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I hear you. My wife has also requested that I not deprecate certain proprietary apps until I can provide a good alternative that works on both Android and Apple. Last time was when we were traveling and wanted to share locations with each other in real time. I had to give WhatsApp location perms 🤮
Oh, I hear you there. I’ve had to give persistent location data to GMaps of all things, because she uses Apple and actually wanted me to get one of those devices just for location.
Some friends and I were talking about the feasibility of that earlier today.
It’s possible, assuming that you never need to use your phone as an MFA method, never need to scan a QR code, or never need to use an app for something because they lack a web version.
My company recently required us to have mandatory fun at a baseball stadium. Apparently, Ballpark MLB is the only way to receive tickets and get into the park… I had to sign up for some stupid account and download some stupid app because my company required it.
Note to self if that were to happen : OSHW SIM modem (or even eSIM) that forwards to whatever (API, email, etc) that then bridges to other networks.
I have a couple of PinePhone I could keep plugged in but otherwise any Android phone where one can load an .apk e.g. Termux could have a hook on SMS then forward accordingly.
Edit2: didn’t try it but https://alwaysconnected.eu/ proposes 1Gb for 1 year (probably already too much data… since one needs 0 if connected on RPi) for 14EUR and they sell a Huawei (not great but I imagine works well with the card) E3372 (no idea if it works well with Linux) for 60EUR.
When Android stops working properly, I’ll move back to a dumb/feature phone. My wife will hate it, but so be it.
I hear you. My wife has also requested that I not deprecate certain proprietary apps until I can provide a good alternative that works on both Android and Apple. Last time was when we were traveling and wanted to share locations with each other in real time. I had to give WhatsApp location perms 🤮
Oh, I hear you there. I’ve had to give persistent location data to GMaps of all things, because she uses Apple and actually wanted me to get one of those devices just for location.
Some friends and I were talking about the feasibility of that earlier today.
It’s possible, assuming that you never need to use your phone as an MFA method, never need to scan a QR code, or never need to use an app for something because they lack a web version.
My company recently required us to have mandatory fun at a baseball stadium. Apparently, Ballpark MLB is the only way to receive tickets and get into the park… I had to sign up for some stupid account and download some stupid app because my company required it.
The future is stupid.
If my employer wants me to use MFA, they can provide me the device.
This is exactly what a Yubikey is for. They’re phishing-resistant too, as opposed to TOTP codes.
I have tried to make the case for Yubikeys a hundred times. It’s officially not in the budget.
What a shame, they will lose much more to hacks
How about for any personal accounts?
My personal accounts do not use MFA of any kind and very few are tied to external accounts for any form of verification.
QR wishes it can someday become as relevant as you’re giving it credit for. Haha.
There is Aegis for MFA. It’s much nicer than the closed proprietary ones.
Of course, if a job requires something incompatible, then I’ll let them buy me a dedicated device.
Some services threaten me with “there’s no web version”, but they never end up being someome I want to do any business with, anyway. ¯(°_o)/¯
But I do want a dumb flip phone again. They were cool.
Pretty sure you can build and self-host an SMS-whatever-she-is-using (e.g. Signal, DeltaChat, etc) bridge if somehow SMS isn’t enough.
Note to self if that were to happen : OSHW SIM modem (or even eSIM) that forwards to whatever (API, email, etc) that then bridges to other networks.
I have a couple of PinePhone I could keep plugged in but otherwise any Android phone where one can load an
.apk
e.g. Termux could have a hook on SMS then forward accordingly.Edit: quick search, a 4G dongle costs ~20EUR today and for compatibility on e.g. a RPi https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=210724 bother otherwise Ubuntu https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkManager/Hardware/3G and example on Debian https://wiki.friendlyelec.com/wiki/index.php/How_to_use_4G_Module_on_Debian
Edit2: didn’t try it but https://alwaysconnected.eu/ proposes 1Gb for 1 year (probably already too much data… since one needs 0 if connected on RPi) for 14EUR and they sell a Huawei (not great but I imagine works well with the card) E3372 (no idea if it works well with Linux) for 60EUR.