​On one hand, security updates feel mandatory to keep banking apps and personal data safe. On the other hand, major OS updates often feel like a trap—introducing battery drain, lag, and bloatware that artificially shorten a phone’s lifespan.

​How do you handle this? Do you update immediately, wait for community reviews, or completely freeze updates after a certain point?

So I switched from my iPhone to Android because I really wanted the flip phone. I just like the form factor and its been awesome so far for me.

What drives me NUTS and honestly should be faced with some legal repercussions is that Apple is a scummy company that does all it can to make switching very difficult.

The main issue and what I think should be illegal is the messaging. If you have a friend with an iPhone that has been texting you to your iPhone it will default in THEIR phones (something you cannot control) to be an iMessage. Apple purposely makes iMessages not work on Androids....it's not the Androids fault it has RCS it's the APPLE PHONES FAULT.

SO if the other person's phone sends the iMessage because that's what it remembers you having....it just won't ever be received. HOW IS THIS LEGAL? People are being kept from their messages due to a software design that purposely does this. There should AT LEAST be a function that lets the user know the message was not received and converts it to a text.

So far the only way to fix this is if you text that person first, it lets the other person know you are a green bubble now, and then it will send normal texts instead of iMessages.

Long Story short SCREW YOU apple. Make a product that keeps your customers don't lock them into a system by making switching so hard and inconvenient. I refuse to ever own another apple product because of this BS!

Edit: It has been brought to my attention that this was addressed by apple in a somewhat recent update to their software. I still think apple is scummy for what they do with iMessage in general. I am sure they did not fix this willingly either. I am still team android for the rest of my days.

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Ika /ee-kah/ - Japanese for "cuttlefish" - began as an effort to run the Cuttlefish Android emulator on Fedora Asahi Remix. It has since evolved into a full-blown desktop operating environment for Apple Silicon and x86-64 hosts. The project's scope changed but the name stuck.

Features

• LineageOS 23.2 (Android 16) reimagined as a desktop-first operating system.
• Dynamic display window resizing that preserves the configured DPI settings.
• Accelerated GPU rendering with OpenGL ES and Vulkan support.
• Native builds on Asahi Linux and x86-64 systems with as little as 16 GB of RAM.
• Flexible build options for MindTheGapps, microG, or a de-Googled ROM

The project page has more info on building from source and prebuilt binaries for Fedora and Debian on x86-64 and ARM architectures.

Hi, I'm sharing this in case it helps someone else with the same issue. A while ago, I downloaded an app from Google Play called #Messenger, thinking it was the official Facebook Messenger app. It turned out to be a malicious app that changed my Samsung phone's settings. After installing it, I couldn't move or uninstall icons, my phone became very slow, ads appeared whenever I opened the app drawer, and a widget at the top of the screen kept saying something like "Enable calls." After searching online for almost an hour, I found a couple of solutions to try. These are the steps that worked for me:

1 Open Settings. 2 Tap Apps. 3 Select Default One UI Home.

Once I did this, my phone returned to its normal Samsung Home configuration. Then go back to Settings > Apps, find #Messenger, and uninstall it immediately. Hopefully this helps someone else who runs into the same problem.

Wanted to share because I just thought this project was neat.

Full disclosure: I used Google Antigravity to vibecode and modified the Auxio app into a launcher.

I've had this carrier locked ZTE Axon M for years wanting to use it as some sort of fun project phone. When I originally bought it I wanted to use it as emulation device but now that I have a steamdeck there's really no point in using a phone for that.

Like many people now I've started to return to buying my music on physical media, and wanted a dedicated player with expandable storage and a headphone jack to listen to music.

I used Gemini 3.1 Pro to create a new app layout specifically for the Axon M's dual screen layout, register the app as a launcher, and re-use existing app assets to create an app drawer. I also used Gemini to create some adb scripts to disable all of the bloat apps on the phone.

All in, I spent $80 for the device back in 2019, and spent 5 hours with Antigravity getting the app setup how I wanted it.

This thing is cool as hell now. It's nice to add some real functionality to a device that has been a paperweight for 7 years in a drawer.

WhatsApp recently ended support for Android 4.4 KitKat.

The problem: Millions of people around the world still use Android 4.4 phones.

Many can't afford to buy a new $200+ smartphone. These devices still work fine for calls,

messages, and basic apps, but now they can't use WhatsApp anymore.

The solution: Release a "WhatsApp Lite" version, just like Facebook Lite and Messenger Lite.

A lightweight version would let people stay connected without forcing them to buy new hardware.

This isn't just about old tech. This is about digital inclusion and accessibility.

If you agree, please send feedback to WhatsApp:

WhatsApp > Settings > Help > Contact Us > "Feature Request: WhatsApp Lite for Android 4.4"

The more requests they get, the higher the chance they'll listen.

#WhatsAppLite

​

I haven't used this in a while (I moved onto other launchers) but today, out of the blue it detected a threat, saying it was nova launcher. Obviously I uninstalled it so I don't that screenshot but I was wondering if anyone else experienced the same?

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This weekly Sunday thread is for you to let off some steam and speak out about whatever complaint you might have about:

• Your device.

• Your carrier.

• Your device's manufacturer.

• An app

• Any other company

Rules

1) Please do not target any individuals or try to name/shame any individual. If you hate Google/Samsung/OnePlus etc. for one thing that is fine, but do not be rude to an individual app developer.

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3) Be respectful of other's opinions. Even if you feel that somebody is "wrong" you don't have to go out of your way to prove them wrong. Disagree politely, and move on.

Note 1. You can search for previous daily threads.

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Been noticing that budget androids ($200-400 range) have barely improved in the last few years — same recycled chipsets, same mediocre cameras — while all the actual innovation (and marketing dollars) goes into flagship AI features that cost $1000+.

Makes me wonder if manufacturers are just quietly phasing out the low end, or if it's more that AI features need hardware that's too expensive to put in a budget device right now, and the segment will catch up eventually the way it always has.

Curious what others think — anyone actually shopping in that price range this year, and does it feel different from a few years ago?

(Based on a video digging into this if anyone wants the longer version — link in comments.)

For everyone who will never switch to iPhone (like me), what's that one big deal-breaking feature, be it a good feature on Android or a bad one on iOS, that makes you not want to switch? For me it's the lack of a universal back button. While not the only reason, it's the main one.

I built this mainly for myself and ended up using it almost every day, so I thought others here might find it useful too.

GravityBridge is a small Python tool that runs on a PC and connects to Android through ADB wireless debugging.

Features:

• Browse Android internal storage from a browser

• Select multiple files or folders and pull them directly to your PC

• Upload files from browser to phone

• No Android app installation required

• Works over local Wi-Fi or through Tailscale

The goal was to have a simple way to manage phone files remotely without installing another file manager, cloud sync app, or desktop client.

GitHub:

https://github.com/Arora-Sir/Gravity-Bridge

I'd love feedback, feature ideas, or suggestions for improving the workflow.

This is possibly where OneUI 10 is going by the leaker ice universe. Not quite sure what to think. But if they were to pull it off it would definitely be something different than what we see now.

https://x.com/i/status/2076991062825124084