F-Droid and the Izzydroid repo works without issues on my Nothing Phone 3. So does Aurora store. I am not rooted, just utilizing Shizuku and ADB to disable unwanted items and it has been a flawless experience. My bootloader can be unlocked though it won’t be until we can easily work around this Play Integrity garbage. But if that gets worse I’ll disable everything Google and just use or make alternatives myself. Nothing’s Essential Space and their widgets all use OpenAI calls rather than Google and it is stored only on device. I would know, I lost it all when I wiped my phone for the Beta update.
I really think Nothing gets undue hate from a loud minority. I agree it isn’t cool to add apps that you can’t uninstall from spyware companies, but:
The community backlashed and the took it back
Samsung phones, arguably the most popular Android phone by a large margin comes with LOTS of bloatware that cannot be disabled and they won’t backtrack on that
Pixel is only going to get worse as Google Play Services digs deeper into every aspect of the device and the custom rom community for them collapses due to Google removing Pixel hardware as the AOSP standard.
We’re running out of good phone options, but at least Nothing is still listening…for now of course.
I can and do currently use F-Droid. But with Google’s changes, I believe it won’t matter which brand you use, you won’t be able to use F-Droid.
This is massive issue for me as I tend to use open source alternatives for most common apps (PDF/document viewer, YT client, 2FA, health tracking, text editor and so on…).
Samsung phones, arguably the most popular Android phone by a large margin comes with LOTS of bloatware that cannot be disabled and they won’t backtrack on that
I could be wrong on this, but at least my A73 doesn’t really have that much bloatware that cannot be disabled.
I don’t have any allegiance to Samsung or Nothing or anything company.
I use Samsung for the family (we all have the same custom launcher) because I am comfortable with their settings and we have an actual Samsung retail/repair location nearby. The A series are also relatively cheap and at least in our country, we don’t have ads.
Nothing implementing adware and spyware is big black mark for them (IMO).
I’m holding out for Librephone. My current phone should last long enough… I hope.
I am probably going to have to move off Android soon (iOS is not an option, as it’s also run by corrupt American oligarchs).
F-Droid not working is unacceptable for me. Most commercial apps are complete trash and should be banned from any normal app store.
Worst comes to worst, I will have to carry two phones, a locked down Android for banking and work apps and a libre phone for personal use.
Nothing is just as bad as all other OEMs as we can see from this incident.
F-Droid and the Izzydroid repo works without issues on my Nothing Phone 3. So does Aurora store. I am not rooted, just utilizing Shizuku and ADB to disable unwanted items and it has been a flawless experience. My bootloader can be unlocked though it won’t be until we can easily work around this Play Integrity garbage. But if that gets worse I’ll disable everything Google and just use or make alternatives myself. Nothing’s Essential Space and their widgets all use OpenAI calls rather than Google and it is stored only on device. I would know, I lost it all when I wiped my phone for the Beta update.
I really think Nothing gets undue hate from a loud minority. I agree it isn’t cool to add apps that you can’t uninstall from spyware companies, but:
We’re running out of good phone options, but at least Nothing is still listening…for now of course.
I can and do currently use F-Droid. But with Google’s changes, I believe it won’t matter which brand you use, you won’t be able to use F-Droid.
This is massive issue for me as I tend to use open source alternatives for most common apps (PDF/document viewer, YT client, 2FA, health tracking, text editor and so on…).
I could be wrong on this, but at least my A73 doesn’t really have that much bloatware that cannot be disabled.
I don’t have any allegiance to Samsung or Nothing or anything company.
I use Samsung for the family (we all have the same custom launcher) because I am comfortable with their settings and we have an actual Samsung retail/repair location nearby. The A series are also relatively cheap and at least in our country, we don’t have ads.
Nothing implementing adware and spyware is big black mark for them (IMO).
GrapheneOS is still a good alternative I think, you’ll be able to use f-droid on it still
But you have to pay Google for the Pixel. Still, it is by far the best option out there. I got mine second hand and can recommend
agreed, that part feels weird