I am surprised that Google spends so much time tackling custom ROMs via it’s Play Integrity API. If only they paid that much attention to say, curating the Play Store more, it had be much better for everyone
I’m still using LOS and still fight with google over Play integrity from time to time. there’s a fairly new patch that spoofs the fingerprint of the phone and fixes the issue entirely for me (play integrity fix by chiteroman) as long as it’s updated, my gPay still works. I prefer using custom OS because it’s much more customizable and has little to no bloatware. any unwanted apps can be removed. I can route my VPN to my WiFi hotspot, in order to get full speed tethering. (I’m a T-Mobile user and they throttle) I have a system-wide ad-blocker that uses the hosts file. I have the ability to allow root to only some apps, and deny it to others.
To me, its worth doing. I have no internet at my house, so I primarily use this to get online. The stock T-Mobile firmware is laggy and loaded up with their apps you can’t delete. You’ll get the “3g speeds” hotspot and their annoying branding on everything.
Going back to that would really suck!
This is offtopic, but fuck it, might as well.
Why do you use a digital wallet? For me, money is one of those thing I literally can’t allow to fail; growing up poor means it’s still a touchy subject. A digital wallet adds extra risk of payment failure everytime it is used.
So, what does a digital wallet add that makes it worth not just the effort of setting it up in a stock system, but also in a custom ROM where it is actively broken by the app developers as a form of “security”?
For reference, I still keep cash on my person in case my cards (or their machine) fails.
I know I posted this on your comment, but I would love to hear everyone’s answer to this.
i have yet to use one of these digital wallets but i would imagine a large part of it is “because everyone around me is doing it.” not necessarily herd mentality but the social shift of it making checkout processes faster so if you’re using cash or a card, you’re inconveniencing the people in line behind you (however rational that may be is another topic).
i live in a semi-rural area and have seen very few instances of someone paying with their phone. it’s so rare here, i’m not even sure how the process works. tap to pay with a card has only recently been more normalized here. however, when i travel for work to big cities, it seems like the only times cards are used is when there is a large group meal at a fancier restaurant.
i also carry a small amount of cash in case my card fails or a card machine is down but it’s very rare to see cash used here as well, except for personal payments. even then, third party pseudo-bank apps are consuming that process (cashapp, venmo, etc.).
i’m not trying to justify any of these payment processes or mark one as better than the others. it’s just an observation.
you’re inconveniencing the people in line behind you
They’re inconveniencing me with their thoughtless jump into cashless society. Fuggem.
Isn’t what you’re describing herd mentality, putting the need of the group or other individuals above one selfs - never mind if it’s consciously giving up on cash money in exchange for speed or not?
I’m not dealing with all this tracking and surveillance bullshit on a regular basis. No digital wallets, no mobile payment. Cash as much as possible. Where I live most stores allow cash withdrawal, I’ll literally rather withdraw cash in one go and then pay with that cash at the same check out to server the link between the me and purchase. I do keep a modest amount of cash at home.
For me digital wallet is a bit more convenient than using my real wallet, but not essential. I have one credit card that I use all the time, but it seems my bank hasn’t bothered to make it work with NFC payments yet for some reason, but it works with Google Wallet so that’s nice.
I also always keep my wallet with credit cards and a little bit of cash as a backup. One time I was out at a bar and there was a power outage. They were still serving drinks, but instantly all transactions switched to cash only. I think it makes a lot of sense to have backup options.
The opposite can be good too – your phone as a backup just in case you forget your wallet.
It’s probably not entirely been worth the effort to stay up to date with changes whenever Google breaks things. At some point I may stop. I guess one immediate value has been that watching things unfold has hastened the souring of my view on Google. I am now frequently looking for ways to avoid their ecosystem, and avoid big companies / non open source in general. I’m far from ready to leave the ecosystem on every front. But at the very least, I would never recommend a Google product in my professional life at this point, at least not without careful planning of an exit strategy.
well, I totally could live without it. Its just nice to have in case I don’t have my card/cash as a last resort kind of thing. all I do is add the magisk patch, and add shamiko, keep it somewhat updated, and it’ll work 99% of the time I use it. As for google, they probably do this to reduce liability on their end if something does happen. I haven’t heard of any issues from anyone so far.
