I dread the thought of trying to raise children for this reason. Proprietary software intended for children is especially predatory, and it must be hard to protect them from it when it is how they socialize with their friends.
> She mainly uses games (e.g. tocoboco's and lego) and music (i.e. > spotify), which are not available outside Google Play (afaik). These programs are not included in the F-Droid repository because they are proprietary. If you want your daughter to use a Replicant phone, you probably already understand that proprietary software allows the developer to mistreat the user. When it comes it mobile programs, particularly those used by children, this mistreatment often includes getting the user addicted to the software through manipulation of dopemine levels and other tactics. http://www.scientificrevenue.com/ https://usedopamine.com/ I am unfamiliar with the games you mention, but mobile games intended for children are often predatory, and Spotify is certainly not a good program for anyone to use. > I suppose there will be issues with graphics Probably.. > some apps might > require connection to the internet (I will not allow those). I don't know about the games, but Spotify will surely require a connection to the internet. > Would it be feasible to > > 1: install games and/or music apps on an unsafe device (i.e. with > google play installed) > 2: extract the .apk > 3: install the app on a replicated device? Maybe, but as others have pointed out here, this would probably require you to bypass DRM, which is illegal. DRM imposes restrictions beyond those of copyright law. It also will not solve the problem that your daughter depends on proprietary software for entertainment, and perhaps to socialize. I can see how this would be a difficult problem to solve, and I can't imagine what it's like to have the responsibilites of being a parent. I will make some suggestions, but I hope it is clear that I am not telling you what to do and that I understand that you are a parent and I have no idea what that is like. It might help to introduce your daughter to games that are free software and do not connect to a server. They do not necessarily have to be mobile games. In fact, it might be a good idea for her to use a desktop computer instead of a phone for as much of her computing as possible. The observation that phones are distacting and addicting is hardly an original thought, but this issue is actually more serious than this. It is not an unintended side-effect of an otherwise useful tool. Phones are designed that way on purpose, and as the technology becomes more sophisticated the problem will get worse. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/oct/05/smartphone-addiction-silicon-valley-dystopia Does your daugher have a desktop computer? Some might consider the age of five to be too early for a child to start using a computer, but if she has a phone then she is already using a computer, and a desktop computer might be healthier. I have on-and-off worked as a substitute teacher for preschool- through elementary-aged students, and I've seen students your daughter's age use both desktop computers and iBads. A difference is that desktop programs are generally intended to be used with a keyboard, while mobile programs attempt to restrict the use of language. I can see how this would make a phone easier to pick up for a child still learning to read, but children seem to enjoy using desktop computers anyway. I have never tried Trisquel Sugar TOAST https://trisquel.info/en/download but my understanding is that its desktop environment is intended to be healthy for children to interface with. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/What_is_Sugar%3F I expect that a possible challenge is that if your daughter may be resistant to no longer using the proprietary software she is used to. A solution may be to instead introduce free software that might replace it and try to get her excited about the free software. I would expect that there are more libre games for desktop than for mobile. One of the other posters in this thread, onpon4, is a game developer, so in addition to the games she creates she may be able to recommend some. I don't know as much about it. As for music, Spotify has some alluring conveniences, such as tracks being automatically selected and streamed without the need for decisions. However, there are also disadvantages to this. The idea of a favorite album, maybe even a favorite artist, is lost as the paradigm of a musical work is replaced with that of "content" in many small pieces used to fill time. This is not ideal for young chilren, for whom a normal part of their development is becoming fixated on certain music, films, and stories and experiencing them repeatedly. Your daughter may enjoy having CDs and a CD player (or playlists on a desktop computer) of her favorite music that can be played back as a continous and repeatable experience. A decent set of speakers that sound better than earbuds or a phone's internal speakers might also help make the experience preferable to Spotify. Whether or not those details seem like a good solution, my general suggestion is to try to create positive experiences that do not rely on proprietary software, and to help her get more out of those experiences than she does out of proprietary software. Involving her friends may help, so that using less proprietary software is not isolating for her. The network effect is hard enough on adults trying to quite Facebook. I can't imagine what it's like for a child. Again, I'm not a parent and I don't know you or your daughter, so it's totally possible that everything I just said is inapplicable to your situation. I hope it did not come across as me telling you what to do or implying that I know better than you. It is clear that you care about ensuring that your daughter's experiences with technology are safe and healthy, and I know you'll make the right decision for your family.
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