Finally an alternative to Big Tech, your new open-source mobile ecosystem

Jure Repinc@lemmy.ml to Technology@lemmy.ml – 164 points –
Finally an alternative to Big Tech, your new open-source mobile ecosystem - Mobifree | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
f-droid.org

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to engage in a mobile ecosystem outside of the watchful eye of the Big Tech giants and gatekeepers? A system that includes everything from operating systems, to app stores, to cloud services, messaging apps, email servers and more? A system that puts your privacy first, believes in a democratic approach and healthy competition, and a system that relies on open-source solutions to drive its software? Welcome to Mobifree, a human-centered, ethical alternative, that champions privacy over profit and believes in collaboration, sustainability and inclusiveness.

Everyone is locked into a mobile phone ecosystem where the terms are dictated by a handful of Big Tech companies all located in a single country. From end users looking to download and use their favorite apps, to developers who run into roadblocks when trying to get their solutions published, to governments who are increasingly using apps as a way to provide services to their citizens, we are all impacted by the gatekeeping, data tracking, and railroading Big Tech is imposing on us in the current mobile ecosystem. A new alternative is required to shape a better future. And F-Droid is excited to be a part of creating that new mobile ecosystem, together with our other partners in Mobifree.

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Fuck Android, I want Linux on my smartphone. With working alternatives for:

  • Banking apps
  • Google Pay
  • Google Maps (live traffic)
  • Android Auto
  • Google Cast

Only the EU can pull this off.

Edit: added banks.

An open alternative to Apple/Google/Samsung pay seems impossible.....

Theres the upi protocol in india thats opensource (like androids opensource)

Android is Linux. There are also open source versions of android like LineageOS and GrapheneOS. I have Graphene and it completely changed my relationship to my phone. No bloat, just what I want.

Banking apps work fine as they don't use google play services. Idk about the other features except maps, the open source version is OSMAnd, which is fine and works but takes some getting used to, and lacks many features/optimizations of Google Maps, which seems to get worse and worse every year.

Android is not Linux, it is derived from it. The two are not API compatible, and Android ripped out most of what made Linux Linux to be able to support binary blob drivers, direct Dalvik JVM support in the kernel and other funky stuff.

It's as much Linux as macOS' XNU kernel is FreeBSD.

Don't need any of those bullets, but Linux would be nice in my handy

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What the fuck is it? There's no information on that page or the linked pages, just problem statements and blather.

Seems like it's a coalition that will have app developers, app stores, maybe an OS, etc.

The Mobifree project was initiated and is coordinated by E Foundation, a European non-profit that develops of open-source mobile software (among others, /e/OS).

Trying to dig up information on the e foundation is a little difficult. The Wikipedia page mentions commercial organizations, I'm not clear if the foundation actually is a non-profit mission focused organization, or something else

Searching for "e foundation" gives only 2 results on duckduckgo, sus

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Lot of people upvoting without even checking the content. Come on guys if we want lemmy to be a good place put some effort