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Around a dozen banking apps began specifically permitting GrapheneOS

A user's initial excitement for a privacy-focused Jolla phone running Sailfish OS quickly turns to frustration over mandatory accounts for updates and an arduous app installation process. This story resonates with the Hacker News crowd by exposing the challenging realities of alternative mobile operating systems trying to balance privacy promises with practical usability. It highlights the often-painful technical hurdles and ecosystem limitations faced by those seeking to escape mainstream platforms.

26
Score
1
Comments
#6
Highest Rank
5h
on Front Page
First Seen
Oct 24, 8:00 AM
Last Seen
Oct 24, 12:00 PM
Rank Over Time
20141066

The Lowdown

A privacy-conscious user details their highly disappointing first-hand experience with a new Jolla phone, which arrived with promises of privacy but delivered significant usability headaches. Despite the device's apparent build quality and packaging emphasizing user control, the journey from unboxing to basic functionality proved to be a frustrating Linux-like debugging exercise.

  • The phone immediately required a Jolla account for OS updates, contradicting the initial privacy-focused impression.
  • Installing apps was a multi-step ordeal, demanding installation of 'OpenRepo' then 'Storeman', with no built-in app store available without an account.
  • The 'Storeman' installation failed without a clear error message, and the lack of a file browser made debugging difficult.
  • The user contemplated returning to a Pixel with GrapheneOS if they were going to rely on Android app compatibility anyway.
  • After enabling Developer Mode, the user utilized the terminal to debug, discovering a 'linking error' related to 'libsailfishsecrets.so.0'.
  • Further attempts to update via pkcon refresh resulted in a hung process, solidifying the decision to return the device.
  • The user notes that while GrapheneOS doesn't require an account, it still necessitates multiple app stores (F-Droid, Aurora Store) and often requires GrapheneOS to fix issues with banking apps.

Ultimately, the experience served as a stark reminder that while alternative mobile operating systems offer compelling privacy benefits, the path to practical, everyday usability remains fraught with technical complexities and ecosystem gaps that can quickly erode user enthusiasm.