We recommend NOT to update any Google apps on /e/OS for now. Disable auto-updates in App Lounge if you are using Google apps, and update app per app. New updated Google apps have a signature incompatibility that prevent them to work. The team is working to find a solution. We’ll keep you updated.
Update: We expect to release a fix for this issue early this coming week.
The issue is that the newest update to Google apps uses the packageInfo.signingInfo property in the API instead of .signatures, as reported in the microG issue tracker. Currently, only .signatures was spoofed.
This incident should serve as a welcome opportunity for everybody to evaluate their use cases in connection with using /e/OS:
You are not affected? … Good.
You are affected, but you were aware this could happen anytime on /e/OS, so it’s not a big deal for you? … Good.
You are affected, and you were not aware this could happen anytime on /e/OS, but you can manage for now? … Almost good.
Going forward, please be aware this can happen. It’s by design. There’s no conceptual fix apart from all App vendors including Google dropping Google dependencies from their Apps, which in all likelihood is not going to happen.
Please plan your usage and choose your Apps and OS accordingly.
You are affected, and something very important for you is now broken, and a fix can’t arrive fast enough? … Bad.
You are absolutely using the wrong OS for your use case(s). Time to reconsider use cases and/or OS.
And as a reminder:
Not only Google’s own Apps can break anytime as right now. Every App depending on Google in some form, which are most Apps in existence, can break anytime on OSes without the genuine Google Apps and services (like /e/OS).
Please plan your usage and choose your Apps and OS accordingly.
This is your point of view.
Me I concider that I use the good OS for me, proton email and many other app who respect privacy but because I’ve got many friends and a social life I cannot stop to use Whatapp, Google drive and Google callendar for exemple because most of my friend continue to share working document in google drive and use these applications.
I’m not blocked because I’ve rollback the last google update, but this is a shame.
My personnal reason to move to /e/OS is first the privacy and 2d because all applications in the google play store (and so google apps also) will work
Nobody can guarantee they will work at any given point in time on /e/OS, and not all work anyway.
It’s a good thing older App versions can serve as a workaround in this particular case now, but just wait for the next time a fault doesn’t lie with an App, but it’s just microG having to do some catching up again after changes by Google, which may take a while, and without older versions of anything as a workaround.
Just consider the nature of a degoogled OS when running googled Apps and let any hickup be a perhaps unpleasant but still calculated inconvenience instead of an unexpected catastrophe .
I don’t know who you are to say that “Nobody can guarantee they will work at any given point in time on /e/OS”.
Are you in the /e/OS gouvernance team ?
Because if not, once again this is your point of view.
Me I just explain what I read here that “/e/OS is compatible with all your favorite Android apps, because keeping your data private shouldn’t mean forgoing your digital experience.”
May be I didn’t understand well.
But Ok I know now that at anytime something can be wrong, so that why I’ve deactivated automatic Apps update.
And yes, thanks AnotherElk, I know too that all Apps don’t work
Anyway, this is not a big issue because I know how to rollback now.
And to finish, I’m not criticise /e/OS and absololuty not the dev team work. Everything is not perfect but nothing (and nobody) is perfect.
/e/OS is a good OS developed by passionate team. Thanks to them.
See what they did there? By definition incompatibilities only mean that affected Apps can’t be your favourite ones.
They were more clear and brave with this headline over here:
May I ask what do not work properly actually means in detail? For example, I’m still using Google Maps from time to time and I can still start the app and search for POIs (which still works), but the app does no longer display map data - like those map-related web requests fail.
For example, the following screenshot should display downtown Zurich and has been captured after a minute or so in a fast network (so download speed is not an issue). I also reset the app by clearing all data and caches: