I'm wondering what people think is the best ROM (no gapps) for this phone today, and how that's likely to evolve over time.
Do any ROMs stand out in terms of features, performance, or battery life? Are there any ROMs that have significant problems?
Are any ROMs "official", or likely to be? Should that be a concern or factor?
Also I'm looking to set this up no gapps, so micro-g integration is a factor. It seems like the Magisk module should work well enough with most ROMs, but I'm new to this part.
Bump. Anyone…?
"Best" is such a personal thing that I can only tell you that I'm using Resurrection Remix and am extremely pleased; lots of customization, stability, Slim Recents, and no Gapps are what make it perfect for me.
It's the first ROM I tried on this phone, and it works so well for me that I'm not (currently) considering trying something else...although my curiosity and general nature (see my sig) may lead me to trying out a different ROM...eventually, maybe.
- Resurrection Remix has a long history, but who knows for sure about developement for this phone?
- Feels nice and snappy to use, but I have no Gapps and I've only installed a few (5 or 6) apps.
- Battery life is great, for me, I don't use my phone much and go 3-4 days with still 80% left.
- Not interested in Google or microG, so can't speak to that.
TiTiB said:
"Best" is such a personal thing
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Certainly there's allowance for people to describe what they consider best.
TiTiB said:
I'm using Resurrection Remix and am extremely pleased
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So far I'm liking RR, but IIUC there's no plans for that to be official for this phone.
Previously, I loved CR-Droid, but on this phone it's missing a lot. IIUC, there's a plan to make that official, but I haven't seen any progress for a few months.
TiTiB said:
Not interested in Google or microG, so can't speak to that
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm curious, how does that work? I'm new to de-Googled phones, and I thought microG was kind of necessary to get most apps working. It certainly seems important for apps that use location, eg weather and mapping.
go vegan said:
Certainly there's allowance for people to describe what they consider best.
So far I'm liking RR, but IIUC there's no plans for that to be official for this phone.
Previously, I loved CR-Droid, but on this phone it's missing a lot. IIUC, there's a plan to make that official, but I haven't seen any progress for a few months.
I'm curious, how does that work? I'm new to de-Googled phones, and I thought microG was kind of necessary to get most apps working. It certainly seems important for apps that use location, eg weather and mapping.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do my best to never allow anything to know my location. I use Open Street Maps in offline mode for maps, my weather app uses my zipcode, etc.
I'm totally ungoogled on my phone. F-droid apps only.
EDIIT: Preemptive correction. Not true about F-droid apps only, or even FOSS only. Obviously Brave Browser, for instance, is neither.
TiTiB said:
I do my best to never allow anything to know my location. I use Open Street Maps in offline mode for maps, my weather app uses my zipcode, etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been using this - https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/
If I want a "web app" to have access to my location, I can permit that on an as-needed basis.
I'm also migrating towards weather apps from F-Droid - https://search.f-droid.org/?q=weather&lang=en
TiTiB said:
I'm totally ungoogled on my phone. F-droid apps only.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not there yet, but I think I'm on my way. Location (via microG/NLP) is handy for lots of things, especially when I have control over it.
I'm new to de-Googled phones. Can you point me to resources about the pros and cons of microG? I was under the impression that it's kind of necessary for notifications and location services…? But maybe if you don't need/want notifications and location services, then there's no need for it?
go vegan said:
I've been using this - https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.tobykurien.webapps/
If I want a "web app" to have access to my location, I can permit that on an as-needed basis.
I'm also migrating towards weather apps from F-Droid - https://search.f-droid.org/?q=weather&lang=en
I'm not there yet, but I think I'm on my way. Location (via microG/NLP) is handy for lots of things, especially when I have control over it.
I'm new to de-Googled phones. Can you point me to resources about the pros and cons of microG? I was under the impression that it's kind of necessary for notifications and location services…? But maybe if you don't need/want notifications and location services, then there's no need for it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't had interest in microG in years, and don't have any info about what is or is not required for location or notifications. I have no need for either. I use my phone for calls, texts, and, very rarely, web access via Brave, Bromite, or Fennec—that's it. If need to look at a map, I have it already downloaded is OSM.
TiTiB said:
I use my phone for calls, texts, and, very rarely, web access via Brave, Bromite, or Fennec—that's it. If need to look at a map, I have it already downloaded is OSM.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use a dumb-phone for calls and texts. I use a smart-phone as a pocket-size portable computer.
Which custom rom did you end up trying? Im also on the same boat as you in terms of wanting to degoogle. I just successfully unlocked the bootloader and rooted the device via magisk. Now I'm trying to figure out the next step in getting rid of gapps and having microG in place of play services. The user fulalas created a debloat magisk module, and if that removes core gapps I'm wondering if implementing that and then installing microG will be the solution for me
Related
I am not really comfortable with the idea of sharing data with Google, so I wonder how it could be possible to run Android without the Google apps.
Using CM7 as the base for my devices (SE X10 mini pro & ZTE Blade) is already a good starting point, by not installing the GAPPS package.
But then what?
How to get apps from the market without GAPPS?
Which (offline) navigation software instead of Google Maps?
Which calendar app instead of Google Calendar?
Any other Google service replacement?
Any suggestions are highly appreciated.
You could probably use amazon appstore instead of market. The real market requires google's framework. As far as the calender i'm not sure look around on the amazon market for one.
Personally i would just use gapps what could you possibly be doing where the info google collects could hurt you ? They don't collect personal data like sms or phone calls. So unless you download child porn its prob ok to use google's apps.
I am not thinking about anything illegal, but you can be identified by your (required) Google account, and once you enable data synchronization / localization service, or the background data submission required for using the Market, you are already deeply caught in the Google network.
I don't know about the Amazon Appstore. Does it feature the same apps as the Google Market? I guess not, and when I try to access it, it tells "The Amazon Appstore is only available to customers located in the United States.", so I don't think this is a suitable alternative anyway.
So the only real downside of not using GAPPS is access to the market. A possible workaround could be to use the Android emulator of the Android SDK to download apps, then package them up to APKs and copy them over to your mobile.
I am sure there are a lot of others which are not comfortable with Google as well, but do not want to surrender their Android phones.
If you just want the apps you can install them from your pc to your phone on the market website. If you don't have a Google account or want one at all maybe use 4shared to download them. You can also usually download them from the developers website.
Sent from ???
I am still testing the use of Android without GAPPS, but there are some issues I have no idea how to overcome:
There seems to be no suitable Calendar App that does not rely on the Google Calendar / synchronization with Google. My preferred app would have been aCalendar, which works kind of, but no appointment can be saved because it tells "You have no calendar". Any suggestions? How is the calendar issue solved on Android-without-GAPPS devices like the Kindle Fire?
Some apps simply can not be installed without the Google framework present. For example when trying to install the Adaffix and QR Droid apk's manually, it simply tells "Application not installed" without any error message pointing out the problem. Any idea about that?
These two issues are the main problems with having no GAPPS on the phone, and as much as I would have liked to run my Android phones without GAPPS, it seems there is no way around it, if one does not want to have it overly complicated.
I have been using android for a few weeks now with no google account. Installing a firewall and lbe privacy seems to work fine. Just dont allow any google services access to the net. Works fine for me
I don't understand why you would by a Google OS but not want google apps.
UPDATE: Android without GAPPS is a go now!
Android is NOT really a GoogleOS, it's a Linux distribution with proprietary Google apps added. You can successfully run Android without Google, which is what Amazon already proofed with the Kindle Fire on a large scale.
I am not talking about running Android without Google account, but Android without GAPPS installed, and I am happy to confirm, that it is indeed possible without too much hassle, since I overcame my initially major issues:
The calendar issue could be solved by installing Jorte, which uses its own database.
I simply omit apps which rely on the Google Framework, so I replaced QR Droid with Barcode Scanner, and just deleted Adaffix, for which there is no replacement (not that much of a loss, especially since I was not really sure about their privacy policy; would you willingly submit the phone numbers of all your callers to a private company?).
I am going to use MapQuest instead of Google Maps, a free app based on https://www.openstreetmap.org
I already installed all my apps, which I previously downloaded from the Market, on that Google-free phone, in addition to AdFree, to get rid of the advertisement in the typical free apps, as well as AmazonAppstore (just in case). Now for my kind of use I don't miss any Google services at all.
The next logical step is to install the Android SDK on a computer, run Android 2.3 including GAPPS for Market access in the Android emulator, and just download all the desired software and software-updates there, to be exported (using ASTRO) to the Google-free phone.
Some may argue that it may not be worth the hassle, but I am still in the opinion, that it's best not to share ANY data with Google ever.
BTW Don't use Google at all, not even for simple searches -> have a look at https://duckduckgo.com (they even have an Andoid app)!
Where to start?
Android is not a Linux distribution, it only uses a Linux kernel, these two mean vastly different things and should not be confused.
What exactly do you want to hide from Google?
Your email? It goes through dozens of servers without encryption. The only people not reading it are the ones who don't want to.
Your location? Your cell phone provider has it. And so does your government)
Your searches? Okay you're right on this one I use duckduckgo on my pc.
The point is that most of your data is tracked by hundreds of companies. They use your os and flash version, your cookies, user agent, screen resolution. You can run but you can't hide.
You're not on Facebook, are you?
---------- Post added at 09:15 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:12 PM ----------
smokin1337 said:
You could probably use amazon appstore instead of market. The real market requires google's framework. As far as the calender i'm not sure look around on the amazon market for one.
Personally i would just use gapps what could you possibly be doing where the info google collects could hurt you ? They don't collect personal data like sms or phone calls. So unless you download child porn its prob ok to use google's apps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never make the assumption that if you're not going anything illegal than you shouldn't worry about tracking. Never never never. Okay? If you do you don't deserve privacy. Read "little brother" by Cory Doctorow.
For the calendar and the contacts i use to synchronise every day my Desire S with an old version of Lotus Notes (7.xx) on my Job computer. I use MyphoneExplorer with a USB connexion. It works very well without microsoft exchange or any connexion with google agenda.
Wikipedia said:
Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
From my point of view I consider everything based on the Linux kernel a Linux distribution. Android = Linux kernel plus a bunch of open source software, the proprietary Google code does not have to be considered to be part of the base system.
What I want to hide from Google? About everything. Isn't it the same with Facebook, where the user is not the customer, but the product?
Of course everybody leaves a large track in the net, but one can at least try to prevent data sharing as much as possible, and not using Google services and not providing them any additional info is part of it.
Of course that topic is mind splitting, but I know I am not alone on this, and as shown, it it indeed possible to successfully use an Android phone completely without Google, and I do not see any disadvantage in it.
Hope this helps:
http://www.androidauthority.com/how-to-download-any-apk-to-your-computer-62153/
(apk leecher)
There are many other reasons for wanting to avoid Google. For example, let's say you have your contacts synchronized. You're using gmail and calendar and you have a card linked to your Google Play account.
You go on holiday and you card gets cloned. The criminal uses your card to do something horrendous and you wind up in jail. Because you had all your eggs in one basket your account has been disabled and your defense has no access to your emails to plan your case and defend you in court. You're utterly screwed.
By using different companies and services you at least have more chance of keeping access to those services.
Google services are pretty monolithic. They're great, but there's advantage in using separate services if you can.
Here are some alternatives to the Google apps:
- Gmail = K9mail
- Play = app leacher, sdk virtual image method. fDroid
- Maps = MapQuest. Various SatNav apps. Waze
- GTalk = Skype or Fring (though both of those aren't greatly done). Various SIP/VoIP apps like cSipSimple
- contacts = t9dialer?
- Goggles = any barcode scanner will do for me
- any others?
I use f-droid.org .
It is strictly open-source. Has all the basic apps in there (Email, Firefox, tons of Timers, AlarmClocks, etc).
randomchars said:
You're not on Facebook, are you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course ! Why not ? Facebook leaves you the choice what to upload.
i agree with this thread, i dont mind sharing my information with companies, i do it all the time, but i dont like forced sharing with no opt out, this is essential stealing. eg ics and motoblur contacts
i guess you could say the opt out is to not install, which is what the thread is talking about
i think we are lucky to have android available without the gapps bloat such as with cyanogen mod
zzerozzero1 said:
I use f-droid.org .
It is strictly open-source. Has all the basic apps in there (Email, Firefox, tons of Timers, AlarmClocks, etc).
Of course ! Why not ? Facebook leaves you the choice what to upload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
// Puts on tinfoil hat.
Sure kid. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
haydent said:
i agree with this thread, i dont mind sharing my information with companies, i do it all the time, but i dont like forced sharing with no opt out, this is essential stealing. eg ics and motoblur contacts
i guess you could say the opt out is to not install, which is what the thread is talking about
i think we are lucky to have android available without the gapps bloat such as with cyanogen mod
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
here's my fix http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1808037
zzerozzero1 said:
I use f-droid.org .
It is strictly open-source. Has all the basic apps in there (Email, Firefox, tons of Timers, AlarmClocks, etc).
Of course ! Why not ? Facebook leaves you the choice what to upload.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually facebook track you a lot. Use your browser to visit youtube and you'll see a share button for it just as many sites have now.
Facebook know a lot about where its members visit
Dave
( http://www.google.com/producer/editions/CAownKXmAQ/bigfatuniverse )
Sent from my LG P920 using Tapatalk 2
randomchars said:
// Puts on tinfoil hat.
Sure kid. Whatever helps you sleep at night.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
LOL ...
You obviously don't agree. Which is fine.
But plz don't troll
---------- Post added at 01:29 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:22 PM ----------
mistermentality said:
Actually facebook track you a lot. Use your browser to visit youtube and you'll see a share button for it just as many sites have now.
Facebook know a lot about where its members visit
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been using Ghostery and Adblock Plus for years. They should take care of that.
If your really worried about your privacy you should check out Orbot the Tor client for android (https://guardianproject.info/apps/orbot/)
I will revive this thread, because I also install CM10.1 and try to use withoug GAPPS.
My phone is already running much smoother than with stock rom (Galaxy S3 I9300).
No Samsung push service, Google push, Calender...
So I am already using f-droid and androidpit now. At the moment I am missing Skype and Facebook Messenger.
I know worrying about privacy + using facebook might sound strange. But most friends I can only contact by Facebook (or SMS, lol), so I have to use it.
David.
Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
alohagirl said:
Hi all.
I have a rooted phone that is used strictly in wifi mode and only needs to be able to run 4 or 5 standard aps, a couple of optional aps, plus the aps that support rooted phones and enhanced power management. I don't want google-anything on it, and I am not kidding. My prime concern is battery life, I hope to be able to run my phone for 3 to 4 days (or more) between charges, so deleting all fluff aps and crapware is important, as is underclocking it and getting rid of google. I also want to stop updating of the operating system and installed software by google.
I hope to do a hardware mod to remove power from the cell band rf transceiver. Despite it being turned off in the phone using software, I am detecting occasional transmissions from the cell band transmitter. Hardware mods are not a problem for me, I'm a retired EE, who specialized in RF design.
I need to know if it's possible for the phone to function if gmail, google+, google search, chrome, google calendar and google-whatever are exhorsized (uninstalled)? Yes, I also want to give the playstore the boot, to prevent excessive battery drain (and, yes, I do realize downloading aps will be slightly more difficult without the playstore).
For those who might be interested, the phone is used as a wifi phone for the home based Ooma telephone service. I also might like to run a mini bittorrent server. It seems to me that the android community could use bittorrent in place of the playstore, thus making it easier for others to give google and google playstore the boot
I love this forum, and want to thank all those that support and administer it.
Aloha,
A
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are threads all over the place trying to do this. Google is deeply ingrained into all the apks used by the os. You will be very hard pressed to find away to remove them completely and still have things work right.
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
alohagirl said:
I agree that security is an illusion. I dumped Microshaft in 2013 in order to improve my security and privacy.
However, the android operating system is supposed to be open source, so it should be possible to de-google-ize it IF someone knows how to edit and recompile the android OS.
I was merely asking if anyone knew of a way to give google the boot, even if it came down to paying someone to compile a custom rom.
The loss of google playstore is not a consideration, neither is a monetary forfeiture (any programmers out there?).
I'm curious, is it possible to gag google so it can't connect to the outside world (with a firewall)? We used to do this in XP to prevent Bill's Internet Explorer from downloading updates.
Are any of the custom roms currently available able to run without google-anything??
Is there any hope, or is it truly hopeless? If a custom rom that gave google the boot was available, how many would pay a small fee to have it? Just curious??!!
TY
A.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is one project that is working on removing Google completely in the forums. A search will find it for you. There are some issues that I don't recall if they could find a way around or fix. You could give that a shot.
I noticed that since 5.1.1 or (sometime around it's release) when I download an apk or an update from playstore, I am shown a list of service, broadcast receiver, activities, etc. with toggles. I am not sure if this is a result of one of the apps I have installed (like cm security, my android tools, amplify) or if it is just a new policy on google play. Anyone else see this? Is there a guideline as to what if any can be toggled and why I should/ should not mess with it. I've been reluctant to mess with anything up until now b/c I am not sure what this is. Can anyone direct me to a guideline thread or shed some light on it for me? Thanks in advance.
I've included some pictures of what I'm describing from a recent Dolphin upgrade from playstore.
tmord1 said:
I noticed that since 5.1.1 or (sometime around it's release) when I download an apk or an update from playstore, I am shown a list of service, broadcast receiver, activities, etc. with toggles. I am not sure if this is a result of one of the apps I have installed (like cm security, my android tools, amplify) or if it is just a new policy on google play. Anyone else see this? Is there a guideline as to what if any can be toggled and why I should/ should not mess with it. I've been reluctant to mess with anything up until now b/c I am not sure what this is. Can anyone direct me to a guideline thread or shed some light on it for me? Thanks in advance.
I've included some pictures of what I'm describing from a recent Dolphin upgrade from playstore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
someone can correct me if im wrong, but i believe i read somewhere thats some new features to help make users more aware of the permissions they agree to in more detail.
i dont recall it mentioning as in depth as the receivers, but it may have. for the most part, you really dont want to mess with those, otherwise the app could partially or completely stop working properly.
what you can and cant turn off is really going to be a case by case basis. i have tried doing some of that before, and tbh, its generally not worth the effort it takes to figure it all out. the battery gains are usually minimal to non existent. only thing some what useful is disabling the ad servers.
your really better off not touching any of those, unless you have a rogue issue you are trying to rectify.
tmord1 said:
I noticed that since 5.1.1 or (sometime around it's release) when I download an apk or an update from playstore, I am shown a list of service, broadcast receiver, activities, etc. with toggles. I am not sure if this is a result of one of the apps I have installed (like cm security, my android tools, amplify) or if it is just a new policy on google play. Anyone else see this? Is there a guideline as to what if any can be toggled and why I should/ should not mess with it. I've been reluctant to mess with anything up until now b/c I am not sure what this is. Can anyone direct me to a guideline thread or shed some light on it for me? Thanks in advance.
I've included some pictures of what I'm describing from a recent Dolphin upgrade from playstore.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why not sending your screenshots to [email protected] for help? Seeking support from Dolphin is much more time saving.
surviveland said:
Why not sending your screenshots to [email protected] for help? Seeking support from Dolphin is much more time saving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That was just an example, it does that for all apps downloaded from Google play. Apparently, it is to disclose permissions required by apps more thoroughly. At the time that it I posted, it was a relatively new feature and I was wondering about it.
As the title suggests, I'm looking for a privacy oriented ROM.
LineageOS isn't official and nobody posts there anymore.
Any ideas?
Crdroid is the rom for you then. It has signature spoofing for microG
Jemec26 said:
Crdroid is the rom for you then. It has signature spoofing for microG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice.
I tried searching some comparisons betwen LineageOS and this, mainly for differences, especially depending privacy, but I didn't find any.
Any info?
Well, CRDroid for mi a3 is based on lineage, mainly differences besides that, are the amount of features that CRDroid has compared to lineage. And you have a big plus with OTA updates.
For your concern, privacy is very strict between both of them at the same level, as of now, CRDroid has already April patch which lineage doesn't.
Yeah I read it's a fork of LineageOS and has more features.
My concern is not security (which is what patches address) but privacy, it has to do with google telemetry hard coded in the kernel, and other stuff like network scanning, wifi triangulation etc.
if you're really really concerned about privacy and will go overboard my advice is just flash any aosp rom without gapps. Just find alternative apps for youtube (this was my main concern) like newpipe.
I've been researching a whole lot of privacy focused apps and started replacing them one by one.
But ROM should be first.
Does aosp ROMs or CrDroid contains Google services?
Voliminal_8 said:
I've been researching a whole lot of privacy focused apps and started replacing them one by one.
But ROM should be first.
Does aosp ROMs or CrDroid contains Google services?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Crdroid contains signature spoofing if you want to install microg.
Probably the best rom at the moment when it comes to privacy and going gappsless
garylawwd said:
Crdroid contains signature spoofing if you want to install microg.
Probably the best rom at the moment when it comes to privacy and going gappsless
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What exactly is signature spoofing?
And microG?
Voliminal_8 said:
What exactly is signature spoofing?
And microG?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you are so focused on privacy then ditching all Google apps and researching microg would be the first thing you should do. Replacing apps now is useless as Google will still pull your data from every app on your device so long as play services are installed (or any Google app for that matter)
Read here
And here for more information
Paranoid Android 10 is out, someone needs to bring it to this phone.
debido666 said:
Paranoid Android 10 is out, someone needs to bring it to this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is. But it comes with gapps. I think there is a build without gapps also though
garylawwd said:
If you are so focused on privacy then ditching all Google apps and researching microg would be the first thing you should do. Replacing apps now is useless as Google will still pull your data from every app on your device so long as play services are installed (or any Google app for that matter)
Read here
And here for more information
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok thanks for the links.
So wait, is microG needed? If I got it right, you only need it if you want to run most of google apps. Right?
If I get CrDroid without Gapps and install very other app replacement like, NewPipe, Singal Messenger, etc. won't it be google free?
Damn I'm confused.
Voliminal_8 said:
Ok thanks for the links.
So wait, is microG needed? If I got it right, you only need it if you want to run most of google apps. Right?
If I get CrDroid without Gapps and install very other app replacement like, NewPipe, Singal Messenger, etc. won't it be google free?
Damn I'm confused.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Micro G it's kinda confusing first times you read. To answer your questions, yes, you will be Google free. Microg is mostly for apps that depends on Google services to live. It replaces the Google apps but without sending any info to Google anonymously. They just connect to make a login, that it's why signature spoofing is important, without it, microg wouldn't be able to fake gapps for those apps who required then.
Different thing is that you don't use any app who doesn't require Google services. But banking apps, for example, most of them requires it, so that it's the moment when microg plays the fake game.
Hi! Finally got my S23U and have begun setting it up.
All is good but was shocked to see the lack of multiple user feature on it. On my other android phone I create a "work" user which then has all settings/apps related to work. I can then switch amongst my profiles as needed. Note that my workplace pretty much controls the phone upon installing their security app (they could wipe out everything if need be) so these separate profiles is crucial.
I know Samsung has "secure folder" but unless I can have multiple of them it is not useful in this case. I cannot mix my personal stuff that I want to securely store with my work stuff on the same secure folder.
There are some apps on play store but are either non-standard (eg. Parallel Space) or not maintained (eg. Island).
Appreciate any suggestions.
Get a second work phone. I definitely wouldn't put their junkware on my personal phone!
[email protected] said:
Hi! Finally got my S23U and have begun setting it up.
All is good but was shocked to see the lack of multiple user feature on it. On my other android phone I create a "work" user which then has all settings/apps related to work. I can then switch amongst my profiles as needed. Note that my workplace pretty much controls the phone upon installing their security app (they could wipe out everything if need be) so these separate profiles is crucial.
I know Samsung has "secure folder" but unless I can have multiple of them it is not useful in this case. I cannot mix my personal stuff that I want to securely store with my work stuff on the same secure folder.
There are some apps on play store but are either non-standard (eg. Parallel Space) or not maintained (eg. Island).
Appreciate any suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install shelter from fdroid or island from google play and make a work profile without root.
spart0n said:
You can install shelter from fdroid or island from google play and make a work profile without root.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the suggestions. I'll check it out.
blackhawk said:
Get a second work phone. I definitely wouldn't put their junkware on my personal phone!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My last option. Carrying two phone around is annoying when I could do it with just one before.
[email protected] said:
Hi! Finally got my S23U and have begun setting it up.
All is good but was shocked to see the lack of multiple user feature on it. On my other android phone I create a "work" user which then has all settings/apps related to work. I can then switch amongst my profiles as needed. Note that my workplace pretty much controls the phone upon installing their security app (they could wipe out everything if need be) so these separate profiles is crucial.
I know Samsung has "secure folder" but unless I can have multiple of them it is not useful in this case. I cannot mix my personal stuff that I want to securely store with my work stuff on the same secure folder.
There are some apps on play store but are either non-standard (eg. Parallel Space) or not maintained (eg. Island).
Appreciate any suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shelter is your friend.
Multiple Users was supposed to be included in OneUI 5.0 and was available in their beta. But for some unknown reasons, they removed this stock Android feature from the stable build.
[email protected] said:
My last option. Carrying two phone around is annoying when I could do it with just one before.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Best to keep work and personal phones separate for a variety of reasons. Or simply only use/carry the work phone when at work. If your employer requires a work phone they should supply it... otherwise they shouldn't set requirements for a employee purchased phone.
blackhawk said:
If your employer requires a work phone they should supply it... otherwise they shouldn't set requirements for a employee purchased phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree.
blackhawk said:
Best to keep work and personal phones separate for a variety of reasons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can you elaborate on some scenarios when this will indeed be worth it, considering the inconvenience of carrying 2 phones.
TheMystic said:
Can you elaborate on some scenarios when this will indeed be worth it, considering the inconvenience of carrying 2 phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just common sense. Keep your personal and business lives separate as much as possible.
Businesses are malware targets as well. You have no choice but to download business related e-docs. On my personal devices I closely monitor any downloads. Only installed 3rd party apps carry a higher risk of infection.
blackhawk said:
Just common sense. Keep your personal and business lives separate as much as possible.
Businesses are malware targets as well. You have no choice but to download business related e-docs. On my personal devices I closely monitor any downloads. Only installed 3rd party apps carry a higher risk of infection.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what Profiles do. They isolate and keep apps and their data separate, and do not allow apps in one profile to access data on another profile.
TheMystic said:
That's exactly what Profiles do. They isolate and keep apps and their data separate, and do not allow apps in one profile to access data on another profile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It also slows the phone's performance down. You're still using the same sim, ip address, hardware; not near enough isolation. I don't like the plan, sorry.
[email protected] said:
Hi! Finally got my S23U and have begun setting it up.
All is good but was shocked to see the lack of multiple user feature on it. On my other android phone I create a "work" user which then has all settings/apps related to work. I can then switch amongst my profiles as needed. Note that my workplace pretty much controls the phone upon installing their security app (they could wipe out everything if need be) so these separate profiles is crucial.
I know Samsung has "secure folder" but unless I can have multiple of them it is not useful in this case. I cannot mix my personal stuff that I want to securely store with my work stuff on the same secure folder.
There are some apps on play store but are either non-standard (eg. Parallel Space) or not maintained (eg. Island).
Appreciate any suggestions.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My S23U does have a Work profile (see attached screenshot) and, separately, a Secure Folder. They are not the same thing. It's basically like having three profiles on one device. My employer can only see the data in my Work profile.
blackhawk said:
It also slows the phone's performance down. You're still using the same sim, ip address, hardware; not near enough isolation. I don't like the plan, sorry.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't seen any performance drop. You can turn OFF work profile when required, and that will disable access completely.
pyrolad said:
My S23U does have a Work profile (see attached screenshot) and, separately, a Secure Folder. They are not the same thing. It's basically like having three profiles on one device. My employer can only see the data in my Work profile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How? Is it the US version?
pyrolad said:
My S23U does have a Work profile (see attached screenshot) and, separately, a Secure Folder. They are not the same thing. It's basically like having three profiles on one device. My employer can only see the data in my Work profile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having issues enabling the work profile. How did you do it?
I was able to get it to work by using Island instead of Shelter
[email protected] said:
How? Is it the US version?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was able to get it to work by using the "Island" app. I've used "Shelter" for years but I don't think it's being developed anymore so I tried Island and it works.
Google Play Link
King-ish said:
I was able to get it to work by using the "Island" app. I've used "Shelter" for years but I don't think it's being developed anymore so I tried Island and it works.
Google Play Link
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Island repo hasn't had any activity since Sept 2021.
[email protected] said:
Island repo hasn't had any activity since Sept 2021.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Their app was updated February of last year. My understanding is since these apps (Shelter/Island) are only making the work profile more accessible, there isn't a lot of development unless there is a major underlying change to the OS or Work Profile framework like with Android 13. The Android 13 beta was released February 10, 2022 and the last Island update was February 22, 2022.
My
[email protected] said:
Island repo hasn't had any activity since Sept 2021.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My preferred app for this is Shelter and I thought they abandoned it, but it looks like they update their app on F-Droid.
Shelter | F-Droid - Free and Open Source Android App Repository
Isolate and run multiple instances of apps using Work Profiles
f-droid.org
@King-ish Thanks! Went with the FOSS implementation of Island at Insular.
Have the work profile setup.