*If you have an androidphone, a new app that doesn’t appear in your menu has been automatically and silently installed (or soon will be) by google. It is called #AndroidSystemSafetyCore and does exactly the same - scan all images on your device as well as all incoming ones (via messaging). The new spin is that it does so “to protect your privacy”.
You can uninstall this app safely via System → Apps.*
Looks like it will be enforced for users under 18 years (“Unfortunately, this leaves minors open to receiving or sending nude images over text, which they may not fully understand the consequences of at the time”) but opt-out for adults.
The article as far as I understand only speaks of Google Messages, so I’m not sure if “scan all images on your device” is really true. But then, the article is somewhat vague in this regard, so it might still be true.
The app is described as “Android system component that provides privacy-preserving on-device user protection infrastructure for apps”. So it seems that other apps might incorporate it in the future, too.
But they seem to move in the right direction. I’ve removed LOS4microG from my FP3 about 4 years ago, because my banking app didn’t work. Lately I gave it anothe try, and now it works flawlessly so far (both banking app and “Securego” app for authentification).
The app seems to do its job offline, preserving privacy. It also has other security features. But you’re free to remove it of course. Try to understand it, before scaring people.
And do you know why rooting your phone is a necessary evil these days when you install a custom rom? Because you need it to make banking apps and some games work by spoofing that you are on a stock os.
It’s indeed a chicken and the egg story. But imagine you’re a bank and you need to secure people’s savings. That’s a big responsibility. You of course secure your app to the fullest, but it depends on the OS for the full chain of security/trust. Of course you implement checks to only allow Google certified ROMs without root and installations of your app only from the official Play Store. I don’t think that has anything to do with Google lobbying at banks, I think it has everything to do with banks covering their attack surface. Unless you have a source, where it states Google actually lobbies at banks to ban custom ROMs.
If I understood right these are only the apps that are confirmed bc users have reported them as. Doesn’t mean that yours doesn’t work. Perhaps searching in the other forum might be worth a try
Some ROMs allow root access, that is not safe.