Pixel 6 and Pixel 7 devices seem to be now following a quarterly update schedule instead of monthly patches.

I recently bought a pixel tablet that I installed lineageOS with Gapps and I'm looking for a launcher that has home screen like Lawnchair so I can add weather widgets, but have the app list/drawer be similar to Niagara launcher. I looked through fdroid, but couldn't find one I liked and launchers on the play store tend to pester you to purchase their subscription or a bunch of ads. On my phone I personally use OLauncherCF, but it just doesn't work well on a large screen in my opinion. So does anyone know of any good ones?

The attempt to restrict installing and development of applications, Android's development now happening closed doors and now we're getting updates only quarterly. The way the stock Android experienced is quite bloated (when I got this one I was annoyed how power button just put me to Google Assistant than give me the power/restart options) and just my big dislike of Big Tech like Google just has made me run custom ROMs full time and I am worried in long term Android will become non-free eventually.

I remember the original Syncthing Android app being discontinued and have been putting of dealing with this for way too long. What is the current consensus? Is there any trusted app on the PlayStore, F-Droid, GitHub, ... ? Have you replaced the old app and if so how?

All the other discussions I found on Lemmy dismiss it because they find the idea of a second phone ridiculous. Or because they don't buy into the "dumb phone" concept. But I think it makes a compelling phone on it's own, and you wouldn't need a second. But really look into it. By every indication it appears designed to be a fully featured main phone. It has some compromises made to fit the keyboard first philosophy, but it has everything you'd need and more. Dual SIM (eSIM+physical), a headphone jack, micro SD Card support, a 50mp camera with OIS (I know megapixels don't mean much but I think it shows it's not gonna be the cheapest crap camera), NFC/Google Pay support, Android Auto, Qi2... That doesn't read "second phone" to me. It's just.... phone. They have now said that it will have an unlockable bootloader too. I'm not finding much to dislike here. 8GB of RAM is somewhat low but should be fine. The processor is still a question mark but honesty as long as it's not bottom of the barrel it should be perfectly fine. I have always gone for flagship phones but honestly I've started analyzing what I actually do on my phone and I pretty much never push the hardware. I like knowing I have the top of the line but I basically just web browse, message, read email, scroll Lemmy, and listen to music/podcasts. Very occasionally watch some YouTube but that's usually on my TV or PC. No gaming or anything. I should be able to do all of that on this device, some of it won't be as good on that screen obviously but it should still be doable. I need the camera to at least be decent. Not great just not garbage. Like it's fine if the low light performance is meh and the video isn't the best. But I don't want to look at my photos and regret taking it with that device, so we'll see. I don't want a dumb phone, and I don't think this is one. You should be able to do everything any other phone can. I don't think it's a second phone either. I think they're just leaning into that for marketing reasons, so that when anyone points out the tradeoffs of this form factor they can just wave it away as a secondary device. It appeals to me because it's a small phone. Seriously nobody makes one worth using. Unihertz sure, if you want a bad software experience with no updates ever. But otherwise you just have the non-plus sized iPhone/Galaxy S. Those are considered small. Or maybe the flip-foldables. It also appeals to me because it has major character and (imo) style. I'm bored of glass and metal sandwiches. Give me this! A plastic device with a swappable back that has a (vegan?) leather option? Hell yeah.

Minor gripe: I had find it better if the article elaborated if phones had a SD card slot or not. This phone ships with 128 GB base storage which is a problem if there is no SD card slot but not a big thingy if expandable options are present. As for 3.5mm Jack, Samsung only has them in their cheapest lineup now I think.

https://9to5google.com/2026/01/27/android-desktop-leak/

I love FOSS apps that are made for for everyone to use and help improve lives. But I also love apps that someone clearly made to address a very specific problem that they were solving. I love to imagine the person struggling and thinking, "someone *must* have already made an app for this. I can't be the *only* one who needs help manually counting the transportation percentage at a series of crossings!" Then finally doing the [Thanos](https://d2thvodm3xyo6j.cloudfront.net/media/2017/01/9f57282815be53dc-600x338.gif) thing and just knocking out an entire app to share with the world.

Cross-posted from ["Release 2026.01.24 is out"](https://sopuli.xyz/post/40180848) by @[email protected] in [email protected] --- Release 2026.01.24 is now out on all distribution channels! Beyond fresh OpenStreetMap data, it includes adding road outlines for better readability, renaming of the "Bookmarks & Tracks" to the clearer "Favorites" and many more updates: https://codeberg.org/comaps/comaps/releases/tag/v2026.01.24-5

Knowing how frustrating certificate pinning can be when trying to intercept an app's traffic, I was really excited by [this post about being able to quickly and easily bypass certificate pinning](https://reversing.works/posts/2025/12/webusb-unpinner-network-analysis-for-the-masses/) ([which was shared here](https://lemmy.ml/post/41632189)). Unfortunately, it still required cloning a git repo, installing NPM, then installing the project dependencies, then running a local web server, in order to use it. So here is a publicly available instance of reversing.works' work which should allow anyone to use it without having to install anything (except for their intercepting proxy of choice). Make sure to check [their blog](https://reversing.works/) and leave a star on [their repo](https://github.com/fisiognomico/webusb-unpinner) if you find this useful

I'm sorry if this sounds like a stupid question but why won't android just straight up run like Linux distros that almost run on any computer? Why does each model under each manufacturers require separate maintainors seperately? Aren't they running like almost similar hardware like processors from Qualcomm, mediatek, Exynos, etc? Why hasn't there been a single android os that is compatible with all the device?

Does anyone know this company? I hope it's Nova launchers saving grace.

> Google Prompt is a pretty good 2-factor authentication (2FA) option for most users, with Google now adding fingerprint or PIN...

I've just been through the far-too-many Lemmy apps I have installed, to see whether any support peeking/hold to preview, like Sync does. Is it the only one?

Or just any mobile games in general? I'm looking for discussions and recommendations for mobile games that aren't just trashware and cash grabs. Edit: u/_MoveSwiftly has kindly created https://lemmy.world/c/androidgamers for this exact purpose.

I remeber **Moto E 1st Gen** with Snapdragon 200, 1GB RAM ,4 GB (2.1 GB usable) Storage. I have played games on it in 2017 it was some COD AW clone. I could install alot of Apps on just 2.1GB storage. No hang and good multi tasking on 1GB RAM. Again I got a SD 625 + 4GB RAM and it is awesome. I remeber thinking 4GB in phone will be max forever as 8GB in PC/Laptop was good enough for gaming and 16GB in PC for browsing ain't enough. Now in 2026 6GB in Android is considered low-end and Apps crash. Again I got a Snapdragon 7s Gen 2 + 8GB RAM. Devs please stop making apps big, CPU/RAM heavy. Apps like Facebook/Instagram should be shamed they are 1GB each. Android OS has no limit on cache. Android OS has no native user-frienly option to control which apps can run in background. Phone/SoC reviews are a scam, they say SD 363 is 50% better than SD 625. I don't think it is a very big leak from SD625 to 7s Gen 2. Reviewers are stuck in 2013, "casual games run OK and COD runs at 60 FPS", it always did for every phone! I think I am going to boycott high tier phones.

Hello everyone! A lot has happened since my last post, specifically talking about my LineageOS inquiries. I had a string of bad luck and broke the digitizer but no cracks to my Pixel 7 Pro. So I ended up "upgrading" to the Pixel 8 Pro because the store I went to only had the 8 Pro and not the 7 Pro in stock and it was dire that I have a phone. So this leads me to my next questions: What is your favorite Android spin for your Pixel Device? --- I have used GrapheneOS, LineageOS, and Stock Android (of various versions on my Pro 7) This leads me down the rabbit hole of deciding which experience I want on my Pixel 8 Pro. --- I have GrapheneOS on my 8 Pro right now because I wanted to see if I could make it fit my needs, and I am leaning towards it not working for me. Since I switched, android auto is not connecting even following the instructions GrapheneOS has to offer. AdAway (nonroot) is not working on GrapheneOS, as it just kills any internet connection to everything on GrapheneOS. So that's another point against me wanting to stick with GrapheneOS. No AFwall+. Another point against it. --- It appears that CalyxOS is going to give me a similar experience with issues related to the ones I mentioned with GrapheneOS. -- I had considered trying out [LineageOS for microG](https://lineage.microg.org/) but unsure if this is the route I want to go because I am unsure if some of the apps I will rely on will work for various reasons. (Mainly unsure if MicroG will suffice for them.) --- I am open to other options to, and would love to hear what you are using! --- Thank you!

Hi guys! Is there any apps that shows me the radar and chances of rain to recommend? Thanks in advance

It's time for the annual "look how much weight I gained over the holidays 😞", and New Year's resolution to lose weight. Does anyone use a food and exercise tracker app on their Android device? How is your experience with it?

Local Desktop helps you run a desktop Linux environment on your Android device.

Hello everyone, I’ve been working on a simple 3D maze game for Android. The main idea is a daily maze: everyone plays the same maze each day and competes on a global leaderboard. It’s designed to be quick and casual. Wordle-style sessions you can finish in a few minutes. Features: - Daily Maze: same maze for everyone, resets daily, global leaderboard - Random Mode: no competition, solution button available - Duels: real-time 1v1 races on a randomly generated maze I’d really appreciate feedback, especially on what features or modes would be interesting to add. The app isn’t public yet because Google requires a testing phase, but testing is open. You just need to join a Google Group and then use the Play Store link below. Google group: (It may show "you don't have access to this content" but if you login you can request access. It's unfortunately a necessary step for the App links below to work.) https://groups.google.com/g/maze-trials-3d-closed-testing App links: Web: https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.mazegame3d.app Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mazegame3d.app (The App links above will only be available after joining the group. I'm very sorry, those are google requirements.) Thanks!

I'm thinking about making a return from Garmin in the near future with Samsung announcing the Galaxy Watch 6 making a return with the ever-so-popular rotating bezel, and Google is now focused on their own Pixel Watch. For people who are currently using a WearOS device, what are your thoughts on the current state of the platform as a smartwatch and fitness tracker as of mid 2023?

Screenshot from The Verge: 

Is there anyone else that isn't on Samsung or using the Samsung APK of Google Messages that actually HAS customizable bubbles? I'm on a Pixel 7 Pro and have been waiting for customizable bubbles. I've tried the debug values but I only have "bugle" flags and "device country". I've also tried installing the beta version, uninstalling the beta, and downloading the latest APK and manually installing it. I personally don't like the massive header added by the Samsung APK so I've stayed with the pixel variant.

So ive had a phone for a bit now but i struggle at finding game sand apps to put on it especially free ones. its kinda mid range dphone it cant run genshin impact at all but it runs stuff like battle cats really well i also struggle at finding good or useful apps to download so if you know any please suggest some or something.

What is it with Android, that it constantly wants me to use Live Wallpapers? I switched to a plain android device from Xiaomi and I really like the calm experience. No ads, no duplicate services etc. But one thing still bothers me: Live Wallpapers. Why is Android so keen on activating live wallpapers? I didn't want them on my old device and always thought it was a Xiaomi thing. But now I still get a screen every once in a while and after each system update. Why? What's in it for Android that it is so obsessed with fucking live wallpapers that I constantly have to reaffirm that I really REALLY don't want them?

I have a radio app on my Nokia G21, buts its kinda shitty, hard to navigate cant record and clunky. Im looking for another FM radio apps, I only found ones that use the internet, and do not take the signal from the phones FM antenna, but from a server. I dont know if this can be accessed by any app, sadly I cannot root(Cant unlock bootloafer), but I can use ADB or shizuku.

Funny, that my blackberry key2 has a indicator LED, 3.5mm jack, sd card, a special app for all messages incoming, a fingerprint sensor in the spacebar, touch sensetive keys etc... I think the communicator will my phone after the key2