Ask Android

2237 readers

2 users here now

A place to ask your questions and seek help related to your Android device and the Android ecosystem.

Whether you're looking for app recommendations, phone buying advice, or want to explore rooting and tutorials, this is the place for you!

Rules

Be descriptive: Help us help you by providing as many details as you can.
Be patient: You're getting free help from Internet strangers, so you may have to wait for an answer.
Be helpful: If someone asks you for more information, tell us what you can. If someone asks you for a screenshot, please provide one!
Be nice: Treat others with respect, even if you don't agree with their advice. Accordingly, you should expect others to be nice to you as well. Report intentionally rude answers.
No piracy: Sharing or discussing pirated content is strictly prohibited. Do not ask others for a paid app or about how to acquire one.
No affiliate/marketing links: Posting affiliate links is not allowed.
No URL shorteners: These can hide the true location of the page and lead people to malicious places.
No lockscreen bypasses: Please do not comment, link, or assist with bypassing lock screens or factory reset protection.
No cross-posting: Please take the time to make a proper post instead of cross-posting.

Other Communities

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

is android an open source linux distro technically?? (lemmy.today)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

7 comments fedilink hide all child comments

i know some parts of it are proprietary and you need google services for it to work properly but if you don't need any of that and only rely on say fdroid apps and just use it without a google account and all of those things could android still be considered that?? i like android so much and i think it's an amazing fully american operating system, great!! so technically it is? and i know about grapheneos and other roms but what about stock android? stock android is still mostly open source and free (well gratis), and linux

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I don't know anything. Why not the spirit?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

While Android is an free and open-source operating system, it doesn't follow the Free Software philosophy of sharing information. Android is becoming increasingly locked-down to those without technical expertise, to the point where the only way to get a truly "open" Android phone is to buy a Pixel.

In other words, Google wants to reap all the benefits of making Android open source, but they don't seem to want to contribute or give back to the community, which is the entire spirit of open source.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago (3 children)

This seems backwards. Isn't Pixel the Google phone? What you're saying is all other other phone makers besides Google are reaping the benefits while giving nothing back, isn't it?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 5 days ago

I wanted to correct myself, as I forgot that Google owns Android, the operating system. So it was not wrong for him to say that.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago

I think what he's saying is that if you want to replace the stock Google Android OS on a phone with a more security featured open souce version of Android then there's plenty of support for doing this with a Pixel... which ironically is engineered by Google, so thus Google reaps the rewards whether you flash it with a new operating system or not.

That said, I just flashed my new Motorola phone with CalyxOS which was easier to do than dealing with all the bullshit of booting up the phone for the first time just to activate developer priveledges in order to flash it.

So far I'm very happy with Calyx. No issues. Some nice security features.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

~~Yes, he meant to say Android in the last section~~

Edit: I forgot that Google owns Android.