Android

Google's plan requires every Android developer to register centrally, hand over government ID and prove they hold the signing key, even for apps shared outside the Play Store. Power users keep a 9-step escape hatch with a mandatory 24-hour wait.

Commenters split on whether that wait is a fair compromise or the first turn of the screw. One of them brought up tech-support scams.

Mac.apk implements the Android app environment directly on Apple Silicon macOS. Apps appear in the Dock with their own windows and draw through the GPU. It is alpha: 10 of 66 tested apps only partly work and 4 don't run.

The README warns that saved data lives inside each app's bundle, so trashing the app erases it. A commenter says the newest release moves it to Application Support.

A Universal Android Debloater issue reports that non-rooted Android 17 no longer allows ADB to uninstall certain system apps for a user.

The thread found a less dramatic workaround—disable rather than remove—while warning that carrier and vendor apps make the difference meaningful to privacy-minded owners.

The author’s Android-to-Linux switch is a case for a phone that can be inspected and changed like a general-purpose computer. HN readers pointed to alternatives such as postmarketOS and Purism hardware, but also named what does not travel cleanly: services built around Google Play Services and Wallet.

The discussion’s disagreement was not whether Android contains open-source code. It was whether the experience can remain meaningfully open as important APIs and everyday features live in Google-controlled services.

The EU age-verification project’s proposed hardware attestation would bind proof to a device credential. HN’s practical objection was immediate: a desktop Linux user may need a separate supported phone just to complete a web check.

The project points to secure-element rate limiting, hardened exploit defenses, blocked USB data while locked, and an 18-hour locked-device reboot that returns the phone to its pre-unlock state.

HN readers focused on the everyday trade-off: strong protection depends on how the phone was last used. A device left running after first unlock presents a different problem from one powered down before a border crossing.

The proposed ADB change answers a real security concern, but it treats on-device debugging as collateral damage. The author argues that an app cannot silently create the necessary ADB session: the user must already enable debugging and complete pairing or approve a prompt.

HN split between people who see a long-overdue hardening and people who see another capability disappearing from a nominally open OS.

The proposal targets on-device ADB, not ordinary USB debugging. Supporters in the thread saw a straightforward physical-security improvement; critics saw another default that removes a power-user option rather than making the risk legible.

The disagreement turns on threat model. An owner with exclusive control of an unlocked phone sees convenience; someone facing an automated inspection or temporary seizure sees an unusually accessible attack surface.

The fine punishes deals that forced Google's apps onto Android phones via pre-installation. The US ambassador to the EU warned Europe against over-regulating its way out of the AI economy.

HN's real fight was whether antitrust even fits Google. One argument: it was built for manufacturers with prices and marginal costs, and Google has neither. A European reader called that a distinctly American way to miss the point — here, antitrust was never mainly about price.

Tested so far on the Pixel 6a, 7, 7a, 8, 10a, 10 and 10 Pro Fold, with official releases coming soon and longer security-patch support than Android 16 gets.

Notably absent from the list: the Pixel 9 and 9a, which several owners in the thread are still waiting on.

The bigger flip: a privacy OS that only installs on phones from the company you're trying to leave, and Pixels aren't even sold worldwide.

Under the beige nostalgia it's a Sailfish-OS handset with Android app compatibility, reportedly sourced from an ODM, priced at $500 (about $700 in Canada).

The browser block is the flashpoint: critics note a browser is how you reach 99% of the world's information, and a firewall or DNS rule would target social media without nuking everything else.

The deeper question the thread can't answer: the people who loved a C64 and the people who loved flip phones aren't the same generation, so who exactly is this for?

A 20-phone cluster already grades a 75-student class; a 2,000-Pixel datacenter is planned for this fall. The pitch is reuse over recycling: keep the silicon working instead of smelting it.

The thread aimed at the company, not the idea. Why preach open Linux on phones, one reader asked, when Google built the platform specifically to stop you installing your own OS — and others flagged eMMC chips that simply die.

His objection is specific: a pacifist EU academic who can't support work that could enable surveillance or offensive use against EU citizens, watching "Don't Be Evil" reverse without internal debate.

The cynics weren't shy: "Translation: now I can FIRE." The defenders weren't either — if adversaries build military AI, is being able to counter it the evil, or the absence of it?