[bsdubernerd]

I wish I could upvote you more.

There's nothing about "freedom" in this post, it's all about developer's convenience. It's easier to keep local changes and push them later if the upstream is not changing much. If your upstream is a moving target, doing anything but upstream-first is only making it worse for yourself in the long run.

Nothing to add regarding bootloader locking and safetynet on top. I don't want multiple phones (I actually don't want one), but I was forced to to install my banking app 2nd factor app. I cannot root it, I cannot remove GA, safetynet prevents me to reflash it with something else, even though I theoretically can.

The best part is that at some point you can choose between:

- old/vulnerable/unpatchable android with safetynet => banking apps will be happy to work with it

or

- new fixed android which is safer, but won't pass safetynet

Yeah.. "safety".

[summm]

Instead of replacing your phone, have you thought about replacing your bank? Is there any competition that does not force this bullshit onto it's customers?

[bsdubernerd]

Yes. I couldn't. The alternatives were worse. I need remote banking (travelling too frequently). No alternative allowed plain login without a second factor.

I've seen other banks here _charging_ for the hardware OTP dongle separately. The yearly price of the dongle was more expensive than simply getting another crap phone and installing the app.