• 2 hours

    I always assumed that they were collecting that data from your contacts list already. I’d like to know how many people are actually affected by this or needed to “verify” their age after updating to 26.4

    Also, switching to Android isn’t going to help with this.

  • Folks, this is coming from your government. The phone makers want nothing to do with it and are actively fighting it in court as best they can. Switching between phone makers will not help, and is not the right place to put your energy. Address your concerns to your governments.

    • 20 minutes

      Taking it up with our governments is fruitless as well. The days of governments actually giving a shit about what we want are over. Of you’re not flush with cash, your voice can and will be overridden at the drop of a hat.

    • 2 hours

      The phone makers want your data just as much as the government does. Data is money and power.

      • 1 hour

        They have other ways of determining your age without requiring an extremely unpopular ID check.

        • Some are accepting having a credit card in Wallet as proof of age, as well as simply having an old enough Apple account

    • 3 hours

      The phone makers want nothing to do with it and are actively fighting it in court as best they can.

      Doubt. This way they have excuses to farm user data.

      • It was this coalition of big tech companies that blocked Texas SB2420 from going into effect on Jan 1 of this year.

        Believe me my dude if they wanted your birthdate they would have gotten it before. Or more likely they already have it without this.

  • Why not just make it so nobody under 18 can own a smartphone. Why these fucking useless age checks.

    • 36 minutes

      Rhetorical questions aside. Let’s not counteract a dystopia with another dystopa here.

    • 4 hours

      Me using an android as a child taught me how to use linux, command line etc. seems arbitrary to deny the phone entirely. maybe certain online services should be though

      • 27 minutes

        as a child

        So you where under 12, when you learned how to use Linux? Its either that or you where actually a teenager not a child.

        But in general I do agree with controls set on children, locally by the parents that is - excluding teenagers.

  • 6 hours

    I am more happy than ever with my GrapheneOS phone. Especially after they refused to include age verfication I recommend everyone to switch to grapheneos or any other custom ROM android

  • 6 hours

    But they already switched to Android when Apple removed the headphone jack. Oh wait, that’s right - nobody did.

    • 8 hours

      GrapheneOS is Android and declines to introduce that

      Not sure when you’ll be labelled a terrorist by using a privacy respecting OS though…

        • 5 hours

          Thanks for that input!
          Just came back from a business trip in Spain.

          Maybe I missed it in the article, but do you know, how they do it?
          I guess on the phone network level, my phone isn’t shouting “GrapheneOS here!!”.
          So how do they profile me?
          Only after they already control me somehow or…?

          Still, this is getting more and more Orwellian

          Hopefully my Jolla will be to exotic in the first period, but on the long term, this all is a really worrying development with the aim of mass surveillance

      • 36 minutes

        By the way our corporate dictatorships are speed-running totalitarianism, I’d say before the decade is done. I will choose to be an antifa terrorist before I accept fascism.

        This is actually the least invasive form of age verification for Apple users. Apple already has a credit card on file for something like 90+% of the user base.

        The alternative the political whore class are promoting is apps individually verifying with a multitude of data brokers “ID providers”.

        This is the illusion of choice under the surveillance capitalism of corporate dictatorships. Rather than regulate capitalists, the gov colludes with them to exploit and enslave consumers.

      • Buddy if I haven’t been labeled a terrorist yet after the things I’ve publicly said I am never gonna be labeled a terrorist.

        • 4 hours

          You don’t know, in what list you maybe already show up
          Just because police hasn’t knocked on your door, doesn’t mean, that in case all that shit will be held up against you

          Who knows, who is already monitored, because just of a drunken or honest comment, that icks someone the wrong way

          • Its so dumb because unless you specifically type /s you can never tell if someone is serious online. Literally all context gets lost on social media. We used to allow humans grace before mass surveillance came along.

            • 13 minutes

              Yep, “they” can just pull out a comment of context and put you into some kind of group

              As you said, stupid it is

      • Considering they are more or less attempting that reasoning in regards to VPN usage in the states I’d say maybe a few weeks?

        • 5 hours

          How can they control that I’m accessing my own Wireguard or company VPN?
          Or does this only affect commercial (or free) VPN services one could use?

          The technical illiteracy of politicians is still astounding to me

          Edit: and how would they control TOR?
          I could potentially use a TOR to VPN chain. Albeit slow, it would still work.
          Registering with ID for TOR would be the most annoying amusing thing I’ve heard in a long time…
          (Don’t know why autocorrect didn’t like the word ‘amusing’. Had to finally type it out. Seems not much fun stuff happening in my life ;⁠-⁠))

          • Right. Or site to site tunnels. Or client vpns for companies.

            Some are uneducated, some are evil, either way we’re fucked lol

    • 7 hours

      Mainstream Android will likely go the same path but there’ll also probably be 10s of workaround and forks straight up saying fuck you, bitch.

      You won’t have any other option on iOS other that to take the boot up yo a.

      And you’ll probably use the usual “most people won’t do that, tho”. These are kids we are talking about and have you ever told a determined kid that they couldn’t do something?

      This kowtowing the corporations and governments is how we got here and fuck people who bend the knee before even trying.

  • I call bullshit. Apple fans happily take anything Apple pushes down their throats. Even a $999 monitor stand or a $40 microfiber cloth.

    • 9 hours

      I subscribe to TWiT cause I grew up on The Screen Savers and Call for Help and regardless of what people think of him I still like Leo Laporte, the guy is my childhood. Anywho I listen to all their podcasts and I’ll sometimes listen to their weekly Mac one and it is absolutely insane the cult like behavior with these mac fans on this show. Oh they’ll complain about the monitors and everything else but will still continue to defend it all by the end. There is one woman on the show that just rants and raves constantly about the dumb decisions Apple makes but openly admits that she’ll continue to buy their products.

      At least on the Windows podcast the one dude will go ham on Microsoft weekly and I feel is pretty much just on the podcast to make fun of them. Then you have the Linux podcast where those guys just make fun of everything and it’s honestly entertaining. Plus they have one guy who is in his 80s on there who is an absolute gem.

    • Career haters just love to shit on anyone who has a preference, and thinks they can boil down an entire group of population with a single pithy comment

      You sound like a career hater. We did this ad nauseum in 2007, grow up it’s embarrassing for you

  • 9 hours

    I’m dabbling switching to GrapheneOS. Apple was the lesser of (obvious) evils compared to Google, but that’s becoming less true daily.

    I don’t think I can make it my primary device yet, still need to de-cloud a bunch of services, but it’s very likely my next device won’t be an iPhone.

    • 8 hours

      I’m running GrapheneOS since about 2 years now and I’m more than happy.
      Didn’t had any real issues with it.
      Art the start Android Auto didn’t work, but it does now - although I don’t really use it.

      I have Google play service stuff installed, but sandboxed.
      And my banking apps work just fine.

      Friend of mine made the switch a few months ago and haven’t heard of any complaints either.

      Can highly recommend it :⁠-⁠)

      • 1 hour

        I’m mainly waiting for them to add banking apps. My bank is a small local credit union so it might be a while.

        • 14 minutes

          I’m using my banking apps (business and private) without issues

          It’s not about GrapheneOS adding those apps, it’s about the bank allowing their apps to run on that Android device/version.
          (Or someone correct me here, but that also makes more sense to me, than a whitelist on GrapheneOS side)

      • 2 hours

        My current phone is old and just recently my bank app stopped working because the phones android version is too far behind. Is there any way to load Graphene OS on an android phone, and would it maybe help me get around having to use the website for my banking now?

      • 7 hours

        I’d use Android Auto + Sandboxed Google Play more if Android Auto allowed NewPipe, OsmAnd and other FOSS apps to be added to the dashboard.

        • 5 hours

          Have you tried going to developer options and allowing unknown sources? That’s how I get metrolist and other apps in Android Auto

        • 6 hours

          I somehow also get a lower resolution Google maps, when using Google Auto.
          That was the reason I don’t really use it.

          For music and stuff, I just use Bluetooth

          But good luck having Google add something as NewPipe to be allowed with Android Auto ;⁠-⁠)

      • What about hotel keycard apps?

        We use them when traveling because SO hates talking to people,lol. Or when its 3 am.

        • 6 hours

          I have never used those - didn’t even know those exist

          Usually I need the key card anyway to active the power in the room… Which sucks

          So, can’t say anything about that, but it’s just usual Android, so I don’t see much issues here.
          Banking apps are usually just more strict with which system they support, so that was my primary worry

          Edit: but as I don’t really know about those hotel keys apps, does this mean I have to install an app per hotel (chain), which probably tries to grab some personal data again, or is this just some key, I can use in some FOSS app?

            • 6 hours

              At least in Europe, there is often a slot in which you need to put in the key card the hotel provided (or often any card, because it’s just a switch and doesn’t check the card), so you don’t waste energy, while you’re not in the room
              Said slot for the card is just at the wall after you open the door. So you usually have power, before you’re even really inside, because you just reach in and out the card in place.
              It’s a bit annoying, but that’s pretty much it.

              As the room should be empty, when there is no card in the slot, I’m not sure how that makes it worse for shy people though o⁠:⁠-⁠)

              Needing to install an app and trusting my phone to be charged and functioning, when I want to enter my room, seems much more stressful for me ;⁠-⁠)

    • 9 hours

      That’s my next move. I’m done with the mobile OS duopoly bullshit.

      I’m also starting to self-host a lot of services.

    • 3 hours

      It a process. You can decloud while on the new device and the benefits will just increase with your progress.

  • iPhone users 🚶‍♂️‍➡️ switching to android

    Android users 🚶‍♂️switching to iPhone

    • Android users 🚶‍♂️switching to iPhone GrapheneOS

      Switching to iPhone would just be objectively worse in literally every way

      • 8 hours

        I switched to iPhone after being on android since kitkat. Worst decision I made. Basic functions of the device don’t work/crash out. There’s seemingly no global ‘back’. Each app can dictate how back works. So I’ve found myself having to remember which apps use the swipe back feature and which don’t. They brought in the ai autocorrect stuff which completely changes words that I type. The glass ui stuff is horrific. Some text is unreadable due to the transparency effect.

        Just terrible times all around. Looking to go to Graphene on my previous pixel phone next…

        • 8 hours

          You picked a bad time to switch. Arguably this is there worst version ever.

        • I had to spend a lot of time interacting with someone else’s iPhone recently while traveling, and the experience was shocking. Can’t believe how bad Apple has gotten.

          EDIT: LOL at the downvotes, enjoy your overpriced privacy nightmare that lacks basic, standard features or usability. It was extremely clear that the entire UX was shamelessly designed to limit you from doing anything that does not lock you in further to the Apple ecosystem

          • 8 hours

            They always have been this bad, if anything they’ve gotten (slightly) better over the years.

            • I’ve never had an iPhone, but I had a gen 2 or maybe gen 3 iPod touch way back in the day. I definitely jailbroke mine, so maybe that has skewed my memory of its usability, but it was not bad like trying to use an iPhone today.

  • iOS doesn’t (or at least didn’t for a very long time) let you install an app without registration. 99% of those people have their credit card data registered with Apple. Now they are pissed that Apple will asks them to use credit card to confirm they are adults? Hilarious.

  • 10 hours

    In fact, if they have the know-how, they should switch to something else. Android nowadays isn’t much different from iOS, and I’m pretty sure that what was included in iOS will eventually land on Android too.

    • Yeah, it’s not about switching to Android, it’s about switching to the EU.

  • Jeez, every platform and company is going to that ID and face recognition crap. Should we say goodbye to our little bit of privacy and anonymity on the Internet?

    Why’s Apple even doing this? They’re not a social media platform to begin with.

    • 9 hours

      Facebook had lobbied so that the age verification is handled by the device rather than the application. The applications then need to check against this device API and conform accordingly.

      This ends up cheaper for Facebook and opens up for future legislation to embed similar shit in the OS for companies to exploit.

  • Go then. There are other worlds than these… (that’s from the Dark Tower books by Stephen King).

    Honestly… I have both. I have a 2024 iPhone Pro Max (16) and a 2019 Galaxy S (10). The iPhone is my main device. The Android phone is WiFi only, but if I have WiFi, I’d rather browse Lemmy on that, because iOS has this controversial feature where it will change what you type after you’ve typed it. So you’re constantly proofreading. Android doesn’t do that shit, or at least Samsung’s fork doesn’t do it. There are a few things I like about Android. My Android phone is basically a NookPhone — the phone you get in Animal Crossing. The case, the background, the icons… of course they’re just icons for actual apps. I don’t have the NookPhone apps. “Pro Camera” just opens the Samsung camera. “Passport” just opens my Animal Crossing item tracker. “Chat” just opens Telegram, which I just use for cross-platform media-rich chat with my wife. You can’t do that with iPhone — certainly not the 3x3 app grid the NookPhone has.

    And there are a couple things iOS does better. Apple Health doesn’t sell your data. A couple years ago, my wife’s Galaxy phone told her she’d have to agree to let Samsung sell her health data, or she’d have to delete it and opt out of the app. No one’s been able to point us to a health data tracking app that is free, private, and good on Android. Everyone agrees (or refuses to speak up and disagree) that Apple Health is the de facto winner here. So it’s worth having an iPhone for that, at the least. Plus, AirPods are at least marginally better than the Android equivalents.

    So yeah… at some point, I’m gonna upgrade the Android phone. Might even switch to Android, as in, move my cell service from the iPhone to the Android phone. And still keep the iPhone for health tracking, music, and whatever else I want it for. At least until the Mac can do all that stuff. As of now, it actually can’t. Music yes, health no. As I am also a Mac user. I would have no problem going Mac + Android, if my Mac did Apple Health (as opposed to just mirroring the notifications). I tried to make a Shortcut where my Mac could log Health data. It wouldn’t even log the data and pass it to the iPhone over iCloud. It straight up said “no” to that. So the iPhone has me for Health data.

    But I’m not gonna sit there and pretend Apple gives a shit if I buy an Android phone. That’s just stupid. And Google gives less of a shit if you buy an iPhone, because they figure chances are good you’ll just put Chrome and other Google apps on it and hand them your data that way. No, I buy what I want because it’s the best for me and what I’m doing. IDGAF what the corpos think about it.

    • 8 hours

      iOS has this controversial feature where it will change what you type after you’ve typed it. So you’re constantly proofreading.

      You can disable auto-correction: Settings > General > Keyboard > Auto-Correction

      I agree this is annoying and this is enabled by default.

      • Disabled on mine. It still changes what I put. Apparently “and” is a bad word now. I can get it capitalised, I can get sand, I can get Andy, but “and” in lowercase, Apple says no-can-do. (Typing on my Mac now, on a mechanical keyboard. Odd that the Mac doesn’t have this problem. Probably because it has an actual keyboard. Mac does have predictive text, which is kind of annoying… I see the appeal, but I’m never gonna reach over and strike Tab to complete a sentence or word.

    • 9 hours

      Apple isn’t an advertising company so it feels like they’d be more up to not selling your data and such. But honestly I don’t really trust it.

      I went from Android to iOS purely because I was sick of devices being supported for a year or two, when Apple supports their phones with mainline updates for six+. I feel like the overall user experience is better, it’s smoother, more polished, and I can do what I need to do rather than struggle with something half-baked.

      My work phone is a Pixel 6, and I absolutely hate using it. Google hasn’t worked on the user experience even a little.

      Would still rather a janky Linux phone that I actually own than anything else.

      • Apple doesn’t really promise device update time frames. They basically support a device as long as it’s feasible because they are still, at their core, a computer company, though they are more focused on the iPhone and related accessories than the Mac lately. They are transitioning to a services company. But still, updates are based on what they conservatively think the device can handle. Even phones that aren’t getting the latest iOS still get security updates. iOS 18 and older versions are still getting updated, but they get no new features.

        With Android, it’s more about getting people to buy new phones, which isn’t a dumb idea from a business perspective. Back when US carriers were giving phones away a lot more (like 15 years ago), it was actually a game to piss off customers so they go and buy a phone from a competitor sooner. They all benefited from churn. These days, Google and Samsung are offering 5+ years of promised updates, but they don’t support them beyond that, because a customer who won’t upgrade has no value to them.

        iOS is a bit more polished than Apple, though that’s largely down to the developer. It’s easier to support iPhones because there are fewer of them. But plenty of apps are just fine on Android.

        Agree with you about a janky Linux phone. I kinda want it to be janky! I miss when phones were kinda rough and you had to know how they worked. I loved messing with custom firmware around 2012-ish. Android Jellybean was awesome for tinkering.

      • 8 hours

        Apple is an advertising company.

        Open the App Store, news, stocks, or maps. News and Stocks have the scammiest ads you’ve ever seen.

        I prefer iOS to Android, but I do like that on graphene vpns and such actually work with granular controls. I agree, I want to try a Linux phone at this point.

  • 9 hours

    How does this age verification shit even works? Do you just tick how old you are and that’s that and is then used as parental control setting globally or you need to send your ID to some bullshit data mining company that got hacked 3 times already in last year? I don’t understand this whole thing.

    • On iOS, it uses your linked credit card to verify you’re over 18, and then passes a “this user is over 18” flag to any app or website that needs it. It’s arguably the least intrusive or insecure way to handle this push from the EU.