And there’s no way to pick “show desktop site” or the similar? In fact, if you run the “normal” version of Firefox, I don’t see how the bank website can even know that you’re using a mobile device (IP address lookups are not useful here, since a non-negligible number of people use cellular networks for Internet access in fixed locations or via a hotspot).
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I would like to see the IceCat webbrowser and Tor browser in the repos.
I totally agree. Purism should concentrate (for now) only on the basis of Librem5 and the rest will come with time.
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If Librem 5 wants to be appealing to non tech savvy potential customers and purism will be providing the accompanied store for Librem users, people will expect a watertight solution for mobile banking. I totally agree developers should focus on the priority list. In order to end the discussion whether or not online banking will be working of the bat, I can imagine it is not to much trouble for those having access to a dev kit to collectively log into their own banking account, doing a quick check and report back if they succeeded (+name bank), especially when it comes to European banks due to the very restricting new legislation on that continent. Like willing people like @maximilian is doing in his app testing thread, I presume there are quite a few others with dev kits willing to do a 5 minute test, it would be interesting to see what they will come up with.
Proving easy access to online banking will most definitely reassure potential customers like myself who are into the Purism /Librem philosophy and concept in buying but are still on the fence about pre-ordering one. Current most heard cons in the decision making process like being more ‘expensive’, ‘bulkier’, etc compared to mainstream smartphones providing x number of RAM compared to ‘only 3GB RAM’ arguments will then turn out to be almost non-existent.
Edit 1: Added link to @maximilian 's thread
Edit 2:
For further discussion regarding online banking apps and not hijacking this thread I’d like to take this over to Librem 5 - online banking app and other m.mobile websites
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Most of the apps I currently use have functions that can be accomplished through a browser, so I’m not concerned. Bryan Lunduke showed us that we an install programs with apt, so I may do that (especially Aisle Riot)
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Having confirmation and tests for European banks in particular (browser URL -> redirected to m.mobile) would still be much appreciated. Not ordering one before an official announcement banking URL’s/apps will work in Europe.
Besides the ‘basics’ that is worked on by developers, banking apps are one of the most used, one would expect these to be considered essential for Librem 5 to be accepted not only by early adopters. Failing to get those working upon delivery will be a miss. Better have it tested now.
Edit: Copied to mobile banking thread to have discussions to be continued there
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The apps I am most concerned about are the Samsung Gear and Samsung Health apps for connecting to a smartwatch I got as a gift. Other than that, SMSSecure/Silence support would be nice.
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I would like an editor a lot, as I use Google Docs to edit documents on my phone all the time and it would be good to have an alternative.
Also, I almost forgot about browsers. A Firefox/Waterfox client would be very good.
It is not Purism’s responsibility to create apps for other companies. They do not have access to xyz company’s security system, data structures, etc.
If a large enough demand is placed on companies they should develop apps for the platform. I’ve also wondered, since we’ll have root access from the beginning, why couldn’t we be able to emulate or trick a website into thinking the Librem 5 is a desktop browser?
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I’m just now realizing that the online bank (which doesn’t suck) that I’m with now only allows the initiation of scheduled check payments by mail with their mobile device app. I’m going to have to jump through a hoop of an Android (or iOS) emulator to do this in the future.
I’m going to be a two device person for a while so it’s not urgent, but I can see how a money movement app on a mobile dev would be important. I guess I could do some weird trick between two banks to pull off online payments without a mobile app, but having a PureOS app that worked like GooglePay would be a solution, and (I assume without justification) since it would work on any Linux system it might pull in developers from the general population instead of just Purism.
Copied to Librem 5 - online banking app and other m.mobile websites for the narrowed topic of mobile banking.
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i vote for firefox, is the best browser with a lot of plugin and privacy feature can be enabled also in about:config
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I vote for FF since they were the OG people fighting for us in the 90s.
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It is complicated though. Purism needs to create a critical mass of apps that will be enough to sell the phone as a credible alternative. Thereafter, it is a three way juggling exercise of responsibility between: the user (this is free, right?), the company and Purism.
If it’s niche (connecting some random smartwatch manufactured by a company that is large enough to ignore us?) then it’s probably going to come down to an enthusiastic motivated user.
Indeed.
That has already been discussed, for example here: Librem 5 - online banking app and other m.mobile websites
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A wish list. Not likely but a nice to have would be:
BlueDriver ODB2 Scanner
FLIR Camera App
Both have associated hardware dongles. Everything else I need can be done by whats already built in or via web browser.
Edit:
A Unifi App would be nice but should be functional via a full featured desktop browser.
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Hi, my personal wishlist app on the L5 could be:
Browser: Firefox (duckducktogo)
Chat/messaging: Telegram
Maps & navigator: something that works also off-line; great if possible to connect to the Automotive-infotainment system of the car, like Android Auto or Mirror link
Vocal recognition (with Android-auto you can chat using Telegram)
VPN
Torch
Camera App
Translator App
Calendar App
Unit converter
E-mail
Calculator
‘Criptopocket’ (where to save data/psw)
Video player
.pdf reader
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100% agree about Silence : does anybody use it ? it is THE SMS app to have.
It send E2E encrypted message so nobody (telephone company, man in the middle, etc.) can decrypt it. I would be so happy that Purism adds Silence Protocol (which is open source) to the Librem 5 SMS app.
Regarding instant messaging app via 3G/4G, Signal might be OK, through I think there is a failure in their process : Signal centralizes your phone number and Signal contacts in their servers. They know when and how often you call them. Not to mention what I’m not sure about, namely the ability to decrypt messages since the encryption key is made in “Signal Protocol”. The goal of E2E encryption is to not trust 3rd party. Here, you have to trust Signal server and you cannot use it if you fork Signal. The company says they don’t keep data, so we have to trust it (opposite of E2E encryption).
But well, sadly I haven’t found such an open-source equivalent that is so easy to use, multy-platform, and so robust at the moment, I’m still looking. There is Nextcloud Talk, but on Android, developers use Google Cloud Messenging, which is far from good for privacy.
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Sounds cool. That should definitely be on the radar, maybe not for v1.0 though.
Even though the content is protected, SMS by its very nature leaks metadata. Who sent a message to whom? When? Approximate length of message? Was there a reply? Was there a back-and-forth conversation?
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The only two I would miss are my local transport app:
And my university security app:
https://www.uow.edu.au/about/services/security/safezone/
(for the latter, I can ask the devs directly as they are stationed across the road from me in the Uni. startup-company-incubator. 
)
Everything else I use comes to my LineageOS Nexus5x via F-droid, so - in theory at least - should be portable with varying degrees of convenience.
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These are not strictly apps, more like features.
Universal Dark Mode. Lots of apps have a dark mode setting, but frankly that’s lame. We should be able to set dark mode with a toggle on the desktop theme, and it should work for all displayed apps, windowed or full-screen.
Landscape Mode. Android has a screen-flip on/off toggle. I use a utility that lets me force the phone into portrait/landscape/auto modes.
I re-watched the daily videos and the only instance of an app in landscape was when the Gnome File Open dialog hit a certain window and flipped to landscape. It wasn’t because the user selected it, or because the user flipped the devkit orientation and responded to it – it was flat on a table the whole time. The user just kept poking along with the stylus and ignored it. The next window that popped up was in portrait mode, again, not because of anything the user did.
On the other hand, I notice some apps, like King’s Cross terminal, displayed in portrait, the full terminal window on top and the keyboard on the bottom (not blocking the terminal display). That’s pretty cool, but some apps just need landscape to make them useful.
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