at the whole thread, you'll see a higher-level comment noting that in some countries, all banks require the same proprietary Android, and so "switching banks" is not a solution. Your suggestion was tone-deaf as it so often is.

You are probably right, although a number of Europeans on HN confirmed that it's possible to fix this by switching banks. Thanks for the remark. It would be helpful if you could name the country, so I (or somebody else) could verify or disprove your claim.

Really? I have yet to see an app that doesn't work with adb/scrcpy, even the ones with google attestation. Worst case, I suppose it's time for a camera pointed at the screen and a plotter with a stylus. (Until they start watching the front camera lol)

I was saying this just to be ahead of all the comments that usually come up with "yeah, but Google has increasingly put new APIs in Play Services, so AOSP is worthless".

I used to do this, but an increasing number of apps fail to work without play services. Luckily Google still lets you create accounts on android phones, so you can create a fresh account with a random name for every phone, and take care you don't give it access to something identifiable.

> and take care you don't give it access to something identifiable.

Like IP address and location?

I know it is entirely possible for Google to uniquely identify me for each account, but I choose to believe they don't go out of their way to use EVERY possible information about you to track you and only use things that you "accept" via their EULAs, like syncing contacts or logging in to the same service with both accounts, etc.

It works for you, but I doubt your experience and needs are typical of a normal smartphone user.

I also run LineageOS with no Play Services (and have for years), but it is missing some pretty noteworthy stuff: Google Maps, Google Pay, etc.

OsmAnd and a credit card are basically perfect substitutes for Google Maps and Google Pay.

> Google Maps, Google Pay

That's not the Android experience, that's the Google experience.

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