Tell HN: PayPal Blocks GrapheneOS

lleumon about 3 hours ago 16 comments

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It seems like the PayPal app now refuses to run on GrapheneOS. I don't know if it's only because I have enabled the PayPal card for contacless NFC payments, but when opening the app it crashes with the following exception: com.paypal.oslo.app.rasp.RootDetectionSecurityException: Security policy violation: s=root

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Discussion (16 Comments)Read Original on HackerNews

zerof1l•about 2 hours ago

I see this happen from time to time. Lately, almost all of the apps work fine on GrapheneOS. The best strategy is to keep writing the business once every two or so weeks that you can’t log in to and use the app. Don’t go too technical at first, because most of the time, the moment they hear things like “rooted” or “unofficial,” they just say your phone is the issue. To date, I was able to convince, or at least contribute to, making three apps work on GOS.

basilikum•17 minutes ago

Great job, man. We have to make ourselves get heard. It's a social problem after all. Technical workarounds are great and sometimes the only practical short term option, but we have to fix the social issue at the root.

axegon_•about 1 hour ago

This is arguably the most irritating thing with just about every largecorp developer: "os that hasn't been updated in 6 years? Sure boss!". Os that is built specifically around security and privacy with daily updates: "No, you can't do that". Annoying - yes. Safe way to make sure I will stop being your customer - also YES!

fluidcruft•17 minutes ago

Generally I think the issue is that there's a tension between your security vs Paypal's security (deliberate, motivated bad actors).

Maybe an analogy could be about using metal detectors as a layer to reduce bank robberies. A gun in a good guy's hands is a good thing to prevent robberies. Guns in a bad guy's hands are a bad thing to prevent robberies. Paypal knows you have a gun but they don't know if you're a good guy or a bad guy so it's easier to just ban guns.

encom•15 minutes ago

How does a rooted phone enable bank fraud? This smells like pointless policy checkboxing.

biosboiii•7 minutes ago

If you run a rooted phone and download malware, that malware can gain root and do payments on your behalf. Then PayPal has to deal with you revoking payments etc., they don't want to so they forbid you from using PayPal on a rooted phone.

tonyhart7•15 minutes ago

"Safe way to make sure I will stop being your customer - also YES!"

I don't think they care at all about the size of graphene os market share

if its jeopardize entire userbase then its not worth it

sdcfgy•about 1 hour ago

I'm starting to see these restrictions as a deterrent for using the products in question. My GOS handset is slowly fizzling away into a dumbphone with Firefox, organic maps and k9. And you know what, I am starting like it.

gnoll_of_gozag•about 1 hour ago

Can it still run in browser like it would on a regular pc?

aabdelhafez•about 2 hours ago

Switched to Wero and haven't looked back.

https://wero-wallet.eu

sunaookami•1 minute ago

Wero is not a PayPal alternative. It doesn't even have buyer's protection and every bank must manually implement it which immediately makes it a failure. Some banks also connect it to your phone number so you can't link Wero to two different bank accounts with the same number when you have 2 bank accounts. Very messy.

unpopularopp•about 1 hour ago

Unfortunately peasants like us who don't live in the 5 countries where it's available still can't look back

muvlon•about 1 hour ago

You need to use your bank's app for Wero, and many EU banks' apps refuse to run on GrapheneOS for the same reasons as PayPal. This is sadly not a clear win for Wero.

therealmarv•about 1 hour ago

wait for it... I can see a future were every wallet, payment etc. app will block devices which are on custom ROMs and do not pass strong hardware integrity with blessing from Google.

I've read once that there are paid app testing labs which test if an app has root and custom ROM detection and when they don't have that it's a minus point on the report.

savwolf•20 minutes ago

Does this work in the UK?

doublerabbit•7 minutes ago

No. We left the EU, so we don't get such fun.

oniony•about 1 hour ago

The website is pages and pages of blankness for me on Firefox mobile.

leumon•about 2 hours ago

Update: it seems to work when disabling "secure app spawning" (for now)

ttouch•13 minutes ago

thank you!

zvmaz•about 1 hour ago

So it's not PayPal blocking GrapheneOS?

freakynit•about 2 hours ago

"RootDetectionSecurityException" .. there's your answer ... it doesnt't want to run on "rooted" devices.

leumon•about 2 hours ago

Well I haven't rooted my device. It's just normal grapheneos

therealmarv•about 1 hour ago

These days, root is mostly flagged via indirect indicators rather than detecting the root binary itself. For instance, detecting custom ROMs is a common clue. Does anyone remember the suhide days? ;)

tensegrist•about 1 hour ago

iirc grapheneos can't be rooted unless you do your own build

futune•less than a minute ago

That's the bizarre thing about this hn discussion... A lot of people referencing rooted phones, but to the best of my knowledge GrapheneOS is almost never rooted?

windowliker•about 1 hour ago

Isn't it more likely to be saying that the app is running with root privileges?

hd4•about 1 hour ago

did you re-lock the bootloader?

gib444•about 2 hours ago

With or without Google Play Services running?

leumon•about 2 hours ago

With. But disabling "Secure app spawning" seems to fix it for now.