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Exciting development in the Android without Google space: a backup app that uses the native system integration APIs and doesn't depend on Google cloud stuff.

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Torsten Grote

@t_grote

Sep 17, 2019

That is why I have been working on a #FreeSoftware backup app that does not need root and saves backups wherever you want (e.g. flash drive, @Nextclouders).

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sadly only *really* works if baked into the ROM as a system app, otherwise not enough permissions to backup everything :(

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Right; but it's a very important piece of the puzzle for these ROMs; It's like having a privileged F-Droid able to do auto-updates in the background: I feel that not being able to give random apps these permissions is a decent tradeoff.

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it's a very important piece for those ROMs,yes. But the overall "stock Android" backup experience remains a mess. And the tradeoff is phishy,as you need to disable bootloader protection for installing said ROM, so nothing prevents another app (and usb cable) to gain those perms.

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and

That's not true and also misses the point behind the security model. See grapheneos.org/install for an example of the installation process for an alternate OS with full support for a locked bootloader and verified boot. Unlocking the bootloader is a temporary step for flashing.

grapheneos.org

GrapheneOS installation

Installation instructions for GrapheneOS, a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

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and

cool, I didn't know this was possible nowadays. Thanks!

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and

Nexus devices supported locking the bootloader with an alternate OS too, but they didn't get a full verified boot implementation for the OS until the Nexus 5X and 6P. Those were the first phones to support full verified boot with an alternate OS with the legacy Android vboot 1.0.

1:28 PM · Oct 15, 2019Twitter Web App

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and

Pixel 2 introduced Android Verified Boot 2.0 (AVB) which is a substantially better implementation, including rollback protection and better security for alternate OSes. android.googlesource.com/platform/exter I expect various non-Pixel phones support alternate OSes too, just don't know which.