https://web.archive.org/web/20250506145643/https://smex.org/...
The article leaves out quite a lot about what AppCloud is, but it's essentially how Samsung monetizes their non-flagship device users and can do things like insert installation advertisements into the notification tray, and silently install apps.
Personally, if I found this on my device it'd be the final straw to grit my teeth and finally get a personal apple device.
Samsung’s A and M series smartphones are their cheapest models so their buyers probably cannot afford better phones. I don’t know of any other brands selling in the region with similarly priced models that have better privacy practices than Samsung either—they’re all the same at that price point I’m afraid.
A refurbished iPhone 13 is $300 on amazon, which is close to the cheapest M ($250). I can’t find new 13’s for sale except via budget carriers.
(Sent from my 12 mini which is better than all that followed it: $200-ish for excellent condition, refurbished.)
Now hey, I won't suggest that Apple would stoop as low as Samsung has here. But discerning customers might not want Tim Apple's phone if he's been cozying up to a crusty politician that can remember to stay for dinner but can't recall his name.
I even refuse to buy QD-OLED monitors out of indignation that Samsung makes the panels. Maybe I'm alone but maybe one day we'll boycott lousy companies out of business.
Has any smartphone maker succeeded in getting more than a few percent of market share, released more that 2 phones while being immune to that level of fiasco ?
Genuine question.
In my case I also wanted an SD card slot so it was slim slim pickings indeed. (And still there are some misfits who insist that there is no such thing as progress!)
adb shell pm uninstall --user 0 com.package.name
> you can't completely remove it
Maybe my English isn’t very good but that sounds like the definition of unremovable.
Wherever you are from or whatever side of the conflict you are on, I think we can all agree that it’s never been easier to infer so much about a person from “semi-public” sources such as companies selling customer data and built-in apps that spy on their users and call home. It allows intelligence agencies to outsource intelligence gathering to the market, which is probably cheaper and a lot more convenient than traditional methods.
“Privacy is a human right” landed on deaf ears but hopefully politicians will soon realise that it’s a matter of national security too.
Check the weather today, get bombed tomorrow.
We all like to imagine this super cool clandestine hacking operation using peoples mobile phones to secretly track people who visit nuclear facilities back to their homes.
The much more logical explanation is someone approached a low level employee at the MEAF who turned over a USB stick with the governments org charts and payroll records in exchange for their kids getting a full ride to a prestigious foreign university.
It appears to be a similar case across the MENA region. While the SMEX post primarily focuses on WANA, it is possible to find other reports (e.g. [1]) from the MENA region that describe similar practices by Samsung. There, however, the stories talk about "Aura", rather than "AppCloud".
[1] https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2025/06/212144/samsung-embe...
A.k.a. I tried to be as politically correct and cite the term used by the respective reporting. The main point I was trying to bring across was that apparently there are two apps involved, not only a single one.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_East_and_North_Africa
Stop parroting the corporate propaganda that put us into this stupid situation in the first place. Having root access on devices you own should be a fundamental right, as otherwise it's not ownership.
Seriously, you never had to provide tech support to a parent, relative, or friend whose computer got totally fucked because they had root?
You missed the countless stories about how no matter complex it is to turn off the protections, people will be tricked or forced into it? You’ve really never seen it first hand?
You people don’t know or have forgotten what a god damn wasteland computers were 20 years ago.
And equating root to ownership is laughable on its face. By that standard, root is never ownership for most people — the moment their machine is compromised because they had root and couldn’t protect, they’ve lost ownership.
Literally 0 here, have you really?
Like I literally do not know anyone who is even using Linux to begin with but also people do have “root” in their Windows and MacOS systems. I do not see anyone destroying their computers at random.
Also to steal someone’s information you don’t need root access or any administrative access - if you already tricked the user into running your code then you can steal their passwords or whatever, all of that is user-level data.
Computers were utopia 20 years ago as compared to today - especially when it comes to privacy, security and user-control.
I am all for right to repair and ownership and whatnot, but I really think you underestimate how little people care about basic security and the baseline aptitude with computers.
I'm not trying to be the jaded IT person, but if you've never worked in IT, you have no idea how helpless and clueless people really are with electronics. They could be a brilliant engineer but want to install The Shopping Plus App that will give them Great Super Deals And Savings!
Edit: I should clarify, this is a bad thing, but giving everyone easy root on their phones isn't the solution and would have far worse outcomes.
These additional restrictions are not there for security despite what we are told.
Similarly it is pretty messed up when people say stuff like “fire can burn you if you aren’t careful” because so many people rely on fire for food and warmth.
As an aside, I recall getting a lot more ads when I used Samsung Keyboard.
Capitalist technologies are the surveillance state incarnate. They must study people in order to manufacture consent.
Remember democracy is majority rule, when have you ever had true control over your political destiny? You KNOW the answer is never.
Democracy =/= trust.
Democracy = control.
Yes the Unity 3D engine company wow.
sneak•1h ago
We need to decouple phone hardware from phone software, as we did with computers.
bilkow•1h ago
As it's usually not viable to opt-out of those, the solution seems to be having a separate device.