One really annoying thing about all my banking apps telling me they're dropping support for Android 9 is that they phrase it in a really patronizing way, "you need to update your software to a newer version of Android." Just not even considering the possibility that I might be using an old phone that doesn't get updates anymore. But they don't want to come out and say "or buy a new phone" because of course that would piss people off, so they'll let their less informed customers drive to their nearest carrier store or phone repair shop and make the poor clerk there deliver the bad news.

It's not like a massive deal, but it was annoying enough to me to make a post about it, clearly. The presumption of having a device that can be updated is super lame. It's not like there's no good way to phrase it.

Your device is running an older version of Android that we will soon stop supporting. Please update your phone's software to the latest version. If this doesn't resolve the issue, or if your device cannot be updated, it may be time to look into upgrading to a device that supports the latest software. We are making this change to ensure the continued security of your information.

Or something like that. Idk.

and now Solid Explorer can't access anything in the Android/data directory.

this would render SunVox, the incredibly enabling, sanity-preserving, sufficiently-capable cross-platform hybrid tracker/modular synth app I rely on as a disabled musician PRETTY MUCH NO LONGER PRESENTLY VIABLE FOR ME TO USE, IF THIS UPDATE ACTUALLY SUCCEEDED IN PREVENTING THE DIRECTORY FROM BEING ACCESSED IN ORDER TO TRANSFER MUSIC PROJECTS AND EXPORTS OUT OF IT

but FORTUNATELY, FV File Explorer exists, and provides a way of accessing files under Android/data in a more-or-less Fine™ way via launching some other native file browser thingy, which is not the regular native Files app, which can't see inside it either.

I no longer have a convenient bookmark that takes me to the directory where my music projects are located, but at least I can still NAVIGATE ALL THE WAY THERE FROM THE TOP LEVEL EVERY SINGLE TIME and use the share function within it to back things up on Google Drive.

FV File Explorer was a recommendation the SunVox dev highlighted on his forum, for a user of another thing of his with the same issue, from a years-old thread on reddit about it. because I guess this security measure has been applied across devices inconsistently for years. because this is Android. and this way of bypassing it has worked for years without interference. because I guess letting whatever secondary native browser is launched access everything is deemed safe but nothing else is allowed to see anything and ideally you wouldn't be either.

someday they'll probably put a stop to it and then I'll be stuck unable to share/back up music projects from my phone for a time until a SunVox update comes with a change to its whole file system, but that day is AT LEAST NOT LITERALLY TODAY BUT IT COULD BE NEXT WEEK AND I WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO STOP IT BECAUSE NOTHING LETS YOU ROLL BACK OR OPT OUT OF ITS STUPID UPDATES UNTIL A TIME WHEN THEY WON'T INTERFERE WITH YOUR LIFE IN MAJOR WAYS

and gboard is wilfully misinterpreting half of the words I'm gesturing again

Someone who transforms into a robot, not when the moon is full, but instead when installing software updates. This happens automatically when there’s an update available and they’re connected to wifi, which they can’t do if there’s no network or they don’t know the password. Therefore you can sometimes trigger their transformation yourself by telling them the wifi password if they don’t already know it, which is kinda funny…

Oh, and bonus points if the form they change into is a robotic wolf!

's ready to update again by the time the first update has finished