Smartphone Required (digital exclusion of people without smartphones) !smartphone_required@lemmy.sdf.org

This community collects stories, cases and situations where people without smartphones are excluded from society.

Somewhat related:

• !email_required@lemmy.sdf.org
• !escapebigtech@lemmy.escapebigtech.info
• !netneutrality@sopuli.xyz
• !degoogle@discuss.tchncs.de
• !right_to_unplug@sopuli.xyz
• !digi_fiefdom_required@lemmy.sdf.org

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RCS seems to be replacing email-SMS gateways. RCS is supposedly an open standard, but apparently if you do not have Android 8.1 or newer, you cannot use RCS to send an SMS in Belgium.

In principle, iiuc, you should be able to use a desktop app or browser to send an RCS msg. But for some reason it’s a shitshow.

The closed-source app is exclusively available in these places:

• Google Playstore
• Apple store
• Huawei store

The app will only run on quite recent phones. So anyone who does not keep their OS up to date (which implies periodically buying new hardware for the shitshow platforms people much choose between) are locked out of their account. Also:

• No walk-in service
• Over the counter service requires appointment and a fee for many staff-assisted operations
• No paper statements. No phone → no statements.

The app requires SMS 2fa, so non-phone or landphone users: don’t even think about trying to use an android emulator.

If you want to close your account to escape this shitshow, you have 2 options:

• In the app use the account closure feature, OR
• Send a shit load of sensitive information (ID/passport, utility bill, bank account numbers to close, account numbers of your new external account to transfer the money to, etc) via Google (gmail) from an IP address that Googl

Happened a while back to me. I own an Android phone, but when I went to use my $200 in tickets to a local event, the app wouldn't display them. Contacted AXS support and they were explicit in denying any recourse or access to a paper ticket.

cross-posted from: https://links.hackliberty.org/post/2977653

All links for this story are shit -- Cloudflare or paywalls. So I linked the archive and will dump the text below. Note the difference between my title and the original. I think mine is more accurate. The AG seems to view feature phones as a tool for criminals. But also says having no phone is suspect as well, so the original title is also correct.

---

Georgia AG claims not having a phone makes you a criminal

That’s dangerous for constitutional rights
SAMANTHA HAMILTON
FEBRUARY 12, 2024 6:52 PM

The ubiquity of smartphones is causing some to pine for simpler times, when we didn’t have the entire history of humankind’s knowledge at our fingertips on devices that tracked our every move. There’s a growing trend, particularly among young people, to use non-smartphones, or “basic phones.” The reasons range from aesthetic to financial to concern for mental health. But according to Georgia At

A guy posted a long thread in Mastodon about how a hospital refused him service because he did not install the smartphone app of the hospital/clinic which (IIRC) was exclusively available in Google’s Playstore.

Sorry to say I lost track of the link. If anyone finds the thread, please reply.

(edit) I found the link

@lrvick@mastodon.social -- any updates?