Android's slow war on user control reaches a new front

Two threads ran in parallel today. One was a builder switching their personal phone from Android to Linux, cataloguing the 'death by a thousand papercuts' that modern Android inflicts on users who want control. The other reported that Android 17 on non-rooted devices now silently fails ADB uninstall of system apps, closing off a commonly used workaround for removing carrier and OEM bloatware.

HN commenters in both threads connected these dots explicitly. Google honors the open-source letter of the law through AOSP while systematically destroying its spirit through Play Services dependencies, hardware attestation requirements, and now ADB restrictions. The EU sovereignty angle came up: commenters expressed frustration that Europe talks constantly about digital sovereignty but has not made general-purpose computing a priority.

The concrete victim here is GrapheneOS users and anyone running a de-Googled Android build. Features like automotive digital keys rely on Google Wallet's attestation in ways that cannot be replicated outside the Google stack. The walls are getting higher and the tools to work around them are being removed one API at a time.