Pay securely with an Android smartphone, completely without Google services: This is the plan being developed by the newly founded industry consortium led by the German Volla Systeme GmbH. It is an open-source alternative to Google Play Integrity. This proprietary interface decides on Android smartphones with Google Play services whether banking, government, or wallet apps are allowed to run on a smartphone.
No need to feel powerless - just don’t use the bullshit that you don’t want to use.
I use zero banking apps or payment apps on my phone, because financial stuff is too important to be stored in a pocket-sized device that can be lost or stolen. I have no problem accomplishing payments online or in person, using cards or cash.
But anyway, this new industry plan is good news and they should carry on doing that.
Before I had my own car, I used car sharing. No provider worked with a rooted phone. “visa secure” for paying online, requires a banking app usually. And sadly I can’t invest days per product researching feasible alternatives.
I’m on GrapheneOS now, and the stuff works. But google is actively fighting it, and it only works by finding loopholes and setting up sandboxes to pretend to be google… microg-services (did I get the name right?) might also solve those issues, but it’s a constant fight and might stop working at any time. And this is horrible, and that’s why I applaud the fact, that bigger players are directing their attention to this problem.
GrapheneOS is the best option that I know of for a phone ROM. LineageOS for MicroG is a decent alternative for de-googled ROMs, and it supports a wider range of devices. It’s not the official LineageOS, but is maintained on a separate site that hosts builds that include MicroG. Official LineageOS does not support MicroG but can be installed without Google crap (and will not work with things that require google play services)