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Unlocking the bootloader has long broken a lot of functionality. Play Integrity (formerly known as SafetyNet) provides three levels of checks, and increasingly

Unlocking the bootloader has long broken a lot of functionality. Play Integrity (formerly known as SafetyNet) provides three levels of checks, and increasingly apps are requiring the phone to pass the second level in order to use the app. Until last year, it was possible to spoof the second level (though not the third), with an unlocked bootloader, but Google started cracking down on that hard and it's essentially a game of whack-a-mole. Because the spoofing requires finding the fingerprint for a supported device that hasn't yet been banned (of which there are a finite number), it's a losing battle. That said, unlocking the bootloader on Pixel devices is less useful than it used to be, because of an expansion between what the base device already does and a degradation of what an unlocked and/or rooted device can do. There are fewer custom ROMs than there were a decade ago, and (unlocked) Pixel devices get rapid updates with long official support. Rooting the device used to give you the ability to install custom adblockers and bypass screenshot restrictions, but Android now has better support for DNS-based adblocking built in, and they've now cut off the main loopholes that allowed people to screenshot apps that block access. I think it's now impossible to screenshot an app if the app has blocked screenshots[0]. Ironically, it's easier to screenshot or get videos of apps on iOS than of those same apps on Android - I don't know if that's because developers don't bother to implement the blocking APIs on iOS or some other reason, but more than once I've ended up having to pull out a backup iPhone in order to screenshot/record something I couldn't on a Pixel device. Pixel phones already don't include most of the bloatware that comes with other devices, and the remaining stuff is built in and can't really be removed without impacting the core functionality of the device. So root access gets you a lot less than it used to, for Pixel devices. [0] In the spirit of classic bash, I am asserting that it's impossible, half hoping that someone will take that as an opportunity to correct me: https://web.archive.org/web/20230711000352/bash.org/?152037 https://web.archive.org/web/20230711000352/bash.org/?152037

lofaszvanitt 2y ago
Are you not allowed to take screenshots of specific apps? Not gonna buy this phone then :(.
- treyd 2y ago
  It's a general Android feature that I believe is meant to be used to make exfil of sensitive data harder.
- HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
  It's an Android API, not specific to this phone.
- josephcsible 2y ago
  If that's a deal breaker, then what phone would you buy? Every Android phone supports FLAG_SECURE (which is such an Orwellian name), and iOS has its own equivalent API: https://github.com/JayantBadlani/ScreenShield https://github.com/JayantBadlani/ScreenShield
  - lofaszvanitt 2y ago
    Well, the phone should keep my own needs above everything else, and no app maker should hamstring me on MY OWN phone. Somehow I have the feeling certain phone makers are sitting on the horse backwards.
    - josephcsible 2y ago
      I agree with you. I don't want app developers to stop me from being able to screenshot whatever I want on my own phone. I just don't know what to do about it.
      - fsflover 2y ago
        Switch to GNU/Linux phones. Works for me.
        tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago
        Well, if you're willing to do that, you could just say "don't use such apps then"... which isn't helpful if it's for your bank, or your government...
fragmede 2y ago
it's okay to be wrong about something
tveita 2y ago
An unlocked bootloader is the only way to take a local backup of app data now, afaik, since they've made the adb backup tool more and more useless - and phone transfers too. So you can either have no banking app, lose all your data when your Pixel glitches out, or (recommended option) upload all your data to the cloud for the voyeurs at Google to perv at.
RobotToaster 2y ago
> half hoping that someone will take that as an opportunity to correct me Well, you can use another pixel to take a photo of the screen...
privacyking 2y ago
Great post. This is one of the great enshittifications affecting android. I currently use grapheneos but I'm likely going to move to iOS. More and more apps are no longer allowed to run / have broken features due to the play integrity api. If I'm forced to live in a walled garden, might as well go with the well maintained one that isnt run by a monopolistic surveillance/advertising company.
- hellojesus 2y ago
  Do you have Play Services installed? I, thankfully, have yet to run into an issue with any apps and Play Integrity, but I also export my sdks that are installed on a profile with GPS so I can install them on my main profile. I also hope to be able to use those outdated versions if they ever go to Play Integrity required states.
  - privacyking 2y ago
    I do. There's a number of apps that are now broken, and you can't even install them from the playstore anymore e.g. Authy and relay for reddit. Sure you can save APKs and reinstall them (I have for relay), but the last working version is from last year and has multiple bugs including ones that cause app crashes. Various apps from minor banks in my country don't work (even with compatibility features enabled), although all the major ones do thankfully. Uber was also doing A/B testing earlier in the year where they would disable a lot of features if you had an untrusted device for some users.
    - hellojesus 2y ago
      Interesting. Thanks for the reply!
- fsflover 2y ago
  > This is one of the great enshittifications affecting android. I currently use grapheneos but I'm likely going to move to iOS. Are you saying that iOS is immune to the enshittification? Why not invest in true alternatives (GNU/Linux smartphones)?

lofaszvanitt 2y ago

Are you not allowed to take screenshots of specific apps? Not gonna buy this phone then :(.

treyd 2y ago
It's a general Android feature that I believe is meant to be used to make exfil of sensitive data harder.
HeatrayEnjoyer 2y ago
It's an Android API, not specific to this phone.
josephcsible 2y ago
If that's a deal breaker, then what phone would you buy? Every Android phone supports FLAG_SECURE (which is such an Orwellian name), and iOS has its own equivalent API: https://github.com/JayantBadlani/ScreenShield https://github.com/JayantBadlani/ScreenShield
- lofaszvanitt 2y ago
  Well, the phone should keep my own needs above everything else, and no app maker should hamstring me on MY OWN phone. Somehow I have the feeling certain phone makers are sitting on the horse backwards.
  - josephcsible 2y ago
    I agree with you. I don't want app developers to stop me from being able to screenshot whatever I want on my own phone. I just don't know what to do about it.
    - fsflover 2y ago
      Switch to GNU/Linux phones. Works for me.
      - tgsovlerkhgsel 2y ago
        Well, if you're willing to do that, you could just say "don't use such apps then"... which isn't helpful if it's for your bank, or your government...

fragmede 2y ago

it's okay to be wrong about something

tveita 2y ago

An unlocked bootloader is the only way to take a local backup of app data now, afaik, since they've made the adb backup tool more and more useless - and phone transfers too. So you can either have no banking app, lose all your data when your Pixel glitches out, or (recommended option) upload all your data to the cloud for the voyeurs at Google to perv at.

RobotToaster 2y ago

> half hoping that someone will take that as an opportunity to correct me Well, you can use another pixel to take a photo of the screen...

privacyking 2y ago

Great post. This is one of the great enshittifications affecting android. I currently use grapheneos but I'm likely going to move to iOS. More and more apps are no longer allowed to run / have broken features due to the play integrity api. If I'm forced to live in a walled garden, might as well go with the well maintained one that isnt run by a monopolistic surveillance/advertising company.

hellojesus 2y ago
Do you have Play Services installed? I, thankfully, have yet to run into an issue with any apps and Play Integrity, but I also export my sdks that are installed on a profile with GPS so I can install them on my main profile. I also hope to be able to use those outdated versions if they ever go to Play Integrity required states.
- privacyking 2y ago
  I do. There's a number of apps that are now broken, and you can't even install them from the playstore anymore e.g. Authy and relay for reddit. Sure you can save APKs and reinstall them (I have for relay), but the last working version is from last year and has multiple bugs including ones that cause app crashes. Various apps from minor banks in my country don't work (even with compatibility features enabled), although all the major ones do thankfully. Uber was also doing A/B testing earlier in the year where they would disable a lot of features if you had an untrusted device for some users.
  - hellojesus 2y ago
    Interesting. Thanks for the reply!
fsflover 2y ago
> This is one of the great enshittifications affecting android. I currently use grapheneos but I'm likely going to move to iOS. Are you saying that iOS is immune to the enshittification? Why not invest in true alternatives (GNU/Linux smartphones)?