Has anyone tried using their Android phone Google free

crytoadvice

Has anyone tried using their Android phone Google free as mentioned here
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/using-android-without-google/
https://fsfe.org/campaigns/android/liberate.en.html

If you have would you recommend it?

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

crytoadvice

Id be interested in doing it to remove clutter more than anything. Theres lots of apps i dont use.

Id miss YouTube though for finding songs not on spotify etc. Play Movies could be useful if paired with Chromecast but I dont watch movies on a phone. I think Maps still works if not connected to google account. Not sure about google search. Drive is not supposed to be secure so there are better options for storage.

crytoadvice

crytoadvice wrote: »

Id be interested in doing it to remove clutter more than anything. Theres lots of apps i dont use.

Id miss YouTube though for finding songs not on spotify etc. Play Movies could be useful if paired with Chromecast but I dont watch movies on a phone. I think Maps still works if not connected to google account. Not sure about google search. Drive is not supposed to be secure so there are better options for storage.

What is the point of removing the clutter?

Personally, I couldn't live without Google apps. I'd use hangouts, photos, calendar, YouTube, Gmail, drive, sheets, docs, maps, and play music on pretty much a daily basis.

Mr E

Why cripple your phone? That's all the stuff that makes a smartphone 'smart'.

Just buy a Nokia and stick to calls and texts if you're so paranoid.

Mrcaramelchoc

Mr E wrote: »

Why cripple your phone? That's all the stuff that makes a smartphone 'smart'.

Just buy a Nokia and stick to calls and texts if you're so paranoid.

so all those people creating roms and mods for phones are paranoid?im sure theyd love to hear you saying that.
i dont think its anything to do with paranoia.you cant buy a top of the line smartphone these days without having it stuffed to the gills with bloatware and apps that you dont want.
why not put very little on it and then let people pick what they want from the play store?also there are better apps out there that do the same things as the ones that come with the phone.
i think you fork out so much for a phone that you should be able to pick and choose what you want on it.the only way that can happen is if you root it and put on new Android Operating System onto it which is a pain.

i will admit to buy a phone and then try to free it from google would ruin the phone but i think you should be given the choice seeing as your paying a good price for it in the first place.

Mrcaramelchoc

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

so all those people creating roms and mods for phones are paranoid?im sure theyd love to hear you saying that.
i dont think its anything to do with paranoia.you cant buy a top of the line smartphone these days without having it stuffed to the gills with bloatware and apps that you dont want.
why not put very little on it and then let people pick what they want from the play store?also there are better apps out there that do the same things as the ones that come with the phone.
i think you fork out so much for a phone that you should be able to pick and choose what you want on it.the only way that can happen is if you root it and put on new Android Operating System onto it which is a pain.

i will admit to buy a phone and then try to free it from google would ruin the phone but i think you should be given the choice seeing as your paying a good price for it in the first place.

You do realise the main point of custom ROMs and mods is to add features, not to remove Google stuff, right?

Riesen_Meal

No bloatware in my Pixel 2...

I even installed FB messenger lite yesterday... :P

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

crytoadvice

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

so all those people creating roms and mods for phones are paranoid?im sure theyd love to hear you saying that.
i dont think its anything to do with paranoia.you cant buy a top of the line smartphone these days without having it stuffed to the gills with bloatware and apps that you dont want.
why not put very little on it and then let people pick what they want from the play store?also there are better apps out there that do the same things as the ones that come with the phone.
i think you fork out so much for a phone that you should be able to pick and choose what you want on it.the only way that can happen is if you root it and put on new Android Operating System onto it which is a pain.

i will admit to buy a phone and then try to free it from google would ruin the phone but i think you should be given the choice seeing as your paying a good price for it in the first place.

I agree with this. You should be able to add what you need from the Play Store. Having a load of extra apps uses up phone resources too. Having only apps you want makes it more efficient

lawred2

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

so all those people creating roms and mods for phones are paranoid?im sure theyd love to hear you saying that.
i dont think its anything to do with paranoia.you cant buy a top of the line smartphone these days without having it stuffed to the gills with bloatware and apps that you dont want.
why not put very little on it and then let people pick what they want from the play store?also there are better apps out there that do the same things as the ones that come with the phone.
i think you fork out so much for a phone that you should be able to pick and choose what you want on it.the only way that can happen is if you root it and put on new Android Operating System onto it which is a pain.

i will admit to buy a phone and then try to free it from google would ruin the phone but i think you should be given the choice seeing as your paying a good price for it in the first place.

Did it once on a htc of mine. Custom ROM entirely Google free.

Reverted to stock about a day later.

The phone by itself is not smart. The software is.

Catmologen

You'll find a lot of 3rd party apps including whatsapp, won't work unless you at least keep Google Play Services up to date. You can download the latest version of it from Aptoide or any of the apk mirror sites. My wife's phone is set up like this and its fine, any app she needs can be gotten from alternative app stores and she doesn't have a google account linked to the phone.

corkie

The first link in the OP is from January 5, 2016??? Noticed it when scanning the article the mention of CyanogenMod??

Some of custom rom users go the Micro-G path when trying to reduce the amount of Google apps on custom roms.

Mrcaramelchoc

Basil3 wrote: »

You do realise the main point of custom ROMs and mods is to add features, not to remove Google stuff, right?

That's part of it yes but its main point is also to make it a phone that you can do virtually anything you want with. also to remove the things you dont want thereby making the phone faster/ more efficient.ie getting rid of apps you don't use that slow it down.

Mrcaramelchoc

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

That's part of it yes but its main point is also to make it a phone that you can do virtually anything you want with. also to remove the things you dont want thereby making the phone faster/ more efficient.ie getting rid of apps you don't use that slow it down.

That used to be a thing back 5 or 6 years ago. These days, I would question if you see any noticeable benefit from removing system apps that you don't use.

jacksie66

This post has been deleted.

RunDMC

I went Google-free for a week last year, but not by choice. On a visit to China, I realized just how much my life runs on Google services, and I'd rather not repeat the experience. Sharing information with Google (or Apple) is the price you pay for a smartphone.

R