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.
I'm using a Nexus 4 and trying to get rid of all the Google tracking services and their built-in Android background communications with Google servers. I have already searched the internet and found a few articles about this, however most of them were outdated or didn't answer my questions.
I do like the look and feel of stock Android, which is why I would probably go for CyanogenMod for this. In an optimal world, it would retain its current look and feel, but without communicating with Google.
My questions that I currently have pretty much are as follows (when using CyanogenMod):
- is it possible to keep using SOME Play store / stock apps but taking their permission to send information to Google? For example, I still want to use whatsapp and I doubt I can find it in the F-Droid store, or perhaps i like the Google camera app, and so on
- is it possible to turn off all Google tracking services (obvious things such as Google Now, but also the less obvious, like the constant hidden communications with Google servers) using CyanogenMod?
Hi..
im so curious about this, what is the difference between:
1. AOSP Webview and Google Webview?
2. What are the advantages of them?
3. Which one is better (or suggest) to using in custom roms nougat?
i noticed, mostly all custom roms preinstalled with AOSP webview (as you can see it in dev. options on "webview implementation".) but once we donloaded google/android system webview in playstore it automatically replaced the AOSP webview with Google one. and theres no option to switch or choose between them.
4. does the Dev's or AOSP webview will always be updated?
(since google webview always does within playstore)
If anyone have ideas about them, a bit of explanations which one should i pick on custom rom, i would be much appreciated, and im sure people would like to know also, thanks a lot!
It honestly depends on the developers to update the WebView implementation themselves. The difference comes in that ROMs ship Chromiums implementation instead of Chromes meaning that we lack the proprietary stuff shipped in Google's standard WebView. You will also notice that Chrome can provide WebView features too. Often Canary is the best route to take on this as it provides the latest implementation of WebView, and in my experience, has been more than stable (WebView at least, the browser isn't excactly a joy)
I've found Google Webview to be more stable than some ROM's builds of AOSP Webview. If you notice apps using that little web browser within apps crashing more often than normal switch it.
I prefer the Android Web Viewer because its less invasive. MHO They may crash more because of google play's aggressiveness as an intrusive APP