My wish list for /e/

Some small but useful improvements for Apps:

  • Cursor in search box: When hitting the Search button within Apps, the cursor should jump to the search box in order to let the user type his/her query without any extra manipulation.
  • Update history: somewhere in Apps should be a place where is indicated what apps have been updated when.
  • As already mentioned by s.o. else: A blacklist for apps that I do not want to update (for whatever motivation).
  • When searching for apps, in every search query there should be an indicator highlighting FOSS apps (at least optional).
  • Make sure that applications such as Firefox or Signal are considered by Apps as Open Source applications as well (for now Apps only recognizes those coming from the F-Droid repository as OSS).
6 Likes

A parental control tool - it could be even a solution reduced to a bare minimum. It should permit to
(1) Lock the system in a way that installation of any apps via APK or any store app (Apps/F-Droid/ is blocked - unless the device is unlocked/temp unlocked by a predefined code. Deinstallation attempts should be blocked as well.
(2) As above but allow freely to install/deinstall apps from Apps (F-Droid repository only)

Like this, /e/ could finally be promoted as system for youngsters.

4 Likes

A wish for Bliss:
An optional setting to allow locking the launcher in a way that apps cannot be deinstalled or replaced by mistake (for junior and senior citizens),

  • keep working with an apk mirror, but build feedback options into the App (beyond appid request) and follow up quickly (reported crashes, not up to date, …)
  • introduce protondb.com for Android apps from user submissions in the Appclient and/or a online submittable form
  • refork all default apps to update to current versions. Do this regularly with every /e/ minor release. Ask upstream if your needs can be accommodated to refork more quickly again. For an incentive: donate a dividend of whatever gets donated to /e/ to default Apps
  • partnerships, cooperatives… as @Corentin put it: the risk of spreading yourself thin. Who can help?
3 Likes

For me it’s:

  • Backup solution (happy you guys are working on it)
  • Update of the Mail App, as K9 introduced some nice changes
  • better testing of new versions before releasing
1 Like

OK. The feature request now exists but has very little information in it at the moment. I will work on it and aim to complete it in the next couple of weeks. I don’t want to rush it, as specifying new or changed requirements is not a simple job :slight_smile:

Any suggestions or contributions are welcome

2 Likes

Hi, indeed you are correct - though I was looking for something that provided far more granularity providing options to change network access for system & core apps as well. Android UI is cumbersome for this.

I found an app in FDroid store - AFWall+… requires root (which I have) and looks the goods for my needs - it uses iptables on a lowlevel hence allows me to also use VPN (unlike non-root apps).

Another wish item in terms of security I forgot to add above;
Sandboxing / Island for certain apps that we know leak data yet we need installed. We can set it to use a separate VPN/connection to regular traffic (in an attempt to avoid big techs cross referencing) and can disable/freeze the apps when not required to ensure the OS is “clean”.
I also found an F-droid app for this… insular.

So there are open source apps to do what i’m looking for - though they don’t feel streamlined - bugs are present and development isn’t relible…

I feel security improvements such as these would be extremely complimentary to /e/ and fill a niche in the market.
Let’s face it - almost everyone installs something from google/fb etc and instantly defeats on varying scales the entire purpose of /e/ … even if we avoid the main social media and chat apps we need some like google authenticator.

Will my dream of LUKS style encryption at boot ever become reality on android?
Those cellebrite machines are rather good at what they do…

I’m really pleased by /e/OS, I’ll have to admit - but there’s always something to complain or add about :slight_smile:

  • App-manager:
    If I hit “update all” and put app-manager in the background, it downloads but somehow can’t install the packages and then I have to bring app-manager to the foreground and watch it install. Background download and installation would be good already.

  • Note app:
    Like the “orginal” of Nextcloud too, the note app from /e/ should be able to handle more Markdown syntax. ex: Tables work for Nextcloud, not for /e/. Setting to be able to save the output as .txt or .md would be great too.

  • Camera app improvements:
    UI/UX, good mix between settings for noobies and advanced users. With the Fairphone 3 + modules most photos are unfortunately not of special quality. Better “noise reduction” would be great here. Similar to the Gcam :slight_smile: Otherwise, good documentation regarding camera app settings would be very helpful.

  • Tracking Free Wallet, as in IOS, for documents. (no crypto wallet, there are already plenty of it).

  • Nextcloud Hub:
    Kinda more choices with the awesome apps from Nextcloud. On the one hand for teamwork apps like Circles, Mindmaps and Collectives would already be very useful. The ability to invite people to a virtual workspace would be great.

  • Google-free push notifications.

  • A way more customizable launcher (drawer; pages, up down, left, right; widgets).

  • Yes, bring the auto (picture) upload settings from the account manager into something more like the mobile Nextcloud app to manage /e/ Cloud, with a graphical view of folders, upload options, being able to select specific folders, being able to set the virtual path.

What would also be nice is /e/ if there would be access to paid apps via store without having to resort to Aurora. And yes, the things mentioned in the roadmap would be cool for this year.

3 Likes

There are already lots of wishes concerning Bliss. If I had only one I’d opt for a Bliss tablet mode.

And I would not be disappointed if /e/ is looking at the company with the bitten apple logo for how this could ideally look like.

1 Like

I agree with not wanting 2 app stores, though I can see if eFoundation has their own, there is better oversight and security.

1 Like

I use Microsoft’s launcher and style it like the old (no longer developed) Evie launcher for android.
I use Whicons (white icons) on a plain black background and only place three apps vertically per screen, with 3 different screens. The first is “self directed” starting with my “ToDo” app. no Notifications. It is a fine-tuned minimalist dream on mobile.

1 Like

:open_mouth:
What?
Why do you use /e/OS when you use this launcher?

More calling home is not possible…

3 Likes

Everyone is free to do as they wish with eOS.

Individuals have differing tolerance levels to apps with trackers.

Trackers can be blocked, anyway…

5 Likes

I would agree with @piero this functionality is already easily accessible on a per app basis in Settings > Apps > appname > Mobile Data & Wi-Fi ?

It seems pretty granular to me, and not cumbersome at all. For example, if you don’t like Telegram accessing wifi you simply turn it off here:

3 Likes

It’s not cumbersome when you are doing an individual app - it’s when you’re wanting to easily change your entire app library - or switch profiles. Then it certainly is a heck of a lot of back and forth through menus and scrolling the apps.
Stock android menu is also unable to restrict many of the lower level core/system.
I appreciate theres an app that can do it (however requires root), though considering the /e/ niche is to restrict apps and big tech stealing our data, well this is a rather central way to give granular control.

One more… there’s no APP LOCK!
I’ve also been unable to find an open source version on F-Droid, it seems to be the type of app that is heavily monetized and riddled with ads if you grab one from play store… yuck…

My Xiaomi came with it on stock A11 - i’m not sure if thats a vendor add on or stock android… but seriously an app lock should be simple and well appreciated.

Anyway I realize many of my wishes are leaning towards what Graphene/Calyx do - however their device list is extremely limited, and privacy should always come with security so that’s why i’d like to see security made a priority :slight_smile:

1 Like

I am very pleased with /e - except for one topic, will microG ever be able to bypass Google’s various (and upcoming attempts) to block apps by means what they name security checks?

Still waiting for Vipps(Norwegian payment app) to work.

Following links from mail to my newspapers in the browser sometimes confuses the browser and mail app. This forcrs me to reboot my
GS 290.

2 Likes

? UNOFFICIAL easy-installer BUILDS ?..

OTA updates for unofficial builds

Some rare maintainers provide OTA for their unofficial builds,
Do you ask for hosting infra ?

I haven’t asked here. I might try that.