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Has Play Protect removed KDE Connect from your phone? Let us know

111 points by cryne 3y ago

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
wing-_-nuts 3y ago
Still seems to be present on my phone. I love that little app. It's so dang useful to be able to wirelessly copy files from my pc to my phone and vice versa. I previously tried a sftp client on android (terminus?) to no avail. Edit: I installed via the play store, I see many folks have installed it via fdroid but I'm not sure why.
- Tommstein 3y ago
  > Edit: I installed via the play store, I see many folks have installed it via fdroid but I'm not sure why. Because https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19429193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19429193 (KDE Connect removed from Google Play store for violating new policy on SMS).
- Larrikin 3y ago
  Little known feature of tailscale, it let's you send files to all your devices. Has to be explicitly enabled on certain platforms and you'd never know it existed without reading the docs.
  - tentacleuno 3y ago
    It's called Taildrop. https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/ https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  I found file transfer with KDEConnect unreliable and often ended up with corrupted copies. Now I use Syncthing instead and just permanently share a directory; when I want to share a file I just drop it in there and a few seconds later it is on all the other devices even if they are not in the same network segment.
- Almondsetat 3y ago
  Still can't create a temporary ad hoc wireless network to transfer files directly between devices. If they did that it would be on par with airdrop
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  I use the HTTP server built into Mixplorer (the best file manager I've ever used). It can be added as a Quick Settings toggle.
Tommstein 3y ago
I still have it but plan on going postal if Google removes it. Just turned off Play Protect just in case. Abuse your power, lose your power.
- hulitu 3y ago
  How do you turn it off ?
  - crtasm 3y ago
    Play Store, tap your profile picture at top-right, Play Protect is on the menu. Google will sometimes prompt to re-enable it when installing/updating apps from outside Play Store, I don't know if that can be stopped.
Vt71fcAqt7 3y ago
>It is affecting the f-droid users Wow, I didn't know play 'protect' could do that.
- bityard 3y ago
  Google has root on your Android phone, they can technically do anything they want. The only practical thing stopping them is their own scruples, for whatever that may be worth, or bad press. Same is true for Apple. (With one marrow exclusion for those who installed a "de-googled" Android variant and run no Google services.)
  - fifteen1506 3y ago
    Or GrapheneOS with Sandboxed Play Services running as regular user apps.
    - wkat4242 3y ago
      They can still do a lot. I'd much rather use software I can inspect to talk to the services I really need (firebase push) and replace the ones I can (like location). MicroG is great for that <3 It can even fake some of the more basic safetynet attestation crap and during Covid they made their own version of the Bluetooth thing. Marvin the dev is a great guy. I don't know why people hate on MicroG so much. Grapheneos devs foam at the mouth when you mention it and in the lineageos irc channel you get Insta kicked when you mention it.
    - Brian_K_White 3y ago
      No one should use graphene.
      - deadbunny 3y ago
        Why?
        Brian_K_White 3y ago
orangepurple 3y ago
If you can stomach the compromises this is the way: https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ It's a never ending battle to access Play store apps with Google regularly breaking Aurora Store Nightly, but some of us manage.
- wkat4242 3y ago
  Yeah Aurora is heavily throttled right now ('this account is rate limited'). Still, I use it because I don't want a Google account on my phone. The good thing about MicroG is that you can replace some Google stuff with better ones like a local location DB. It's also much lighter because it doesn't spend 90% of its processing time trying to spy on you. Its code is actually written to do stuff on your behalf as the user, not Google's. Sandboxing real Google Play does stop it from being able to do some of the spying but not all, and it doesn't stop it from trying and wasting battery power. The only thing I really need from Google is the push messaging because most app services simply don't integrate with anything else :(
nubinetwork 3y ago
It's still on the play store... last update was on September 20.
Zetobal 3y ago
Must be a bug there are other people on reddit reporting other apps get deleted as well. Even ones from Samsung. https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/176bk9b/google_saying_samsung_wallet_is_dangerous/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/176bk9b/goog...
charcircuit 3y ago
I turned off play protect when it marked an app as malware probably because it violated their play store guidelines and not because it was malicious. There is no way to permanently tell it that an app is not in fact malicous and it will keep asking you to remove it.
nologic01 3y ago
This is an interesting exhibit as KDE Connect is an example of a powerful app. Powerful apps that do non-trivial things are needed to extract the potential of these wonderful devices. But they sail too close to the wind for the gatekeepers that rather keep them dumb devices locked and "safe". Over time this is going to stiffle innovation big time.
kurtoid 3y ago
KDE Connect plus Wireguard is my favorite combo. KDE Connect commands can also be triggered from Tasker, so with Autowear I can trigger commands from my watch
- kurtoid 3y ago
  Wow, Protect just uninstalled KDE connect :/
bravetraveler 3y ago
Still present here, v1.29 - appreciate the warning... I installed with the usual Play store, link seems to show mostly (all?) affected were f-droid users

111 points by cryne 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

Still seems to be present on my phone. I love that little app. It's so dang useful to be able to wirelessly copy files from my pc to my phone and vice versa. I previously tried a sftp client on android (terminus?) to no avail. Edit: I installed via the play store, I see many folks have installed it via fdroid but I'm not sure why.

Tommstein 3y ago
> Edit: I installed via the play store, I see many folks have installed it via fdroid but I'm not sure why. Because https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19429193 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=19429193 (KDE Connect removed from Google Play store for violating new policy on SMS).
Larrikin 3y ago
Little known feature of tailscale, it let's you send files to all your devices. Has to be explicitly enabled on certain platforms and you'd never know it existed without reading the docs.
- tentacleuno 3y ago
  It's called Taildrop. https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/ https://tailscale.com/kb/1106/taildrop/
kwhitefoot 3y ago
I found file transfer with KDEConnect unreliable and often ended up with corrupted copies. Now I use Syncthing instead and just permanently share a directory; when I want to share a file I just drop it in there and a few seconds later it is on all the other devices even if they are not in the same network segment.
Almondsetat 3y ago
Still can't create a temporary ad hoc wireless network to transfer files directly between devices. If they did that it would be on par with airdrop
arcanemachiner 3y ago
I use the HTTP server built into Mixplorer (the best file manager I've ever used). It can be added as a Quick Settings toggle.

Tommstein 3y ago

I still have it but plan on going postal if Google removes it. Just turned off Play Protect just in case. Abuse your power, lose your power.

hulitu 3y ago
How do you turn it off ?
- crtasm 3y ago
  Play Store, tap your profile picture at top-right, Play Protect is on the menu. Google will sometimes prompt to re-enable it when installing/updating apps from outside Play Store, I don't know if that can be stopped.

Vt71fcAqt7 3y ago

>It is affecting the f-droid users Wow, I didn't know play 'protect' could do that.

bityard 3y ago
Google has root on your Android phone, they can technically do anything they want. The only practical thing stopping them is their own scruples, for whatever that may be worth, or bad press. Same is true for Apple. (With one marrow exclusion for those who installed a "de-googled" Android variant and run no Google services.)
- fifteen1506 3y ago
  Or GrapheneOS with Sandboxed Play Services running as regular user apps.
  - wkat4242 3y ago
    They can still do a lot. I'd much rather use software I can inspect to talk to the services I really need (firebase push) and replace the ones I can (like location). MicroG is great for that <3 It can even fake some of the more basic safetynet attestation crap and during Covid they made their own version of the Bluetooth thing. Marvin the dev is a great guy. I don't know why people hate on MicroG so much. Grapheneos devs foam at the mouth when you mention it and in the lineageos irc channel you get Insta kicked when you mention it.
  - Brian_K_White 3y ago
    No one should use graphene.
    - deadbunny 3y ago
      Why?
      - Brian_K_White 3y ago

orangepurple 3y ago

If you can stomach the compromises this is the way: https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ It's a never ending battle to access Play store apps with Google regularly breaking Aurora Store Nightly, but some of us manage.

wkat4242 3y ago
Yeah Aurora is heavily throttled right now ('this account is rate limited'). Still, I use it because I don't want a Google account on my phone. The good thing about MicroG is that you can replace some Google stuff with better ones like a local location DB. It's also much lighter because it doesn't spend 90% of its processing time trying to spy on you. Its code is actually written to do stuff on your behalf as the user, not Google's. Sandboxing real Google Play does stop it from being able to do some of the spying but not all, and it doesn't stop it from trying and wasting battery power. The only thing I really need from Google is the push messaging because most app services simply don't integrate with anything else :(

nubinetwork 3y ago

It's still on the play store... last update was on September 20.

Zetobal 3y ago

Must be a bug there are other people on reddit reporting other apps get deleted as well. Even ones from Samsung. https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/176bk9b/google_saying_samsung_wallet_is_dangerous/ https://www.reddit.com/r/LinusTechTips/comments/176bk9b/goog...

charcircuit 3y ago

I turned off play protect when it marked an app as malware probably because it violated their play store guidelines and not because it was malicious. There is no way to permanently tell it that an app is not in fact malicous and it will keep asking you to remove it.

nologic01 3y ago

This is an interesting exhibit as KDE Connect is an example of a powerful app. Powerful apps that do non-trivial things are needed to extract the potential of these wonderful devices. But they sail too close to the wind for the gatekeepers that rather keep them dumb devices locked and "safe". Over time this is going to stiffle innovation big time.

kurtoid 3y ago

KDE Connect plus Wireguard is my favorite combo. KDE Connect commands can also be triggered from Tasker, so with Autowear I can trigger commands from my watch

kurtoid 3y ago
Wow, Protect just uninstalled KDE connect :/

bravetraveler 3y ago

Still present here, v1.29 - appreciate the warning... I installed with the usual Play store, link seems to show mostly (all?) affected were f-droid users