NotPractical

Please explain exactly what an iPad Pro is supposed to be used for. List out every possible use case of an iPad Pro.

I think you'll find that you will quickly exhaust the max character limit...

> You just don't think people should be allowed to make choices you don't approve of.

This is what Apple believes, not the person you're replying to?

> you're allowed access to full Linux-land

Yes, but there are strict SELinux policies forbidding you from accessing certain "dangerous" stuff like execve(), which may end up killing native terminal emulators like Termux (despite Android not forbidding dynamic code execution elsewhere, Play Store policies aside).

https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/1072

https://github.com/termux/termux-app/issues/2155

FWIW GrapheneOS is rolling it out as well: https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/114132940314692519

Looks like the GrapheneOS implementation will be less restricted and will let you run operating systems other than Debian, including Windows 11.

> If Apple let you run macOS from a tethered iPhone, it just might!

Maybe that's why? It seems that people just aren't currently capable of fathoming the concept of "one device for everything". If Apple did it though, people might realize it's a good idea. Then again, I think it's unlikely that they will, because they do want to sell you a Mac as well as an iPhone/iPad.

You might be able to turn off developer mode once it's enabled, maybe?

Anyway, apps have literally no reason to query the status of developer mode and should not be allowed to do so.

I don't think apps should be able to query the status of the OS' "integrity" either (which in practice just boils down to a "Google-approved" boolean anyway), but they do at least have somewhat legitimate reasons for wanting to do that -- Pokemon Go wants to make sure the GPS coordinates it receives aren't spoofed, for example.

But there is no reason they should be able to query the status of developer mode.

> despite app authors worst intentions

All app authors must comply with the rigorous App Store guidelines so the technical limitations on what they can do don't really matter anyway.

Add sideloading as an option and we'll get to see how secure iOS really is.

GrapheneOS is definitely secure enough to tolerate sideloading, but I don't know if iOS is or not.

One important thing to note that isn't mentioned in the article: you have to manually add the porn app's source URL to the AltStore before it'll show up there. Because you have to browse to the (adult) porn app website in Safari beforehand to get the link, it isn't any easier to access porn this way than it is by typing "porn" into the search box.

Set up parental controls on your children's devices! Apple cannot protect them from the preinstalled Safari app (one of the most popular porn apps in the world) unless you take initiative. You can also block the installation of all apps outside of the App Store using parental controls.

They had a much more convincing argument before the Play Store started forcing the same exact thing that they said was one of the main problems with F-Droid, and F-Droid started providing reproducible builds.

> The whole “choice” process is a farce in the EU.

What do you suggest? Forcing people to use DuckDuckGo against their will?

Apple donated $1 million to Trump. So did all the other big tech CEOs, who were also invited as distinguished guests to his inauguration. Conservatives like Trump generally favor big business and deregulation. Your faith in Trump doing anything meaningful about big tech is likely misplaced.

I should clarify that it isn't my area of expertise either; if you already found something in the kernel, by all means, keep looking there! I was more trying to suggest a starting place but it seems you're past that point already, good work :)

I don't imagine something like this would be implemented in the kernel? Might help to search system apps/binaries for the string displayed in the notification alert: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nathan-contino/images/main...

If you're reversing this: I was curious if Google determines if your device is "affected" using the phone's serial, or the battery's serial. I've seen reports that people who replace the battery manually outside of the program still experience diminished performance. But of course that could just be because they replaced their defective battery with another defective battery.

If you prefer reading over watching (thanks @MaximilianEmel): https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Pixel_4a_Battery_Perform...

xattrs are great, and would the obvious solution for tags/metadata on Linux too, if the syscall API didn't delete them at every opportunity; programs must be explicitly told not to do that.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Extended_attributes

That being said, it'd be cool to see a port of that CLI to Linux using user.xdg.tags. You can avoid deleting them if you're careful.

Android will block any update to an existing app that wasn't signed with the same signature. The benefit of using the developer's signature (even if the app is built by F-Droid) is that the F-Droid release of the app is not treated as a "different app" by the Android OS, and thus it can be updated by other app stores or through direct APK releases from the developer. If the user chooses to stop using F-Droid in the future, they can still receive updates through other means without uninstalling and reinstalling the app.

It also allows the user to place a little less trust on F-Droid because the developer, as well as F-Droid, must confirm any release before it can be distributed. (Now that I think of it, that probably creates an issue where if malware somehow slips in, F-Droid has no power to remove it via an automatic update. Perhaps they should have a malware response or notification system?)

More: https://f-droid.org/2023/09/03/reproducible-builds-signing-k...

From what I can understand the attack scenario is as follows:

1. User downloads an app from F-Droid that supports reproducible builds.

2. The developer's account is compromised and submits an app with a different-than-expected signing key.

3. A new user installs the app (existing users aren't affected due to Android's enforcement of using the same signing key for updates).

4. This user is (external to the app) contacted by the attacker and directed to install an update to the app from them. The update contains malicious code.

F-Droid's response is concerning but this attack scenario seems pretty unlikely to work in practice.

Thanks for clearing that up. I should've read your post more closely. To be honest I never checked the second link because I follow the Android privacy/security scene pretty closely and I was already pretty confident that if DivestOS added support for that I'd have already heard about it. My bad!

> to provide a trusted boot chain the way Apple does

Your flaw is assuming that Apple's only doing that for your security and has no ulterior motives. But iOS apps are disabled and Netflix reduces to a lower resolution when you disable System Integrity Protection on a Mac (among other things?). The trusted boot chain is clearly a DRM enforcement tool in addition to being a security feature.

https://github.com/cormiertyshawn895/RecordingIndicatorUtili...

I probably wouldn't use an alternative launcher with those caveats attached. It seems the awkward animation thing may be a consequence of an Android security feature:

> Why is the recent screen buggy?

> Unfortunately, it is because the system launcher handles the Recents screen. Therefore, if you change the default launcher, weird things can happen [...] The only way to fix this is by having a Magisk module called QuickSwitch.

https://lawnchair.app/faq/#why-is-the-recent-screen-buggy

(Can't vouch for the accuracy of this information as of $CURRENT_ANDROID_VERSION.)

They didn't have a microG implementation from what I can tell. From your first link:

> DivestOS will not include microG or the GrapheneOS' Play Services sandbox.

The main advantages these days are reducing reliance on Google [1], supporting open-source software, and extra security/privacy protections. Probably true that the average poweruser perceives less value from them than before. Some of those advantages are more ideological and less concrete/measurable.

Compared to the Pixel stock ROM, you aren't missing out on much, and you're gaining a few non-security bonus features, like unrestricted tethering, local/offline backups, call recording, and Network permission toggle [2].

[1] I don't really like the term "de-Googling" because it paints an all-or-nothing picture, despite alternative ROMs providing the option to use Google services in a safer and fairer way (fairer as in, non-Google apps are on a level playing field when it comes to OS integration).

[2] This is most certainly intended as a security/privacy feature, but I find it useful as an adblocker as well :)

Is there still the issue of third party Android launchers being treated as second-class, not allowed access to features like gesture navigation? I haven't used one in a while.

The App Store forbids any app that violates the terms of service of any company [1], regardless of the legality [2]. Since YouTube forbids alternative clients in their terms of service, Apple will not allow Grayjay onto the App Store. Even in the EU, where multiple app stores are available, you still need to follow a subset of the App Store guidelines. I looked through them and it appears that the ToS violation guideline is in fact exempt for EU apps [1], so they could release a version in the EU exclusively. However, they may be subject to the Core Technology Fee.

[1] 5.2.2, 5.2.3: https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/#int...

[2] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/federal-judge-rules-it...

The best feature of alternative YT clients IMO is "multiple subscription lists". I have so many subscriptions, when using the official YouTube app or site the "subscriptions" feed is overwhelming, and I prefer not to use the algorithmically-generated "home" feed. Since YT has kind of become the de facto "place to upload videos on the Internet", video topics are broad enough to constitute multiple web sites, and I like to be able to filter channels by topic rather than having them all grouped together.

If you're opposed to using a separate app just for this, you can achieve something similar using an RSS reader and YT's official RSS feeds (which I'm surprised they still publish tbh).

Microsoft actually reversed course on this. You can make a one-time purchase to access "developer mode" and then run whatever you want. It's been suggested that this is the reason there's been less interest in hacking the Xbox. Ironically it also means you have more computational freedom on the Xbox than on the iPhone/iPad.

> shall make available to a consumer, upon request

Do those requests have to be submitted via a Google Android or Apple iOS app with remote attestation, or can we use a web browser?

See also:

EU Digital Markets Act: Litigation Against Apple

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41970854

> Our dear friends at Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) have filed an important brief with the European Commission

I think they used the wrong link here. They linked to a document submitted to the CJEU defending the European Commission against Apple in an Apple v. EC case last month [1], which is actually the more recent news here.

The documents that the FSFE submitted to the EC (in April) regarding Apple's non-compliance can be found here (per [2]): [3], [4].

[1] Yes, apparently Apple's still pursuing a legal case against the DMA: https://curia.europa.eu/juris/fiche.jsf?id=T%3B1080%3B23%3BR...

[2] https://fsfe.org/news/2024/news-20240627-01.en.html

[3] https://edri.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Joint-submission...

[4] https://download.fsfe.org/device-neutrality/202404-FSFE-appl...