An article about Building the Self-Agency Mobile Ecosystem: Push Messaging

Push messaging is the system that enables incoming messages to wake up and reach our apps, instantly and efficiently. But Who Cares Who Delivers Our Notifications? Our answer is: we care, and we do not like being locked in to depending on one mega-corp's system.

Therefore, in our libre mobile computing devices, we require a push-messaging infrastructure built from open standard technology that gives us freedom to choose our service providers and authority over them.

Read more in Going Google-Free with UnifiedPush in /e/OS and my other articles about UnifiedPush .

How We Get There

How can we build this? What is needed to get widespread UnifiedPush support in /e/ and other mobile OS?

This is a technical article. For a more general introduction to UnifiedPush you might read the first half of Going Google-Free with UnifiedPush in /e/OS or my other articles about UnifiedPush .

Should we consider standardising a UP client-server protocol so that a built-in distributor can work with several different server implementations and vice-versa?

Not necessarily, and I will attempt to explain why.

Congratulations UnifiedPush! Congratulations Murena!

Murena's /e/OS 2.5 ships with UnifiedPush support included as announced by a small note in the 2.5-t release notes .

This exciting development brings Google-free push messaging to the regular users of an important player in the freedom mobile OS space.

I designed a back cover to show people mine is no ordinary phone, it's a Freedom Phone.

Share and re-use the design if you like. Replace my face and website with your own.

Fits a OnePlus-6 phone, when printed at 76 x 152 mm. (This phone model can run a wide range of freedom software.)

This article is about one particular step of the procedure for “flashing” a new android-compatible operating system onto a Samsung device to create a Freedom-Respecting Smart Phone or Tablet.

This is about flashing a custom operating system ROM in a Samsung Android device using the tool named Heimdall.

We may encounter a failure mode in which heimdall detect succeeds but heimdall flash and heimdall print-pit both fail, printing this:

This is about buying a Samsung Android tablet and replacing the privacy-invading proprietary Google and Samsung software with privacy-respecting Freedom Software: “degoogling” for short.

Why? In “The Problem” section below, we take a look back at how much we're giving up when we accept Google's and Samsung's terms.

I would like ordinary people, with a little technical skill, to be able to do this. The process unfortunately is currently far too difficult, especially so on Samsung devices.

My goals:

• Install a privacy-preserving freedom-software operating system on my tablet
• Make it easier for others to do the same

Are you asking yourself,

“What's it to be: Android or iPhone?”

Actually, NO! There is another way.

Time I Learned: there are freedom-respecting phones.

I'll tell you which one you need.

What's the problem?

What's so bad about choosing either Google or Apple?

It's about who controls our use of the device after we “bought” it. Do “they” remain in control of what we do, or are we in control?

“What's it to be: Android or iPhone?”

Actually, NO! There is another way.

Time I Learned: there are freedom-respecting phones.

I'll tell you which one you need.