I've been thinking about getting away from proprietary Google Services and their backdoors, but the one thing that's holding me back is Google Pay (NFC payments). It's way too convenient and I'm unwilling to give it up. Is there an open-source replacement/reimplementation maybe, or something like a way to run the original proprietary app with MicroG? What about other apps that require SafetyNet?
(Important note: I'm not from US)
(Google's data collection isn't much of a concern for me anyway because I block all ads and analytics — so even if they do collect something, they have no way of showing me ads)
There are some banking apps that use their own NFC implementation instead of Google Pay -- my bank used to do this before they caved and switched to Google Pay.
As an alternative, you may get a Curve card (https://www.curve.com/) to regain some of that convenience -- it can connect to several physical cards just like Google Pay does, but itself is a physical card.
It is 2 seconds if you're paying less than 1000₽. With a physical card, you have to enter the pin if you're paying more. You only have to unlock the phone before tapping if you're using NFC.
Have you thought about looking in to the problem yourself, or maybe just throwing some coffee money at the devs who are?
I'd argue you should still be concerned about data collection even if you're successfully blocking ads. It doesn't worry you that some super-powerful faceless corporation tracks your every move in the real world? It's one of those things...it won't be a problem until it is ;-)
It doesn't really track my every move in real world either — I removed the location permission for the Google app and disabled the creepy as hell location history a while ago. It doesn't track anything at all in the virtual world because I have third-party cookies disabled and run ad blockers on everything I own.
> Have you thought about looking in to the problem yourself, or maybe just throwing some coffee money at the devs who are?
The problem with this particular thing — making a free software, non-Google NFC payment app — is that it's a regulatory hell and requires partnering with banks. No way an individual would be able to pull this off. Also probably no way to keep it open, I'd be surprised if there are no NDAs involved.
(Important note: I'm not from US)
(Google's data collection isn't much of a concern for me anyway because I block all ads and analytics — so even if they do collect something, they have no way of showing me ads)