Google "Safety Net" a slap in the face to rooted users?

Ghostleader

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Personally I don't care how they "pack it", to me this a step in the wrong direction, I have a non rooted Xiaomi Note 4X with the official Global firmware and I was "blocked" from seeing Netflix on PlayStore. The laugh being I just took up Netflix on their offer of another free trial after months of on off emails offering said trial. Theres more to this than D.R.M. which I seen "flung in" in one article about this developer option. What do you guys think? As a buyer of non main stream phones this a worry to say the least.


Google makes it easier for devs to hide apps from rooted phone owners
 
Totally agree, I'm sick and tired of apps being shirty for no reason and requiring non-rooted phones to work properly. A lot of these apps claim it's necessary for "security" which is understandable for banking apps but stuff like Pokemon Go or Netflix are just irritating users and driving them away. The app store is already region segmented and adding this further root check API nonsense makes the app even less attractive. Even more so given most are stuffed with useless ads that can often only be removed by rooting and using an ad blocker.

If there are several alternatives for an app, I'll always choose the least restrictive. The others can go swivel.
 
Many a time I have rooted a phone just to get bloat off it, Google Hangouts being a favourite to delete!
 
Here's my full list of bloat which gets removed, almost all entirely Google:

Chrome
Drive
Dropbox
Gmail
Google Backup Transport
Google Calendar Sync
Google Contacts Sync
Google One Time Init
Google Partner Setup
Google Play Movies & TV
Google Play Music
Google Play Newsstand
Google+
Hangouts
Market Feedback Agent
Photos
Podcast

For Samsung phones, there's a whole load of other bloat to ditch:
PageBuddyNotivSvc
S Voice
Samsung account
Samsung Billing
Samsung Calendar SyncAdaptor
Samsung Contacts SyncAdaptor
Samsung Galaxy
Samsung Galaxy Apps Widget
Samsung Memo SyncAdaptor
Samsung Push Service
... and anything Knox related

You can use this Excel (not mine) for the full list of Samsung bloatware:

SGS2 removable
 
If you're a rooter then workarounds should be no issue for you. If hidden apps on play store is your only issue just sideload them. Safety net doesn't block its use currently.
Everything else Magisk
 
Magisk isnt supported on all phones mate, if your phone be a cheaper model of Mediatek in CPU then chances are that's the end of that chapter.
 
Magisk isnt supported on all phones mate, if your phone be a cheaper model of Mediatek in CPU then chances are that's the end of that chapter.
Just need to be more selective about what hardware you buy if you want to go the advanced modding route.
I cant be without my unlocked bootloader, root and all the benefits that come with it therefore I research it's security/unlockability before buying.

Yes safetynet makes it harder and annoying but many apps have their reasons for relying on it. Pokemon go I don't get though tbh.
 
Just need to be more selective about what hardware you buy if you want to go the advanced modding route.
I cant be without my unlocked bootloader, root and all the benefits that come with it therefore I research it's security/unlockability before buying.

Yes safetynet makes it harder and annoying but many apps have their reasons for relying on it. Pokemon go I don't get though tbh.
I don't get Pokemon full stop lol, Super Mario Run thing has been hid from a lot of Pixel users with not all of them running custom/rooted handsets, also side loading was not working for most people with the app force closing on the splash screen. This be the end if freedom of choice I think, Googles business model seems to get more Apple with every move.
 

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