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Amen to that. I finally had to make the switch, too. The ads and Javascript everywhere were just too much to bear on my tiny screen. There's even a version of NoScript for mobile Firefox .
I tried AdBlock Plus but it broke updates for MedScape and a couple other apps that I need. The Firefox addon version works like a charm, though.

I'm happy with osmand

I recently completely reset/reformatted my 2012 Nexus 7 and put CyanogenMod's CM12 ("Lollipop") nightly on it. I intentionally did NOT install the "gapps" (Google apps) add-on.

So far, my own 2012 Nexus 7 has been working great, better even than it was with CM11 ("Key Lime Pie"/Android 4.4.4) with all the Google bloat.

Google has been shoving more and more of the "Android" experience into their apps instead of the OS. The not only are the "apps" and "services" getting more digitally obese, but there seem to be more and more of them every release, just loading up and clogging up ram and occasionally "updating" themselves online doing who-knows-what.

I feel like I saw similar (though less obvious) improvements in performance with previous now-"obsolete" devices that I've similarly purged and custom-ROMmed without the Google Search/Play/Music/Plus/News-And-Weather/Mail/Now/etc.

You're kind of stuck with it if you're dependent on apps that are only available from the Google Play store, but I'm finding I can get everything I need from f-droid instead, or through the web browser, at least so far (and for my own needs).

Anyway, point is, so far it doesn't seem to me like it's really "Lollipop" that the 2012 N7 has a problem with...

This is slashdot. But look at the good side - you made the front page.

Sure, I am happy for GCompris to be on the front page and was ready for harsh comments.

Do you consider Android to be proprietary - just wondering.

Part or Android is free software but for sure the store is not. We are looking for contributors willing to help us to package GCompris on F-Droid.org which is fully free software compliant. It let people using a fully free Android system to get applications outside the Google store and which are guaranteed to be free.

Also, I'll email you with a correct translation from the original french

Great, your patch will be welcome.

You might be interested in F-Droid. It's a FLOSS app store. https://f-droid.org/

The ownCloud sync client for Android is free from the F-Droid repository.

I've been quite pleased with ownCloud and it's been getting better over the year+ I've been using it, though admittedly I don't do too much with groups, especially as a non-admin. I don't remember (much) of Seafile, so it was probably immature last time I was looking, but thanks to your recommendation I'll check it out in more depth.

I just don't understand how people that are a little bit tech savvy cope with ads. The first things I do on a new computer (mine or a relative/friend)is:

  - install Adblock Plus on all the browsers that support it;

  - tweak the host file to block know ads/malware domains
I haven't seen an ad in years, the web feels so quiet when you browse like that, without popups, flashes, animations, everyone crying for your attention...
Android? Rooted smartphone/tablet? No problem! Here is AdAway, basically tweaking the hosts file on the Android Linux, the same way that you do on a Windows PC.
Apple still eludes me, as my only iOS device, an iPad2 is not jailbroken, so I don't really know what's out there for it, so I still see lots of ads when browsing with it... Maybe that's the reason it's the device I do the least browsing with..

I recommend flashing your router with DDWRT if it is available to you, and then finding the walkthroughs to use that hostfile at the router level as an init script.
Even a cheap Netgear might do (research exact models on their official list first), if you want to slave it as an access point that will be blocking ads for everything on your home network. I personally have some quirks with the script where it is only running manually on every boot, but it is great to see even my way-outdated cheap devices fail to grab ads, without needing to configure each OS or browser-complement list too much.

Most of what browsers waste resources on (besides video streams, which are heavy) will fall into ad and tracking calls.
A central ad-blocking system really speeds up mobile browsing experience and probably has a small effect on bandwidth, battery live and my patience.

I just don't understand how people that are a little bit tech savvy cope with ads. The first things I do on a new computer (mine or a relative/friend)is:
  - install Adblock Plus on all the browsers that support it;
  - tweak the host file to block know ads/malware domains
I haven't seen an ad in years, the web feels so quiet when you browse like that, without popups, flashes, animations, everyone crying for your attention...
Android? Rooted smartphone/tablet? No problem! Here is AdAway, basically tweaking the hosts file on the Android Linux, the same way that you do on a Windows PC.
Apple still eludes me, as my only iOS device, an iPad2 is not jailbroken, so I don't really know what's out there for it, so I still see lots of ads when browsing with it... Maybe that's the reason it's the device I do the least browsing with..

This.

That's why I'm sticking with OpenKeychain. Don't trust the Google App store. Get it on F-Droid

Why does anyone install an app on Android that didn't come from F-Droid?

Aside from the fact that I don't like any of the games F-Droid has to offer.

It's because...

Wait for it, wait for it...

...I don't really care. Believe it or not, but not everyone is as privacy conscious as you are.

I'm really surprised that mine is the first comment to mention F-Droid.
Why does anyone install an app on Android that didn't come from F-Droid?

While obviously a joke, it's still a good point. I use a pen and paper to work out the algorithms, and maybe some API stuff, of my programs before I sit down at a computer. Computers are great, but it's difficult to draw finite automata as quickly with either code or some drawing program.

The closest digital alternative I've found is Quill on a tablet, but paper's battery lasts longer.

...I'm going to trust a link to install software on Android from outside of the Play store?

I think not.

Clearly you've never heard of the F-Droid project. Go read up on it.

You might try f-droid instead. There you only get FLOSS software, and the devs won't do grant such things to the apps. Android isn't bad. Its only the play store.

why something like a Flashlight needs access to my messages and contacts has always been a mystery.

It doesn't.

F-Droid unaffected.

Install XposedFramework:
http://repo.xposed.info/module... ...then the Xprivacy module.

This isn't a great option for many, however, as you need root access. It does give you extremely fine-grained control over permissions, and includes options like randomizing (on each boot) the garbage data returned to apps to keep them happy.

Xposed is great; the GravityBox module, for example, has a ton of interesting and useful functions, like setting your cellular radio to 2G when connected to wifi, a mode to have an increasing ring, a network speed indicator, etc.

While I'm plugging Android software I use: the F-Droid open source repository is full of nice stuff (like AdAway.)

https://f-droid.org/

Almost all of the apps I have installed on my Android phone are from F-Droid. I tried setting it up without a Google account at all, but there was one app (irritatingly, my Internet banking one) that required a Play Store account. I also have the Amazon AppStore installed for its free app of the day thing (it was NeoCal a few days ago, which is a really nice calculator app, but I use a calculator so rarely that I'd probably never have bought it).

The biggest limitation with iOS for me though is it's lack of some decent equivalent of OSMAnd - a map app that lets me download entire countries worth of vector maps and can do offline navigation, so I won't run up huge bills using it when abroad.

Even if my carrier gave me the phone, and didn't charge for service, it still wouldn't be less than what I spent on apps.

There is a really simple solution to all these problems on Android: don't enter any payment details. No, you won't be able to buy anything on your phone. What have you lost? Nothing of value. What do you gain? Peace of mind. Freedom. No more bill shock, at least not from that side of the equation.

Take it one step further for even more freedom: remove - or disable - the play store and install F-Droid. It only holds a tiny fraction of the number of apps you'll find on the play store, but everything there is free software. This is both reassuring for those who care about what they run on their devices as well as handy for those who want to get into Android software development - just look at how other did it to get a head start.

It's possible to download Android apk's at developers sites as well as other places,
be nice to scan them for malware before transferring/installing them to the Android.

An example is AdAway which I assume is safe from malware, you can't download this from play.google.com
https://f-droid.org/repository...

I've Googled this query and have gotten no results, figure I'd hit on a geek :}

Please, one of the big ones needs to be our knight in shining armor and make an Android phone without all the Google tie-ins. Make your own app-store that doesn't require a login or GUID from users, only from authors. Make a map and navigation app based on OSM. Include offline calendar and to-do lists, with optional syncing to a computer or an open source online service. Resist the urge to replace Google's apps with your own proprietary apps. Just make a phone worth buying.

You mean a Kindle?

Or you can just buy a phone that has good Cynogenmod support and stick with the F-Droid open source app repository.

Doesn't matter if it's proprietary software or just adware you want to cut back on (or possibly even eliminate almost entirely if using Replicant), F-droid has you covered. It's not that hard to give Google Apps the flick with all the alternative free software out there, if one can be motivated to do so.

It is true that users don't bother much with the granularity of permissions, but it doesn't mean they shouldn't know the reason a given permission is required in the first place.
F-Droid tries to address this, for example. For each permission, there is a short explanation that the developer (I presume) has to write on why it is required.
Not perfect, but it's better than Google Play, in my opinion.

I have to call BS on this.

I have a ** NEXUS 5 ** and don't have a google account, and have no restrictions whatsoever (unless not using google play is considered a restriction - I consider it a feature).

F-Droid is your friend.

What if the code is free but the artistic content is not?

A free game engine is useless without a "mission pack" of artistic content. For example, a Doom source port is useless without WADs. If all mission packs for a given engine are non-free, the game will be excluded from repositories because it requires a non-free component in order to be useful. For example, a free video game engine uploaded to F-Droid that requires or strongly recommends the use of non-free mission packs would be marked with the NonFreeAdd antifeature, and applications with antifeatures were hidden by default last time I checked. Plenty of games are listed here with "no free data" or the like. Nor does Fedora package emulators because they require ROMs, and though free ROMs exist (such as some I've developed myself), someone on fedora-legal told me there aren't enough free ROMs to outweigh the risk of a potential Nintendo v. Red Hat.

Besides, how should a developer deter unlawful copying of the artistic content if the engine is free?

> No kidding. I had to look through dozens of "flashlight" apps
> to find one that didn't want my calendar, SMS, internet access,
> and GPS.

F-Droid is your friend.

As always, FOSS means you don't have to put up with the bullshit.

F-Droid build all apps they ship from source, including some sort
of grep filter on permissions to catch (and then remove) any code
which is not in the user's best interest, or at minimum flag and
explain the issue in detail to let you decide for yourself.
Otherwise-good apps with flagrant ad-ware or cripple-ware in it
simply gets patched.

Encrypting your stuff is all good and nice, but you should use a piece of software that has been written using established secure coding standards. Just because it's open source doesn't mean it's also secure (cf. PHP, OpenSSL). Rather, being open source is a necessary, but not a sufficient criterion in the evaluation of security-critical applications.

Given the track record of this particular application, I'm a bit skeptical whether one should really use it for anything serious.

What app do u make?(desperately seeking non-evil android apps)

Whenever I'm looking for an app of some kind, I check F-Droid first.

I just recently got a Nexus 5 to replace my aging Nokia N9 and was amazed by the near complete lack of simple tools that don't want access to your data in return. For the N9, there were a ton of useful free open source tools provided by the community over at maemo.org. That community was great. Every time I thought that there was something that was missing or new capability I wanted, I'd look there and find an app that already exists or a group of people in the process of building it.

The contrast between that experience and the excessive commercialism of Android was startling. After looking around for a while I did find this Simple LED Widget that is just what it says and doesn't require any unnecessary permissions, but I had to sift through dozens of apps like the one in the TFA.

Is there anything even close to maemo.org for Android? I've heard some good things about F-Droid, but I haven't looked into it enough yet to know if it's the best option.

Actually, there is one more alternative - don't use "free" apps.

I got my first Android phone last month, and so far I'm ignoring Google Play. I don't even have a gmail account.
I'm happy with the apps I get from F-Droid and Google Code.
All free software, and nothing weird going on.

1) Uninstall this app
2) Install F-Droid. Use that as your go-to source for apps.
3) Use a spyware-free flashlight app from there.

http://f-droid.org/

http://f-droid.org/ is full of opensource goodies, and has a nice package manager.

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=flashlight&fdid=com.scottmain.android.searchlight

F-Droid is the open source store. Pleanty of good apps there that do just about anything you'd need an app to do, for free as in beer and free as in speach.

https://f-droid.org/

That's difficult. Filemanagers require access to everything plus full network access for ads. I have a hard job trusting programs such as that.

Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ. If you're that paranoid you should just go "Stallman Style" and go without any mobile phone at all and start digesting your own toejam. Maybe if you spent less time trolling Wayland articles you would have known about Total Commander. It's un-crippled Shareware with no time limit, but you're a cheap British asshole who's also a stickler for source code, so you might want to head over to F-Droid and find a half-baked alternative that you can feel smug about.

> then it's time to move on to another app

another app: grab OsmAnd~ from F-Droid

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=osmand&fdid=net.osmand.plus

go free, ditch the cloud, and the bullshit magically stops

This. Cyanogenmod and derivatives are probably the best way to get rid of crapware and get really in control of what is in your phone. And you can even install F-Droid on it as market replacement to have a fully open source android OS and apps.

As another poster pointed out, Android already is running the Linux kernel. If you want the GNU-ecosystem OS on top of the kernel all you have to do is install a chroot environment like "Lil' Debi" and you're done. (requires root)

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=info.guardianproject.lildebi&fdpage=13

Same goes for those very nice and very cheap long-life Chromebooks.

People give RMS lots of grief for calling "it" GNU/Linux, but he ain't no fool. Linux can be many things besides the kernel for the GNU OS, and see the Debian ports for the familiar GNU environment running on BSD, and yes, Hurd kernels instead of the Linux one.

The market, google apps, bundled apps with your phones, and, well, most of what can be installed with the market are not open source, in fact the AOSP versions of google apps lacks some functionality. With cyanogenmod and f-droid as market you get something closer to being open source with the exception that you pointed out.

How much freer could Android be? The entire platform is open source.

The only thing proprietary are the video drivers and that's because GPU vendors are douche bags.

....Android is a mix of a whole bunch of licenses. That are likely to be APACHE (Source for hoycomb anyone) as much as they under GPL...and even Linux is famously a slightly amended GPL License. The first party applications...which in my opinion are what makes Android, are not only proprietary, they work is actually done remotely in the cloud, something RMS speaks badly about for reasons.

That said if you really want to know about free from the lad himself this is Dick on http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/android-and-users-freedom.html Android which discusses all kind of interesting things including...Replicant a truly free android. As a pleasant aside https://f-droid.org/ is an open source app store with open source programs, a must for those more careful with there software, and another feather in the cap of the awesome Android.

a free/cheap pulse monitor simply impossible

I don't think phones need to be attached to anything to do that, but that's beside the point, as how I read the document things such as this heart rate monitor

...might be considered a device that needs to register, but might not, and what makes the difference is entirely how it is marketed, that is what claims are made of it. In which case small demo apps like this might be able to just get away with disclaimers that state "for demo purposes only." Which, without some level of QA, is pretty much all you should be using them for.

f-droid.org is an alternative to Google Play that's full of open source Android software

By default, F-Droid hides any application that includes antifeatures. So how should one fund the development and maintenance of an open-source Android application, especially a game, without including antifeatures? The business models I've always been told about for open-source games are to make the code open-source but add advertisements (antifeature Ads), or do as Id Software does and make the code open-source but restrict the distribution of the meshes, textures, maps, audio, etc. on which it relies (antifeature NonFreeAdd).

But basically no individuals are equipped to leverage Android on their own.

Applications are the easy bit. See F-Droid. The hard part is getting device drivers for your hardware...

Also in some point, for some models, will be released Ubuntu Touch, and maybe you can install on your phone Firefox OS too. Those uses android's boot (open source code, but not sure about device drivers), but what runs over there is afaik fully open source.

F-Droid has a pretty good catalog nowadays. I've eliminated everything proprietary from my phone life

Look at [these games] for examples of commercial free software but not necessarily free culture.

Reliance on proprietary data appears to mean that the developer has to list anti-features. For example, an application distributed as free software that relies on non-free assets would need the NonFreeAdd anti-feature. The F-Droid client defaults to hiding all apps with anti-features. How many people set it to show apps with anti-features?

F-Droid has a pretty good catalog nowadays. I've eliminated everything proprietary from my phone life except for Google Maps and those pesky hardware drivers. Osmand is pretty close to replacing Maps too... navigation basically works (even offline, although I've yet to try using it for more than echoing routes I already know) but POI searching is hit and miss (e.g. when searching for my bank it says the closest location is 17mi away, when there's one about 3mi away). It's actually nicer in a number of ways: maps and POI data can be stored offline (I have my entire state stored, what's 400M when you've got a 16G SD card?), you can record GPX routes (without eating tons of battery even), navigation can be simulated, it has a handy elevation and distance tool (great for biking), ...

Check out F-Droid. While they don't have nearly as much as the Google Play store, everything they do have is open source and stripped of extraneous permissions and libraries.

You can still use android. You just have to use an AOSP implementation without Google Apps. This is the beauty of open source.

Personally I'd recommend FDroid with Cyanogen Mod. It's an open source repository of android apps. Theres lot's of trustworthy 3rd party repositories you can add to it, and you could even make your own.

Many popular proprietary android apps also offer direct apk downloads from their website. It's actually easier than you might think to survive on android without a google account and google play.