Even with Google Play Services working, there's a much more difficult underlying issue that makes for a rather unpleasant user experience with banking apps: SafetyNet Attestation/Play Integrity/CTS profiles/whatever other names there are for it.
I remember that ages ago I had to use Magisk and a finnicky Xposed module on my phone to be able to get past the root protection my banking app had. I'll be honest, these days I just don't have the mental energy for those sorts of fights anymore.
Every one of my phones before was rooted with custom os flashed, but now I feel exactly the same a as you, it's just not worth it. Kinda sad how stuff is being more and mored locked down.
It's easier now, after flashing the custom rom, go ahead and flash gapps package of your choice (BitGapps or NikGapps) are worth looking into. Even if you choose the most minimal packages, everything is bound to work just like it does in a normal Android.
> I remember that ages ago I had to use Magisk and a finnicky Xposed module...
Same, funny how we're basically putting "rootkits" on our phones. At the end I also gave up having root on my phone, because it seems the banking app(s) were too clever and detected them.
I've never rooted mine, running LineageOS since 2016 + minimal Google services. There was a period when my bank's app suddenly decided things weren't "safe" and refused to run but this was many years ago - no issues since.
MicroG has a LineageOS distribution, they build for all the supported devices by upstream Lineage: https://lineage.microg.org/
That should cover at least the notification side. If I can't bank on a mostly open-source mobile OS than I would rather just not bank on mobile at all. Banking on stock ROM is not an option for me.
I've been using LineageOS for 2 years now since my 2020 phone started to slow down due to bloatware. From the moment I installed it, the phone became fast again. Regarding notifications, I haven't had any problems with WhatsApp or any other messaging apps. As for my bank, I downloaded the app from the Play Store (I use microG) and I haven't had any issues either. I think it depends on your bank and the restrictions they place. In my personal experience, LineageOS has allowed me to continue using a phone that would have otherwise been thrown away due to planned obsolescence by the manufacturer.
I'm amazed this didn't come up yet as a part of the DMA because everything related to the play services and integrity are a blatant antitrust violation.
TFA says that the intended user does not care about having banking apps on that phone.
Also, there is nothing stopping you from just keeping an old phone around just for the banking app. It's not like I really need to do banking on the go, and the app is nothing more than a glorified 2FA app for when I do home banking, on my actual computer.
Agreed - this is a good solution for people that don't want or need any of that stuff. You'd be surprised how many people out there don't do any form of internet banking at all and simply manage their money in the bank branch or over the telephone directly to the bank. For the elderly, it's a great idea to remove their internet banking (or not give them access to it in the first place) and protect them from scammers.
On my phone, using crDroid (no official lineageos support), I can use Google Pay without problems. This wasn't possible when it was still rooted, so I think root access is what prevented that from working before.
As for Google Play, you can just install those right after installing Lineage. Or you use MicroG or something if you don't like the closed source Google services client.
I've been daily driving Lineageos with MicroG on a cheap Motorola and have had no problems with Whatsapp at all. (Thankfully I've been able to avoid banking or ID apps so can't chime in on that)
You can use Google Play services on Lineage os. IIRC they are installed by default though there are ways to use it without them (doing that right now). About banking apps idk.
Where I live the largest consumer banks have a state sanctioned cartel regarding electronic identification. They'll never support Linux, and I won't support anything else on my personal computers, which means I have to use regular Android on my phone so I can use their 'app'.
...and ask your employer to pay out your salary in cash? Doesn't sound very realistic unfortunately. I don't think it's only about banking apps needing the Google services, it might actually be that they refuse to run on rooted phones?
If there are any banking apps that run on LineageOS, kudos to them - if they are available in Germany, tell me so I can switch...
I need the bank's eID-application to authenticate against pretty much all of the public sector, and when I buy tobacco online.
The banks were many years ago allowed to develop an electronic identification system and they now totally dominate in this space, and that's what the public sector generally supports.
It's the 'worse than Soviet' kind of nasty that tend to emerge from liberalist oligarchies.
Sweden. We have 'owner families' dominating our economy and politics, and things have been rotting fast over the past thirty years or so. I'm unlikely to relocate though, at least not until the NATO membership pulls us into open conflict.
Yeah. I've been drafting and revising relocation plans for years, so if it seems to heat up or kids might be conscripted we'd probably manage to leave in an orderly manner within a couple of months.
I'm probably too old to get conscripted even if I were to botch my predictions, I'm old enough to have done both obligatory service and a couple of military employments and been placed in and culled from the 'war placement' registry.
You don't need the banking app for actual banking, but you need it for 2FA if you want to use the bank website on your PC. Some banks also offer an additional "authentication device", which would be an alternative for LineageOS users, but that's an additional device that you have to take care of, carry around etc., so much less convenient than using the app...
my mobile banking app is only good for looking up the balance, which i really dont need to do that often. for anything more complicated using the phone is just irritating and i more frequently turn to my desktop or laptop. moreover if banking is so significant to you, and you hold alot of funds, perhaps you should really then think about having a secure isolated banking device.
which is why LOS is exactly not for non-tech savvy folks. he probably proselytized his priorities until his family members couldn't hear it anymore and just surrendered. i hope he has a lot of time because exactly the points you mentioned plus all his "advantages" will come back to haunt him.
having said that i love anything anti-google but i'd be careful to advertise it to others.
My Dad likes his non-Google phone very much! He never had a smartphone in the first place so doesn't use any apps, social media, internet banking, etc. But does like having an easy to use on-screen keyboard. If a "dumbphone" existed with a large touch screen instead of the little 1" screen with a numpad, that would be great.
It's kinda funny that device integrity is so important to them, implying evil maid attacks, but the most common attack on eID is simply stealing someone's code or convincing them to use their eID over the phone.
Of course, with the evil maid attack enabled stealing someone's phone would become much more common, rather like stealing someone's credit card.
As a counter to this I'll bring up that the Swedish Bank-ID works on all of my devices, all of which are Google-free and have root access, most of which run LineageOS. The Bank-ID client throws up a warning that it "needs Google services to work" after which it continues to work fine without it. I do tend to use older devices - waste not, want not - so things may have changed somewhere past Android 11.
I have a hard time believing this. I'll have to look into it, because I do have a spare pixel 6 device I'd like to install Lineage on, but I also want to use it as backup for my BankID.
I use Bank-ID on a 2014 Samsung Galaxy IIIneo running LineageOS as well as on a Galaxy Tab 3, also running LineageOS. I also use it on a Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 running a lobotomised stock distribution. None of these devices have Google services installed, all have root access using Magisk. These devices range from Android 7 (the tablet) to 11 (the Galaxy SIIIneo), i have no data on more recent Android versions.
Pixel 6 supports grapheneOS which is massively superior in all ways, at least in my opinion as someone who has used both lineageOS and grapheneOS for many years
Yeah, that's a really big problem for any Android enthusiast who wants to have a root and tinker with the device.
I ended up with 2 phones because of that and my second is an iPhone mini, because of the shitty financial apps that didn't work properly on Android. The upside of a walled garden I suppose is that the bank would test it properly on a more consistent iOS.
In Europe, bank transactions have mandatory 2FA. In most cases that means a smartphone apps though many banks also offer a physical device. But you have to pay for the latter, and if you have different accounts at different banks, there's a good chance the devices aren't compatible with each other. Smartphones are the easiest option for most people.
All major banks here have either a personalized physical thingamajig or a generic one that you put your card in, I opened an account with a new bank not too long ago and I got this for free, never heard of anyone having to pay for it.
Then keep a dedicated smartphone for bank purposes only. I already do that with iPhones in usa. I have se 1 Gen as a cellphone on a cheap $7 plan, and a se2 Gen as a pda of sorts on a “unlimited” plan. There are multiple benefits to it. Like when I browse on my pda phone I don’t have to worry about draining battery on phone. I only charge my phone (se1) about twice a week.
