4 ms·

No. You're not required to use the app. You're not even entitled to use the app. If you want to use the app, you have to play by their rules. Plenty of devic

No. You're not required to use the app. You're not even entitled to use the app. If you want to use the app, you have to play by their rules. Plenty of device manufacturers have chosen to only offer iOS apps. No one talked about mandating that apps were available on competing platforms. If you choose to use something like GrapheneOS, you are signing up for the fact that almost no one will test on your platform and plenty of things will be broken.

warkdarrior 4mo ago
Sure the app is not required, though one loses on all of the remote-control functionality (remote start, remote climate control, etc.). Maybe then app developers should be mandated to open fully their server-side protocols, so people can create apps for platforms that are not supported by default. No more undocumented APIs, anybody can get an API key, no API serving limits!
- microtonal 4mo ago
  Unfortunately, Volkswagen has an API, but made it much harder to use it since a few weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48319509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48319509
midasz 4mo ago
Here it is, the true hacker mentality.
- DANmode 4mo ago
  Understanding how those around you operate makes you no less of a hacker. It can even make you a great/better one…
  - _factor 4mo ago
    They don’t just understand, they basically promote it.
    - DANmode 4mo ago
      It felt more resigned than promotional to me; but yes, normalization is a fine line!
- esikich 4mo ago
  Sir, this is a VC bro website.
tedajax 4mo ago
Increasingly these kinds of apps are a requirement for a lot of features so ...
watermelon0 4mo ago
The issue here is not that they didn't test on alternative distributions of Android, the issue is that they went out of their way to prevent anything but the officially blessed distributions.
- Arainach 4mo ago
  [flagged]
  - moooo99 4mo ago
    Except for the fact that the car is sold as is with the features advertised (i.e. working with an Android app with no additional qualifiers as to which kind of android) AND that users are paying for these connective services
    - Arainach 4mo ago
      Graphene is not a kind of Android. It doesn't even advertise itself as such: > GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility [https://grapheneos.org/ https://grapheneos.org/]
      - Zak 4mo ago
        GrapheneOS is obviously an Android distribution, but I suspect trademarks mean they have to be careful about how they describe it.
      - HybridStatAnim8 4mo ago
        GrapheneOS is based on the Android Open Source Project and retains near perfect android app compatibility. It cannot call itself android for legal reasons, but the legal definition does not affect its app compatibility. Tools such as play integrity are illegal. Using anticompetitive and monopolistic tools is not the right of application developers.
        4mo ago
microtonal 4mo ago
The app worked until a few weeks ago. GrapheneOS does not miss any functionality (nor security) for the app to work. The only change is that they started blocking non-GMS Android through the thoroughly anti-competitive Play Integrity. Hypothetically, if GrapheneOS wanted to become a certified Android, it would probably not be blocked on technical reasons, only that becoming certified (last time a contract was leaked) requires running privileged Google Play Services (which is less secure) and pre-installing a bunch of Google apps that should not be uninstallable. How is that not anti-competitive?
HybridStatAnim8 4mo ago
The basis of your argument, that users want these developers to support another platform, does not make sense, because GrapheneOS does not require apps add explicit support for it. GrapheneOS has 99% android app compatibility. The issue is not that this application isnt tested on GOS, its that an anticompetitive, illegal tool is being used to ban non-certified OSs when these apps would work perfectly otherwise.
_imnothere 4mo ago
This is one of the most ignorant comment I ever read on Hacker News. Are you from VW? Obviously VW broke the app for GrapheneOS (or any other custom ROM) on purpose, and ironically, things usually works fine for custom ROMs than some Chinese OEM customized ROMs, and when it works, it means the developer went extra miles to implement workaround to cater the flawed OS.[1] [1]: ref: Years of Android community experience
dj0k3r 4mo ago
The difference here is that the devs specifically chose to stop allowing the app to work on the OS without any known compatibility issue? The app just works fine on Android should they let it run.

warkdarrior 4mo ago

Sure the app is not required, though one loses on all of the remote-control functionality (remote start, remote climate control, etc.). Maybe then app developers should be mandated to open fully their server-side protocols, so people can create apps for platforms that are not supported by default. No more undocumented APIs, anybody can get an API key, no API serving limits!

microtonal 4mo ago
Unfortunately, Volkswagen has an API, but made it much harder to use it since a few weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48319509 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48319509

midasz 4mo ago

Here it is, the true hacker mentality.

DANmode 4mo ago
Understanding how those around you operate makes you no less of a hacker. It can even make you a great/better one…
- _factor 4mo ago
  They don’t just understand, they basically promote it.
  - DANmode 4mo ago
    It felt more resigned than promotional to me; but yes, normalization is a fine line!
esikich 4mo ago
Sir, this is a VC bro website.

tedajax 4mo ago

Increasingly these kinds of apps are a requirement for a lot of features so ...

watermelon0 4mo ago

The issue here is not that they didn't test on alternative distributions of Android, the issue is that they went out of their way to prevent anything but the officially blessed distributions.

Arainach 4mo ago
[flagged]
- moooo99 4mo ago
  Except for the fact that the car is sold as is with the features advertised (i.e. working with an Android app with no additional qualifiers as to which kind of android) AND that users are paying for these connective services
  - Arainach 4mo ago
    Graphene is not a kind of Android. It doesn't even advertise itself as such: > GrapheneOS is a privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility [https://grapheneos.org/ https://grapheneos.org/]
    - Zak 4mo ago
      GrapheneOS is obviously an Android distribution, but I suspect trademarks mean they have to be careful about how they describe it.
    - HybridStatAnim8 4mo ago
      GrapheneOS is based on the Android Open Source Project and retains near perfect android app compatibility. It cannot call itself android for legal reasons, but the legal definition does not affect its app compatibility. Tools such as play integrity are illegal. Using anticompetitive and monopolistic tools is not the right of application developers.
      - 4mo ago

microtonal 4mo ago

The app worked until a few weeks ago. GrapheneOS does not miss any functionality (nor security) for the app to work. The only change is that they started blocking non-GMS Android through the thoroughly anti-competitive Play Integrity. Hypothetically, if GrapheneOS wanted to become a certified Android, it would probably not be blocked on technical reasons, only that becoming certified (last time a contract was leaked) requires running privileged Google Play Services (which is less secure) and pre-installing a bunch of Google apps that should not be uninstallable. How is that not anti-competitive?

HybridStatAnim8 4mo ago

The basis of your argument, that users want these developers to support another platform, does not make sense, because GrapheneOS does not require apps add explicit support for it. GrapheneOS has 99% android app compatibility. The issue is not that this application isnt tested on GOS, its that an anticompetitive, illegal tool is being used to ban non-certified OSs when these apps would work perfectly otherwise.

_imnothere 4mo ago

This is one of the most ignorant comment I ever read on Hacker News. Are you from VW? Obviously VW broke the app for GrapheneOS (or any other custom ROM) on purpose, and ironically, things usually works fine for custom ROMs than some Chinese OEM customized ROMs, and when it works, it means the developer went extra miles to implement workaround to cater the flawed OS.[1] [1]: ref: Years of Android community experience

dj0k3r 4mo ago

The difference here is that the devs specifically chose to stop allowing the app to work on the OS without any known compatibility issue? The app just works fine on Android should they let it run.