The PlayIntegrity situation is getting worse by the day - is there hope?

Naudiz

I'm getting a little bit worried about the current and future state of app compatibility with commercial apps that are available on PlayStore only, as more and mor companies seem to jump aboard the PlayIntegrity train.

With commercial apps I mean apps coming from "larger" companies like webshops, grocery markets, holiday booking, airlines, public transport, and so on, you get the picture. And of course last, but not least there's banking apps. Even the ones that work as of today have the sword of Damocles hanging above them.
I don't use all that many of those apps but even in my limited use case I see more and more cases where apps suddenly refuse to update, because "your device is no longer compatible with the latest version", disappear from PlayStore altogether or in other cases apps are now calling PlayIntgerity API for no apparent reason. In some cases AuroraStore is the answer - for now, but nobody knows for how long.

I'm wondering if there is any silver lining at the horizon for GrapheneOS users that rely on some of those apps. If I remember correctly, I read a while ago that Graphene considered to take legal action against Google in this matter. Is there any progress on that front?
Or what about the upcoming phone by the new OEM. Could there be hope that such an official implementation of GrapheneOS could maybe even pass PlayIntegrity?

23Sha-ger

Naudiz webshops, grocery markets, holiday booking, airlines

I use the web or PWA for all that garbage. No need to have an
app for something I rarely use and is audacious enough to ask
me to run stock for them.

This won't change for the better unless users convince those
developers to allow GOS. Some success was made before with a few of them. But in reality this is not as bad as it seems.
Except for banking. You can keep an old cheap phone for that.
Does it have to be degoogled or secure? Not really. Unless you
use your banking app daily.

lars

I think this needs societal change, probably forced on governments by well-informed citizens.

I'm not optimistic.

Here in the UK, an increasing number of state services are encouraging the use of apps. There are apps for checking your taxes, booking hospital appointments, and so on. None of these is mandatory at present, and I fear the day when they will be. I can manage without banking apps, but if I can't get a hospital appointment without an app, I'm going to be in trouble, my health being what it is.

If using smartphone apps is to be an essential part of life, then there needs to be legislation to ensure that we can do that without throwing our privacy in the garbage. I am beating on my elected representative to that effect, and I think everybody should do the same.

Lars.

Viewpoint0232

In the upcoming dystopia where everyone MUST own an approved smartphone (Apple TM or Google TM certified) I will get a separate phone (as cheap as possible) for the mobile banking and digital ID bullshit. Kind of like having a separate work phone.

Foggy

Viewpoint0232 You could do worse than having an old iPhone locked in your desk drawer. Treat it like those calculator or keyring things banks gave out - a tool for a single purpose. If you get one with non-fatal faults (cracked but working screen, broken speakers or camera, beaten up case) you can pick them up for cheap.

xxx

I fear things will get even worse.

lars

Foggy

The keyring thing I have from my bank contains no personal information, beyond what is needed to carry out the single function of the device. Or so they tell me, anyway.

Could the same be said of an old iPhone in a desk drawer? Wouldn't you have to register for some kind of account on some kind of app store as a minimum?

The idea of keeping an old phone in a desk drawer isn't going to fly, I think, when I need an app to park my car or, Heaven forefend, pay for my groceries. I'll end up with a phone full of privacy-sucking apps, and a phone for personal use without any. But if I have a phone full of privacy-sucking apps, I'm not sure how I'd be any better offer trying to cling to what privacy I have left.

I suspect the old-iPhone-in-desk-drawer approach will work for a while, but I don't see it being a long term solution. In my view, we need to campaign to get the Governments to take privacy seriously. The problem is that our elected representatives are, for the most part, not very technical, and don't seem to understand that there's an issue to address. What I mostly get told is: smartphones are cheap -- why is there a problem?

Lars.