Disabling religious christmas icons on android app

[poutine]

There's a Santa hat on the android icon, and I would like my phone to be free of religious icons. How can I disable the special religious icon you guys have put on all of us?

[TomMac]

See if you can revert back to the previous version to remove 'santa hat'

Merry Christmas

[tbhausen]

Yeah, since that's all they changed, why not?

[poutine]

Are there instructions for doing this? I don't see the option to do this in Google Play. I don't see why this is forced on us when > 68% of the world is not christian. I also have to mirror the sentiment of other posters here, that it's a little ridiculous that the only software update since august is to force religious icons on people expecting a software update.

[tbhausen]

It's not straightforward:

http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/how-to/google-android/how-undo-updates-on-android-apps-3511709/

As for Santa, I'd rather not have him here, not because of religious objection but that I feel it's a bit insulting to call this an "update". You have to go back a ways to find Santa's religious origins:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/12/131219-santa-claus-origin-history-christmas-facts-st...

[tbhausen]

Staff, could you post the .apk here for those who might object, so they may sideload it? Thanks.

Or maybe a member here could...

[jguerdat]

I rarely consider Santa (or his hat) to be religious but you can always Google for things like "Arlo apk" and get results like this:

https://apkpure.com/arlo/com.netgear.android

[nicholshornlake]

It's not about Santa anyway, It's about Jesus!!

[Tulley]

If you are on android you can change icons manually with the right app. I personally use nova Launcher

What does make me curious is why you care so much. The link between a santa hat is so tenuous its shocking. St. Nicholas (not santa claus) was an ancient gift giver who was of the christian faith. This has been blended with greek history, Pagen (historically defined by christians as NON-christian faith) and all sorts of other vague influences. Coca Cola invented the red hat you are complaining about for Arlo's sake!

The festive holiday period is beyond religion in our modern society. I am not religious in any way and think certain people need to take a chill pill and not be so touchy. You have google on your phone, do you write to them every year when they 'festivize'  the logo? Do you not shop anywhere that sells coca cola at this time of year? Sad it comes to these petit disagreements. But there are always an extreme few that just love a moan. 

[tbhausen]

Bring offended is the new way to change others' behavior, take things away from others, and right perceived wings in this overly politically correct age.

[jguerdat]

Time to close this thread.  A couple of solutions have been posted.  No need to continue...

[poutine]

The solutions that have been posted are:

1) Download an APK from an untrusted 3rd party site. If I had signatures for the old versions, this would be fine, but I'm not going to risk malware/spyware infections by trusting some random site on the internet.

2) Change my launcher. I'm happy with my launcher, I'm only unhappy with religious icons being forced on me.

Also for the people saying santa is not christian, I think you're being a little ridiculous. If you were in a strict islamic society, and had santa displays, you'd probably be hung for it. It is associated with Christmas, and there is no doubt christmas is a christian holiday. Would you have been fine if they released a software update that changed it to have a menorah for channukah and offered only, "Download untrusted software or change your phone's base launcher" as a recourse? Arlo is my app I use for cameras and security, it should not be someone's avenue for forcing religious icons on people. The Google software update system should not be used when your only update is adding a religious icon. You're free to celebrate your whacky religion all you want in your own personal homes, don't put it on my phone's home screen.

[Tulley]

I guess you are blinded by your own beliefs here and not open to being enlightened to the reality of what a santa hat actually stands for.

To answer your points-

# Regarding my adoption of  menorah for channukah symbology, I really would not care. I am comfortable with my beliefs and do not feel the need to overdefend them. I am happy to respect and support other peoples beliefs and the society I live in supports openly practicing your religion. I have jewish, christian, catholic and islamic friends. None of which feel uncomfortable being in the presence of me (the heathen that I am).

#There are many trusted Launchers

#being hung for having an app on your phone which someone else designed and is the interlectual property of someone else.....who is being ridiculous? Maybe if you were a member of a certain movement in the east who really have no love or respect for human life.

#At the end of the day your rant will fall on deaf ears, your request is a step too far and you know it. Arlo has broken no rules.

Enjoy next Friday off work.

[dbaedi]

Are you also going to ask how to remove all religious emojis from your emojis keyboard. Chill out. You may have the Arlo app on your phone but it's provided for free and not required; delete it and use the website until after the holidays.

[Ksjeffrey]

It would appear that you have just set a new standard for petty behavior this Christmas. I am 54, and I have never heard of Santa Claus being associated with religious or Christian imagery. But even if he is, so what?

Are you also offended because Santa is a male, rather than an androgynous being? Does Santa's white, apparent European "look" put your panties in a bunch as well? Does the color RED piss you off? Are you bugged because he uses reindeer to pull his sleigh? Are your delicate sensibilities offended because he is depicted as being a little fat (oops, I meant "calorically challenged). 

My generation views issues like this as "non-issues". Poverty, homelessness, war, disease, hunger, hatred and a host of other global atrocities make your little whiny-assed issue with the Santa icon look pretty childish in comparison. 

Merry F***ing Christmas

[devotchko]

"Bring (sic) offended is the new way to change others' behavior, take things away from others, and right perceived wings (?) in this overly politically correct age."

to what I say:

"When you’re used to privilege, equality seems like oppression"

...they should not assume everyone believes in their mythologies to begin with. 

[tbhausen]

I know the difference between "bring" and "being", and the difference between "wings" and "wrongs". My auto-completion on my phone does not. I'm also going on two months with uncorrected vision in preparation for cataract surgery, hence I missed these (and there's no option to edit them).

Furthermore, any insinuation of "privilege" (you left out the "white" part) would prove you to be an utter fool if you knew anything about me. Carry on and have a nice day.

[devotchko]

"you left out the white part"

You already brought religion into this, now you also want to bring race? If the shoe fits...

[tbhausen]

I didn't start the thread, I didn't introduce religion to it, and I actually would prefer our time not be wasted with such a trivial app update. You should review the thread; the only shoe that fits anything exists only in your imagination.