<story><title>Android launches yet another way to spy on users with “Privacy Sandbox” beta</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/googles-privacy-sandbox-advertising-system-arrives-on-android-in-beta/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>madduci</author><text>After all the crap that Google put in Android, I still don&amp;#x27;t understand why some other alternative ecosystems like Ubuntu Phone or GrapheneOS or Mankato (PinePhone) aren&amp;#x27;t attractive for users and developers.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s holding everyone back? I understand that without users there won&amp;#x27;t be apps, but also without apps there won&amp;#x27;t be users, since they offer just the basics.&lt;p&gt;Imagine if TikTok or WhatsApp have had an app for those others OSes</text></item><item><author>JohnFen</author><text>I have a bunch of issues with the &amp;quot;Privacy Sandbox&amp;quot;, but my #1 issue is that it&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;Privacy Sandbox&amp;quot;. That term implies that a sandbox is being used to preserve your privacy, when it is, in fact, a system designed for the opposite of that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>iforgotpassword</author><text>It &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; the Apps, and you perfectly summarized how it&amp;#x27;s a feedback loop. It wasn&amp;#x27;t the only reason why Windows phone failed, but it was one of them, even though Microsoft threw money at companies to at least have the most important apps available from pretty much day one. The app store still was pathetic and a lot of basic quality of life apps missing. And they kept going for what, 6 years before they announced they&amp;#x27;ll scrap it, and kept support going for another 4 years. Now imagine something new comes up, no matter how awesome the system is, no matter how well executed every move of the company behind it is: how much is a smartphone worth that doesn&amp;#x27;t have WhatsApp, Facebook, Google Maps, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, you name it. And no, the browser versions don&amp;#x27;t count.&lt;p&gt;Heck, you can just use lineage os without the Google services to get a taste of this. And that&amp;#x27;s a system where you still can get &lt;i&gt;all the Apps&lt;/i&gt; with a tiny bit of effort, as long as they don&amp;#x27;t depend on the Google services. It sucks for the most part.&lt;p&gt;But really, since you asked, &lt;i&gt;just try it&lt;/i&gt;. Get some used phone that&amp;#x27;s supported by lineage OS and challenge yourself to use it exclusively for a month. Or maybe for fun&amp;#x2F;hard mode, get a Lumia 950 and try that for a month.</text></comment>
<story><title>Android launches yet another way to spy on users with “Privacy Sandbox” beta</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/02/googles-privacy-sandbox-advertising-system-arrives-on-android-in-beta/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>madduci</author><text>After all the crap that Google put in Android, I still don&amp;#x27;t understand why some other alternative ecosystems like Ubuntu Phone or GrapheneOS or Mankato (PinePhone) aren&amp;#x27;t attractive for users and developers.&lt;p&gt;What&amp;#x27;s holding everyone back? I understand that without users there won&amp;#x27;t be apps, but also without apps there won&amp;#x27;t be users, since they offer just the basics.&lt;p&gt;Imagine if TikTok or WhatsApp have had an app for those others OSes</text></item><item><author>JohnFen</author><text>I have a bunch of issues with the &amp;quot;Privacy Sandbox&amp;quot;, but my #1 issue is that it&amp;#x27;s called &amp;quot;Privacy Sandbox&amp;quot;. That term implies that a sandbox is being used to preserve your privacy, when it is, in fact, a system designed for the opposite of that.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>zeagle</author><text>They only thing holding me back from calyxos is the lack of Android Auto. I know that it has its own privacy issues but man is it convenient with a compatible head unit.&lt;p&gt;Its possible to add Android auto stubs to it to give privileged access, compile your own build, sign it, flash it, and install the apks yourself as a DIY middle ground. I did it for a pixel 6 and was happy with it but bootlooped the phone applying my first compiled OTA update so this scared me off trying it again and I went back to stock. I understand why the team is against it but unfortunate.&lt;p&gt;Maybe another take on your question is why did windows phone and bbm fail?</text></comment>