6 ms·

Billions of people use android phones without malware, you are exagerating slightly.

by vasco 1y ago

array_key_first 1y ago
Depends on your definition of malware. If you consider adware to be malware, which I personally do, then I would estimate close to zero Android phones are operating without malware.
jackstraw42 1y ago
I don't really see how you can guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, I feel like you may be exaggerating here. I also don't mind the downvote, but if you would please tell me how you are able to guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, please tell me instead of hiding behind a downvote. Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. wow, downvotes on all three comments! thanks, stranger.
- vasco 1y ago
  I didn't downvote you, and it's against the rules to focus on the voting anyway.
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    Ok, thanks for saying that I guess. FYI I wasn't talking directly to you on the second line.
- user_7832 1y ago
  > I don't really see how you can guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, I feel like you may be exaggerating here. Can you do it on an iPhone? (You can't.) Between android and ios, which platform is considered more secure or safer? It's not easy to find out directly, but bug bounty programs can be used as a heuristic. Guess which one it is, after both being the same for a long time? (It's android). You can check out https://www.wired.com/story/android-zero-day-more-than-ios-zerodium/ https://www.wired.com/story/android-zero-day-more-than-ios-z... and https://cyberscoop.com/ios-zero-day-zerodium-high-supply/ https://cyberscoop.com/ios-zero-day-zerodium-high-supply/ > I also don't mind the downvote, but if you would please tell me how you are able to guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, please tell me instead of hiding behind a downvote. Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. The same way you guarantee it on any other OS, be it windows or macos or linux. You do your best, don't download sketchy apps, and don't be a political figure. Of course that doesn't guarantee it, just makes it 99% likely. > Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. Do you think you can guarantee this on an iPhone? May I ask you how you are able to guarantee this on iOS? (I haven't downvoted you)
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    I haven't said anything about Apple guaranteeing this, I just am saying that Apple seems more trustworthy to me. And unless you can prove Android is actually better, then I still believe that. I feel like people are misunderstanding my original post. You would probably not be surprised that I would still trust a heavily regulated government that's occasionally broken rather than one that's run in a totally free market by all varieties of selfish interests.
    - AnthonyMouse 1y ago
      It seems like you're missing the most important part. If you had to rank app stores by probability of malware, the lowest probability would be F-Droid. After that it might reasonably be Apple followed by Google Play. But F-Droid isn't available on iOS, so if you want to use the app store with the lowest probability of malware, it's only available on Android. And more to the point, the safest app store is available on Android only because Android has third party app stores. To have a single store to the exclusion of all others, that store has to be a big tent, and big tents get full of clowns.
      - jackstraw42 1y ago
        No, I feel like rather you are misunderstanding my main point. I do understand that I am stuck with the Apple equivalent of the Google Play Store. Android is more like a completely open ecosystem, Apple's is much more closed filled with walled gardens. Still, walls provide protection if the ones building them know what they're doing. So, I feel like Apple has the edge with what we have, over Google's stance of "do nothing" rather than trying to give users a good sense of privacy. If Apple were fully open and allowed such a thing as F-Droid to exist on their OS, you would have a point. edit: and both OSes are not perfect. That was also part of my main point, not that Apple's is clearly far superior. All I said was I'm glad I trusted my instincts and explained why. last edit: I've read back the comments to try and see where the misunderstandings are coming from and hopefully have addressed them. While the most secure App Store does exist on Android, it's taken us a while to get there (I know F-Droid has been around a while as well). I am talking about the time period since very early Android and iOS up until now. If I had been using Android, no doubt I would have tried to do it the proper way, but knowing what I like to do freely on my mobile device instead of feeling like I need to worry about privacy with every. single. app. I pick iOS for my mobile OS from 2008-2025 again and I am glad that I did. None of the exploits, vulnerabilities, etc have affected me and I have to give Apple the credit for at least giving me my money's worth on that.
- singpolyma3 1y ago
  I guarantee no malware by using fdroid
  - ImJamal 1y ago
    Fdroid just checks there is no proprietary code and compiles. They don't do any review. You are completely reliant on the app not being malicious.
    - singpolyma3 1y ago
      Not true :) they review for antifeatures etc
- rpdillon 1y ago
  You're getting down-voted because you're structuring the argument in an unwinnable way, and I think you know that. None of us can prove that any phone doesn't have malware. Seems like you're arguing in bad faith.
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    the thing is, I didn't mean to argue. I'm merely responding to people's comments, who started an argument? I am very, very concerned about our ability to communicate with each other as human beings these days. Maybe this thread was meant to be an example of that, I don't know. I didn't realize everyone was trying to prove me wrong with this. sheesh. further, I am seeing why some folks decided to close themselves off completely to stuff like this. I enjoy intellectual curiosity and try to find others who do, but I realize many people don't enjoy it and many even hate it. it's not because it's a lack of intelligence. It's that everyone seems uninterested in the thoughts that made me type that initial comment, they're more concerned with proving me wrong. Am I accurate in this assessment, or can I trust you to not treat this question as an argument, if that is a better way to put it?
conartist6 1y ago
I had never seen Android malware until my mom showed me her phone. I think she's barely ever installed an app on purpose in her life, but there it was this malware that looked like the husk of a legit app repurposed to show banner ads after every phone call
- beAbU 1y ago
  My MIL has an ungoogled huawei phone. She was trying to get some app and family told her she needs to get the play store to get the app. Holy fucking shit. What a hive of scum and villany you encounter when searching for the play store. The first link on google launches a full screen PWA that looks _exactly_ like the play store. It took me a hot minute to realize that I was about to install something unsavoury. I almost wanted to dunk the phone in some bleach. I'm an android user, and I prefer it over iPhone, but the surface area for attacks is way way way too large. Users who are less technically inclined are so damn vulnerable. I don't know how to fix this.
  - jackstraw42 1y ago
    this is what I'm talking about. I wish more folks in this thread had gone this direction. I think those types of people like your MIL represent a very concerning bulk of Android users. So people are walking around with god knows what in their pockets, doing every single thing in their life through them these days. I thought others who had arrived at this thought would be alarmed too, but I'm not sure what to think anymore I guess.
  - MSFT_Edging 1y ago
    When I bought an ipad a few years back, it had been at least 10 years since I was on the ios ecosystem(last iphone was the 3gs). I was shocked how hard it was to find what I was looking for. Instead of the Playstore minefield of free spyware apps, you now have cheap knockoffs, likely still spyware, but now everything costs $5 dollars. I think there's two different sets of perverse incentives. On the apple side, it's how to trick you into a "small" purchase of 5 dollars. It's just a cup of coffee man, c'mon just a coffee. Essentially banking on some user will just add it to their apple tab for convenience. On the android side, the expectation is primarily free apps, with paid generally being a premium app. There are some free apps that just do what they say, typically small side hustles from solo devs banking on some add revenue with the option to upgrade(Shout out to GoneMadMusicPlayer, paid for it back in 2013 and the devi is still out there supporting and responding to emails). If they're not that, they'll be spyware infested trap holes. Fdroid is typically where I go when I'm looking for an app with a unix philosophy. Just do one thing simply. Voice recorder, guitar tuner, etc.

Billions of people use android phones without malware, you are exagerating slightly.

by vasco 1y ago

Billions of people use android phones without malware, you are exagerating slightly.

Depends on your definition of malware. If you consider adware to be malware, which I personally do, then I would estimate close to zero Android phones are operating without malware.

jackstraw42 1y ago

I don't really see how you can guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, I feel like you may be exaggerating here. I also don't mind the downvote, but if you would please tell me how you are able to guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, please tell me instead of hiding behind a downvote. Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. wow, downvotes on all three comments! thanks, stranger.

vasco 1y ago
I didn't downvote you, and it's against the rules to focus on the voting anyway.
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  Ok, thanks for saying that I guess. FYI I wasn't talking directly to you on the second line.
user_7832 1y ago
> I don't really see how you can guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, I feel like you may be exaggerating here. Can you do it on an iPhone? (You can't.) Between android and ios, which platform is considered more secure or safer? It's not easy to find out directly, but bug bounty programs can be used as a heuristic. Guess which one it is, after both being the same for a long time? (It's android). You can check out https://www.wired.com/story/android-zero-day-more-than-ios-zerodium/ https://www.wired.com/story/android-zero-day-more-than-ios-z... and https://cyberscoop.com/ios-zero-day-zerodium-high-supply/ https://cyberscoop.com/ios-zero-day-zerodium-high-supply/ > I also don't mind the downvote, but if you would please tell me how you are able to guarantee your Android phone doesn't have malware, please tell me instead of hiding behind a downvote. Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. The same way you guarantee it on any other OS, be it windows or macos or linux. You do your best, don't download sketchy apps, and don't be a political figure. Of course that doesn't guarantee it, just makes it 99% likely. > Otherwise my solution is don't use an Android device. Do you think you can guarantee this on an iPhone? May I ask you how you are able to guarantee this on iOS? (I haven't downvoted you)
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  I haven't said anything about Apple guaranteeing this, I just am saying that Apple seems more trustworthy to me. And unless you can prove Android is actually better, then I still believe that. I feel like people are misunderstanding my original post. You would probably not be surprised that I would still trust a heavily regulated government that's occasionally broken rather than one that's run in a totally free market by all varieties of selfish interests.
  - AnthonyMouse 1y ago
    It seems like you're missing the most important part. If you had to rank app stores by probability of malware, the lowest probability would be F-Droid. After that it might reasonably be Apple followed by Google Play. But F-Droid isn't available on iOS, so if you want to use the app store with the lowest probability of malware, it's only available on Android. And more to the point, the safest app store is available on Android only because Android has third party app stores. To have a single store to the exclusion of all others, that store has to be a big tent, and big tents get full of clowns.
    - jackstraw42 1y ago
      No, I feel like rather you are misunderstanding my main point. I do understand that I am stuck with the Apple equivalent of the Google Play Store. Android is more like a completely open ecosystem, Apple's is much more closed filled with walled gardens. Still, walls provide protection if the ones building them know what they're doing. So, I feel like Apple has the edge with what we have, over Google's stance of "do nothing" rather than trying to give users a good sense of privacy. If Apple were fully open and allowed such a thing as F-Droid to exist on their OS, you would have a point. edit: and both OSes are not perfect. That was also part of my main point, not that Apple's is clearly far superior. All I said was I'm glad I trusted my instincts and explained why. last edit: I've read back the comments to try and see where the misunderstandings are coming from and hopefully have addressed them. While the most secure App Store does exist on Android, it's taken us a while to get there (I know F-Droid has been around a while as well). I am talking about the time period since very early Android and iOS up until now. If I had been using Android, no doubt I would have tried to do it the proper way, but knowing what I like to do freely on my mobile device instead of feeling like I need to worry about privacy with every. single. app. I pick iOS for my mobile OS from 2008-2025 again and I am glad that I did. None of the exploits, vulnerabilities, etc have affected me and I have to give Apple the credit for at least giving me my money's worth on that.
singpolyma3 1y ago
I guarantee no malware by using fdroid
- ImJamal 1y ago
  Fdroid just checks there is no proprietary code and compiles. They don't do any review. You are completely reliant on the app not being malicious.
  - singpolyma3 1y ago
    Not true :) they review for antifeatures etc
rpdillon 1y ago
You're getting down-voted because you're structuring the argument in an unwinnable way, and I think you know that. None of us can prove that any phone doesn't have malware. Seems like you're arguing in bad faith.
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  the thing is, I didn't mean to argue. I'm merely responding to people's comments, who started an argument? I am very, very concerned about our ability to communicate with each other as human beings these days. Maybe this thread was meant to be an example of that, I don't know. I didn't realize everyone was trying to prove me wrong with this. sheesh. further, I am seeing why some folks decided to close themselves off completely to stuff like this. I enjoy intellectual curiosity and try to find others who do, but I realize many people don't enjoy it and many even hate it. it's not because it's a lack of intelligence. It's that everyone seems uninterested in the thoughts that made me type that initial comment, they're more concerned with proving me wrong. Am I accurate in this assessment, or can I trust you to not treat this question as an argument, if that is a better way to put it?

conartist6 1y ago

I had never seen Android malware until my mom showed me her phone. I think she's barely ever installed an app on purpose in her life, but there it was this malware that looked like the husk of a legit app repurposed to show banner ads after every phone call

beAbU 1y ago
My MIL has an ungoogled huawei phone. She was trying to get some app and family told her she needs to get the play store to get the app. Holy fucking shit. What a hive of scum and villany you encounter when searching for the play store. The first link on google launches a full screen PWA that looks _exactly_ like the play store. It took me a hot minute to realize that I was about to install something unsavoury. I almost wanted to dunk the phone in some bleach. I'm an android user, and I prefer it over iPhone, but the surface area for attacks is way way way too large. Users who are less technically inclined are so damn vulnerable. I don't know how to fix this.
- jackstraw42 1y ago
  this is what I'm talking about. I wish more folks in this thread had gone this direction. I think those types of people like your MIL represent a very concerning bulk of Android users. So people are walking around with god knows what in their pockets, doing every single thing in their life through them these days. I thought others who had arrived at this thought would be alarmed too, but I'm not sure what to think anymore I guess.
- MSFT_Edging 1y ago
  When I bought an ipad a few years back, it had been at least 10 years since I was on the ios ecosystem(last iphone was the 3gs). I was shocked how hard it was to find what I was looking for. Instead of the Playstore minefield of free spyware apps, you now have cheap knockoffs, likely still spyware, but now everything costs $5 dollars. I think there's two different sets of perverse incentives. On the apple side, it's how to trick you into a "small" purchase of 5 dollars. It's just a cup of coffee man, c'mon just a coffee. Essentially banking on some user will just add it to their apple tab for convenience. On the android side, the expectation is primarily free apps, with paid generally being a premium app. There are some free apps that just do what they say, typically small side hustles from solo devs banking on some add revenue with the option to upgrade(Shout out to GoneMadMusicPlayer, paid for it back in 2013 and the devi is still out there supporting and responding to emails). If they're not that, they'll be spyware infested trap holes. Fdroid is typically where I go when I'm looking for an app with a unix philosophy. Just do one thing simply. Voice recorder, guitar tuner, etc.