It's a system app? I was able to uninstall it directly on my Pixel 8. Unless it's only a system app above that.

Went to turn it off.

Apparently I already did. Marvelous.

I updated my phone last week ad now I cant uninstall samsung pass whatever the fuck that is. God I am so sick of tis game of cat and mouse with modern tech.

I'm okay if it has access to everything, makes it easier to find the porn I was looking for.

the launcher might become a very similar but stripped down version.

if you liked to have more features, try the lawnchair launcher from f-droid. its a fork with readded features. you need to have the izzydroid repo activated to find it

„Lawnchair“ – IzzyOnDroid F-Droid Repository

Homescreen based on on Launcher3 from AOSP

IzzyOnDroid Repo Browser (apt.izzysoft.de)

Isn't that a pixel only OS?

Unfortunately yes, there are technical reasons I don't fully understand. I think has to do with how it's locked down, and that it can be relocked after graphine is installed.

Graphine takes security seriously, so leaving the boot loader unlocked is not acceptable to them.

Although, that may change with google removing pixel specific code from the android source.

I don't like to be reminded of the porn I was looking for. Google showing me ads based on my porn habits is what sent me down the privacy and security path I've been on since.

Its because of the hardware. Pixel phones have a chip dedicated exclusively to security, therefore why GrapheneOS is buildt arround those phones

Yes, because pixels are currently the only android phones with hardware security that third party operating systems can take full advantage of.

Are they still being made? I'd like to give it a try but Googles putting the pedal on enshitiffication

Well I don't have a pixel my dude.

Then either get one or don't switch?

A whole article about how terrible this is, then towards the end they got clarification from Google and, surprise surprise, it was all an overreaction and they were fear mongering.

“This update is good for users: they can now use Gemini to complete daily tasks on their mobile devices like send messages, initiate phone calls, and set timers while Gemini Apps Activity is turned off. With Gemini Apps Activity turned off, their Gemini chats are not being reviewed or used to improve our AI models.

It’s just giving Gemini more local assistant abilities.