Dear all,
I am considering bunting a Fairphone with the /e/OS. I have 3 main concerns (especially taking into account that I am not a geek) :
Is it possible to have an antivirus (like Bitdefender) ? I assume they are usually made for Android. Is it safe not to use one ?
Does all the usual apps - in particular bank apps - work normally ?
It is still possible to use easily google maps for GPS help when needed ?
More generally do you think that /e/OS might protect against programs like Pegasus or similar ?
Many thanks for your kind help !!!
I do not see any need to use antivirus-software on android/eOS as following some simple rules and using your brain should be sufficient imho (and an antivirus will eat ressources and might leak data as well). all depending on your usecase and āinternet-behaviourā of course
You might want to be more specific on your āusual appsā that You think You really need. Do not expect 100%. Alternatives can often be found in e.g. fdroid ā¦ for banking apps on eOS check this thread
if you must it should be possible to use them maps in a browser ā¦ but why use a degoogled phone if You still want to use their services? Maybe FP-owners will answer on gps-reliability of FP. (I own a Samsung S7) I use āorganic mapsā app and I am happy with it.
I would not consider myself being safe from this sort of very specific surveillance simply because of my degoogled phone (!) ā¦if you consider yourself being a possible target to very specific surveillance like pegasus You might want to dig a bit deeper, review your smartphone-usecases etc. and become a geek ā¦
Fairphone 3 user here and happy since more then a year:
You donāt need an antivirus and most of them are actually bad for you
See the list of banking apps in @obacht 's answer. For me almost all apps I need work very well. But there are some hickups sometimes. But this is different from user to user!
When Organic Maps is not working for me, the I use the Google Maps app which I have installed. It works and GPS works as well.
I recommend buying a Fairphone with /e/, check out the new Fairphone 5 which can be preordered as of today!
Regarding map and navigation apps, this is an important topic as it is an important feature of a normal smartphone.
The /e/os default app is Magic Earth/āMapā and is to my knowledge the only app WITH live car traffic data and using the openstreetmap data and not selling or using your location data. So this app is a very good choice for the default map application as it is a real working alternative to google maps or waze live traffic re-routing function (waze is owned by googleā¦). Organic map is very pleasant to use, though very unfortunately it has no live traffic data and re-routing function
The main drawback with apps using openstreetmap data (like MagicEarth, Organic or Osmand) is that the data does not reference all shops and their opening hours. As everyone, I sometimes need this information, hence I open google maps in firefox browser with privacy badger and ublock and without giving my location information to the google maps website (and of course no google account logged in the browser !). This is a compromise.
If you need a map/navigation app that gives more detailed maps than Magic Earth, like for example terrain contour lines and shading and shops schedules etc; then I would advise you to use Osmand~ . If you get it from /e/os app lounge or Frdroid then Osmand will be entirely free with unlimited functions. It is a very complete app, though it does not have live traffic.
I agree with all of @GabrielT points. The ins and outs of each apps is explained well. And if you really really need to use google maps, you can use it through your browser as already stated.
I would say that 90% of the apps I used before e/os are available to use, but I found that once switching to e/os being able to see in the app lounge all the info they are collecting made me switch apps, or use if I really need to use a service, just using it through a browser.
If you make the decision to switch to e/os you have a great community here, that will help you through the process and the most important thing is that you will have choice! Choice to choose what to use and what to avoid using, with the knowledge and experience of everyone here to guide you through the process. You will slowly become a geek by making the choices to use alternatives or taking part in the e/os community!
You can also use the Google Maps app without signing in, so Google doesnāt get any personally identifiable data about your location or location searches.
Also the same applies to banking apps. All mine were available to use, but I still just access them through the browser. Set browser to delete browser data on exit and no worries about apps on your phone.
Maps works perfectly on a de-googled device. You donāt need to sign in. On a āregularā GApps-device I never succeeded using Maps without signing in (it just refused to work that way). But on /e/ no problem.
ā¦
