The are really accelerating the enshittification of Android, they are also experimenting with limiting side loading apps.
I wish Huawei decided to go open source and make HarmonyOS the new android.
this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2025
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Huawei will never go open source. They were already running a more locked down and "enshitifed" version of Android back in the day called EMUI. I had to fight to get the bootloader unlocked, and that was 9 years ago. The bootloader unlock programme was shut down afterwards, getting the unlock code was impossible unless you basically paid/bribed a Huawei employee to do it for you through a third party application called DC Unlocker or something like that.
There is no way the situation is any better on their own proprietary operating system. Phones are going to become more locked down in the future to maximize revenue from advertisements and subscriptions. The days of side loading APK files with OBB data are coming to an end, as you've pointed out.
OpenHarmony is FOSS but I'm unsure how much it works by itself never heard of it being standalone without Huawei's proprietary components
Yeah they won't, I just wish that they did.
If Android becomes completely locked down, there won't be any reason not to get a Huawei device then. I've heard that they implemented pretty solid workarounds to get PlayStore apps despite the ban (Aurora store, microg, etc...). You get a phone with solid hardware and that's already fully degooglised.
Yeah it's so dissapointing HarmonyOS NEXT isnt out globally. Just need a Chinese phone without Google..
I don’t think huawei will open source. They aren’t stupid and are without a doubt seeing the amount of scrutiny applied to open source projects and maintainers by cops, private security consultants and just plain old criminals and deciding to not get in the pool.
Hopefully the developers will find a way to manage with this new challenge
I don't care about pixel phones. If any reason I haven't switched to gOS, is because I really hate the idea of carrying one. How do you fight google by carrying a google product around? (I know there are many reason to that, and that the point of gOS is security and privacy, not targeting a particular opponent).
They should turn the project towards Fairphone, it's the ethical thing to do.
GrapheneOS is a security focused project so they only publish for devices which meet their hardware security requirements. In the past this included a few non Google devices, but as of today only Pixels meet those requirements in the Android space. The Fairphone has poor hardware security
I never seem to hear good news about Fairphone, especially as hardware quality goes
I don't get your last point. Fairphone doesn't have the hardware security measures that are needed to ensure gOS has its security needs. There are other OSs that are focused on de-googling like /e/OS (which you can have your Fairphone come with).
They shouldn't turn the project towards Fairphone as it defeats the project's purpose, if anything you could argue for them to maintain a separate fork but I believe when it was mentioned to them they pointed out that would split dev time and resources, reducing the security of the main project and that other OSs exist for those use cases.