[wvenable]

As a long time Apple user who has moved to Android, I wish that Apple's privacy also didn't come with a highly restricted walled garden.

I would love it if the level of Apple privacy came to Android but not if it meant losing the tiny bit of openness that Android has over Apple.

[fosco]

I find myself dreaming more and more about PostMarketOS [0] and it's potential. I cannot wait to try this out after cell and data have been integrated (I have not checked in 30 days in case it anyway had but I suspect it is at least a few months out)

[0] https://postmarketos.org/

[creatonez]

What do you think about the Librem 5 phone, who are collaborating with the KDE and GNOME people to create a consistent mobile interface where Matrix is a first-class citizen?

[fosco]

I am interested to see where the librem phone goes but I am not sold on it yet.

I am excited about it, but do not like the idea of asking for donations/funding without having design completed yet... my concern is I give money then do not like a decision they have made.... in any case I am watching it closely, what about you?

[KozmoNau7]

Which kinds of restrictions have you run into, in the Apple ecosystem?

I'm asking because I've only ever owned one Apple products (an iPad Air 2 that was gifted to me) for a short while, and I chalked up all the limitations to simply being due to being a tablet, and not an full-featured computer.

[wvenable]

If I had only Apple products, my Amazon Echo would be useless (no app in the store in my country to activate it -- I sideloaded it on Android). I run Firefox as my primary browser on my Android tablet, on my iPhone it's Safari only. I run a few different mail clients on my Android phone, on iPhone you have one default mail client. Etc.

[KozmoNau7]

The Echo thing is an Amazon problem, I think.

And I was under the impression that there were several third party email apps for iOS?

[wvenable]

The echo thing is that Amazon makes it US-only and Apple happily obliges and hides the app from me. There isn't a lot that is more anti-consumer than that.

I downloaded the Android APK and sideloaded it on my Android device. Sure, the echo doesn't support Canadian addresses (although it does have Canadian content) it otherwise works fine.

[KozmoNau7]

Again, that's an Amazon issue. Apple doesn't region restrict apps, the app developer does that when they add it to the App Store.

[wvenable]

The Apple issue is that you have no alternative. The app is similarly region restricted on the Google Play Store. If there was a Windows version, it would be similarly restricted on the Windows store. But only on iOS do I have no alternative to getting it.

I'm happily running the app on my Android device despite it being region restricted. Sweet sweet freedom.

[bigbugbag]

Your wish will never come to be as the very reason for apple's privacy is the walled garden and vendor lock-in.

Which is why I'm not getting into the apple walled prison with a garden inside.

[wvenable]

That's not true though. The OS provides most of the security (and should). I'm not against the existence of an app store is a primary install source that is vetted for quality. But I appreciate the option of being able to side-load applications and choose which applications I want to use for primary tasks like web browsing, email, etc.