They are rewriting Neo Launcher. Some alpha builds are available for testers right now, but yeah, it will take time to get to stable.

I stopped using Ventoy. I don’t trust the OSs installed by means of it, sadly. Also, lost any hope of a clarification on the issue. Yes, you should not use it for the time being.

Yes. It is the principle, everyone should be informed of the security risks, but not stripped of the root privileges they keep for themselves.

Take a definition of ACTIVE contributors, because both projects have a lot of inactive contributors that only registered and didn’t do anything but just one update and left, if any.

Google is known for dropping projects that they can’t monetize enough. Maps’ been around for a while, but it can always just disappear for public use. Or decide that you need a Google account too use it and that’s a privacy nightmare. We need alternatives, but in this case, we need free and open source alternatives. We can’t put all the eggs in the same basket.

I’ve used several launchers but there seems to be a halt developing them. For the most time, I used to use recently Neo Launcher, but it feels dated now, they are working on a rewrite and it’s still beta (if not still alpha). Kvaesitso is a good launcher, but I’m too accustomed to the swipe up gesture to show apps and Kvaesitso just decided to make it upside down for me, and it feels odd even if you can change this to your preference. Finally, KISS launcher, which had halted development a bit but I find light and customizable enough. Not gonna lie here, as soon as Neo launcher gets to a stable state, I’m coming back.

Edit:

I wanted to mention a couple of killer features of KISS that you might probably like:

• Its dock can pin a couple of apps and have some spaces changing depending on the frequency of use.
• You can have a list of frequently used apps associated to a gesture (I use swipe-up and single-touch).
• If you are gonna use a not too frequently used app, you can have a gesture for this too (I use long-touch).
• Everything, and I mean EVERYTHING, is searchable. Well, not everything, but they surely allow you to search a lot of things.

X2. Great note-taking app.

X2. I don’t like it, but I still use that libswype Google blob to get swipe-writing. I wish they could produce their own in the future.

Some people don’t use smartphones. An article in prioridata states that, in this year, 974.6 millions of Chinese people use smartphones. They are still a lot of Apple users, but less than 200 million, still probably similar to their USA customer base to put it in perspective.

Keep doing your thing, it will reduce the probability of being owned. Maybe you can’t avoid to give your data to the government, but you can change to a bank that doesn’t require it. You certainly can buy things without giving up your biometric data. You can absolutely ditch social networks that want to have it. Of course, if you have a store and want to sell in this specific marketplace, then you can’t avoid anything of this, except maybe the bank, but you still should try a different bank if there is an option.

It’s not pointless to deny your data to, say, Elon Musk or Google, if you already gave it to get your passport.

I use and older phone for banking, stock firmware as updated as it can be. VPN connection, no SIM, powered on just for transactions. Still, my bank requires a location for every transaction, supposedly by law. In the beginning I thought I should spoof the location to a fixed one, but I’m tired of this shit, too. It feels like it’s impossible to just be in peace, at the same time, apps are being used to rob clueless people their savings and to discriminate, alienate elder people.

Is there a reasonable explanation for this or is it plain greed? In my book, technology gets always cheaper, but scalability is also always a concern.

I actually have used it. It’s very thorough but I find out more useful for areas where mapping is already good, while the areas I contribute to are not as well mapped. Every Door is also a great tool!

I use both all the time. Organic Maps rendering and navigation feels snappier, even with 2.5D support, and less cluttered, but since I do contribute to OpenStreetMap, OsmAnd is unmatched for editing and access to power tools like up-to-date data, GPS tracking, PDI editions, etc.

Unfortunately, in my country the map is not as complete as the proprietary options, so, using OsmAnd is more practical for me. As a regular user, though, I’d prefer Organic Maps.

For banking exclusively, I use an insecure old phone with all the Google stuff updated through the Play Store. This phone is only on, without a SIM, behind a VPN, when I make a transaction. Battery lasts forever.

And yeah, Google don’t like people who won’t allow them to fuck around with Android phones.

Awesome. Thank you.

Where can I borrow the template?

I use a VPN. At least I try to.

Yeah, that will fix Apple being total utter assholes. Giving them what they want always fixes everyone being assholes.

Perfect for the genius bar.

Xiaomi phones usually get their source code published. From there, you may want to choose a Qualcomm device, for some reason developers prefer these to build device trees for custom ROMs. If you don’t mind having an older phone, you may want to check the list of officially supported phones for reputed custom ROMs like Lineage OS or Pixel Experience and buy one of those. I’m guessing that phones in China are cheap and options are numerous.