For microG (what I would recommend, since its much more private than regular GAPPS/full Play Services), you can just flash a LineageOS for microG build for your device instead of the official LineageOS. You can get them here. It covers the same devices that Lineage itself does. Same installation process, just using their files instead of Lineage’s.

DivestOS added optional support for unprivileged microG fairly recently, so its definitely usable.

They both should work, you won’t get notifications for Teams though unless you flash microG or GAPPS.

Side tangent but god, just unbelievable how an app like YouTube would ever be a system app on Stock that you can’t just uninstall without needing to go through hoops like ADB. Samsung includes so much fuckery on their variants of Android, but to be fair, I believe even on stock Pixels, YouTube is a system app as well, so can’t even entirely blame them for this case. Still unacceptable and insane to me.

Stock Android just sucks, can’t see myself ever going back to it unless I absolutely had to. Props to you for making it work.

I usually use Signal.

Yeah, Pixels are great, basically reference Android. Developers even usually use them for testing and making apps, so you know you’re getting the best compatibility. Overall can’t recommend them enough.

Is this the part where I act surprised?

Are they begging for another antitrust?

Good thought and that does happen too, but nope, my phone was unlocked, I don’t buy and never have bought from carriers. You’re just lucky, could be the region you’re in or related to the model. This is a known and well documented issue and thing Samsung does, just see here and here.

Yeah, Samsung phones are awful with their bloatware they force install, honestly one of the worst manufacturers I’ve seen in this aspect. Their devices include tons of useless garbage from Samsung themselves, as well as 3rd party apps force installed from their “partners” like Facebook and Microsoft. I recently went through my old Samsung phone and its truly outstanding, no idea how I ever used this thing. Their software just sucks. Its just horrible for so many reasons: privacy, security, storage space, performance, battery life, and overall usability and user experience are all hurt. No idea why they’re like this and this desperate for extra money and a quick buck, despite most of their devices being flagships and not cheap in the slightest. Their hardware is pretty good in most aspects, so its just a huge shame.

Good thing is we can safely remove the BS through ADB on their devices, but we shouldn’t have to at all, its ridiculous and its one of many reasons I don’t recommend Samsung devices (Knox permanently tripping and bricking part of your phone if you root or install a custom ROM, and no bootloader unlocking on most devices at all being 2 other major reasons).

100%, I’ve lived both in the US and Europe, and Androids are definitely more prevalent in Europe than in the US.

Its always possible, but I’d say unlikely.

Their extension isn’t open source anymore, see here, so I don’t recommend it personally, especially with how sensitive the data it collects is, its basically a keylogger, so trust is super important imo.

I just don’t think Tor Browser is currently suited as a primary browser for most people. You lose things like staying logged into websites, you can’t (or at least shouldn’t) really add extensions like a good content blocker, you generally can’t tweak or customize the browser to your liking, etc. Plus factor in things like the slow speeds, being blocked by websites, bombarded with captchas everywhere, etc, and it just becomes a harder and harder sell for a lot of average people.

Tor Browser’s great and it absolutely has its need and purpose, I’m not trying to knock it for that at all because it works damn well for what it is and what it tries to do, but I just think its hard to be using as a primary browser and daily driver in its current form, at least for a lot of people.