It’s just become impossible to de-Google from Volkswagen, say GrapheneOS users
Carmaker Volkswagen is facing criticism from privacy-conscious drivers after GrapheneOS users reported being locked out of the company’s mobile app, leaving some unable to log in, sync vehicle data, or remotely control their cars.
Reports began surfacing on the GrapheneOS forum and Reddit’s r/degoogle community, where users described suddenly losing access to Volkswagen’s app despite using fully updated devices.
The issue appears to affect Volkswagen’s app ecosystem rather than a specific vehicle model, so owners that rely on VW Connect, We Connect, We Connect ID or related services could potentially be affected.
Some posters pointed to the apparent contradiction that Volkswagen’s software continues to support older, end-of-life Android versions while rejecting GrapheneOS installations.
One affected user, Aaron94, said Volkswagen’s app stopped working entirely after a logout.
Despite enabling compatibility settings and trying multiple workarounds, they were unable to log back in.
Another user, XavDub, reported similar problems. “First symptom, sync did not work anymore from the app, so I tried to logout to login again, but it’s since just impossible,” they wrote, adding that testing on a standard Google Pixel running stock Android worked normally.
When XavDub contacted the German car maker, the company responded that GrapheneOS “is not an official Volkswagen offering” and advised them to contact their OS provider instead.
The timing has raised eyebrows because Volkswagen recently changed the APIs used to access vehicle data.
According to German tech title Heise, the change disrupted third-party tools used by owners for smart charging, solar energy integration, and home automation.
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It’s shaping up to be a cruel summer for GrapheneOS users. Earlier this month reports emerged that age-verification provider Yoti, used by Sony, Facebook and TikTok, had allegedly flagged GrapheneOS users during verification processes, prompting widespread backlash in privacy communities.
https://cybernews.com/privacy/volkswagen-grapheneos-app-issues/Open linkView original on infosec.pub
If your car can be remotely controlled from an app, you better disable that on the car end
Impossible, no, the app is optional, car still drives, just not sucking data for VW (or not if you disable its network in gOS). It is however grounds for a lawsuit seeing as they're arbitrarily removing functionality that was likely advertised. Yoti is UK specific I believe, and those companies are little loss anyway, more of a prompt to divest. It's an unhealthy pattern, sure, but the sky is not falling.
The cultural effect of Android requiring developer registration and otherwise trying to kill third party stores like F-Droid, to get their precious walled garden, is a much more significant threat.
Aaand the website about privacy issue doesn't load on hardened web browsers
Please elaborate.
I am able to view in the latest versions of both LibreWolf and IronFox without JavaScript enabled
@CubitOom What is the point of a Fediverse item coming across that I have to sign up for that server to read?
Is this a bug? Misconfiguration? Or should I just block infosec.pub?
Sorry, but I don't understand how you are viewing the post. No part of the post seems to be directing you to infosec.pub besides my username.
Both in voyager and in Firefox I see the post that links to the article at https://cybernews.com/privacy/volkswagen-grapheneos-app-issues/
I see no redirect to infosec.pub
You do not have to sign in to see my posts as far as I know.
What client are you using?
Edit: Hmm, seems I can recreate the issue if I try to view the lemmy post on Moshidon. Not sure why this is happening, but it is a Lemmy post so seems like it there is some rendering bug when opening a Lemmy post in a Mastadon client?