Default Phone/SMS/Contact Apps 🤮

DeletedUser29

matchboxbananasynergy Replacing these AOSP apps in the long run is wanted, but the resources to not only develop but keep those apps maintained beyond that is not insignificant, which is why it hasn't been done yet, as the team has prioritized working on features like Sandboxed Google Play, Storage Scopes, Contact Scopes and others.

You are free to install any apps you want in their place. The team adopting 3rd party apps isn't a solution because those apps typically have incompatible licensing, a different approach to security (or a lack thereof) or other issues. The solution will be for the project to design its own set of apps, but this won't happen overnight.

MoonshineMidnight

maximus87 I mean not secure in that when using Android 14 only on my Pixel 6 it is not secure from the prying eyes of Google and Playstore apps. Yes, the phone itself is secure, as it is with my Pixel 6a running GOS - which is also secure from Google and Playstore apps as I only use FOSS apps on my GOS 6a.

lugerun

matchboxbananasynergy Correct me if i'm wrong but lineageos seems to be using newer versions of the aosp apps that look much better. Couldn't the same apps be used in gos?

DeletedUser19

lugerun do you got github links for those apps?

bookreader

lugerun No, they just add their own patches on top of the exact same upstream applications. The problem with using their applications is that all of the changes would have to be audited for security, and I promise you that they would require very substantial rewrite to make them comply with even very basic security requirements. In particular, a lot of the dialer changes are downright dangerous and allow their users to be tracked by 3rd party services for things like caller id lookup. Lineageos is for "features", not security.

[deleted]

Tuba I do not use signal but i have read signal has deprecated sms support. This is not true?

DaRon

[deleted] yes, they dumped the SMS support.
You can read here, why: https://signal.org/blog/sms-removal-android/

hdishs

Why dont just fork the simple apps made by Simple Mobile tools ? Their applications have a good design and you can give them the security extras that you want, more easy than make new aplications.

bookreader

hdishs Probably because their programs are overly simple to the point where they are ineffective. In addition, every line of code would have to be audited for security before you could include them in a privileged way.

AlanZ

hdishs
The Simple Mobile apps are hideous. Please don't use them as a base for anything.

[deleted]

I only use phone app 2-3 times per week and messages app the same number of times.
Really I don't need much more than the included by stock GOS apps

Dumdum

AlanZ The Simple Mobile apps are hideous.

They're really not. I don't know why you keep saying this.

[deleted]

I think you need your eyes checked if you think Simple apps are ugly.
And theres no better gallery app than Tibor's, which is an objective statement said by God himself.

AlanZ

[deleted]
No, I most certainty don't. They are cartoonish, the colors are tacky, they are barely anything more than an exercise in mediocrity. You need to raise your standards. Otherwise, I think you are a cool cat : )

DeletedUser28

The only* default app that is really unusable is the AOSP Gallery app in my opinion. The others are basic but do the job fine.

(* and Vanadium until it gets uBlock Origin ;) )

doublefree

AlanZ then it must be your wallpaper ;)
They switched to Material You some month ago. I agree that the old orange-grey default does not look good.

[deleted]

AlanZ I respectfully disagree. Maybe you dont like orange. You can change it in settings.

randomname

The apps except the gallery don't look that ugly or amateurish to me, it is the material design version 1 or 2, the same design that google used in their apps previously, now they use version 3, Plus i don't spend much time in such apps, i m more worried about some apps like sms targeting old an sdk

MarsTrue

+1 for fossify gallery. I must have tried a dozen gallery apps and this one is the most intuitive, customizable and fluid, even with thousands of photos and videos.

https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Gallery

schweizer

Simpe Mobile Tools has been sold and now the apps are full of ads or overly expensive. However there is now fossify phone and contacts that are a fork of the old SMT apps. They are ad-free and seem to work fine. I especcially like the ability to move contacts from one address book to another. And in the call history I directly see how long a call lasted.

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