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!
For privacy reasons, I'd like to use my CM7.2 Atrix [Neutrino ROM] without any ties to Google. I've got all servers set up myself [Contacts, Tasks, Mail etc.], so this would be perfectly possible, except that I basically need the Play Store. ATM, it's still the only decent source for apps at least here in Germany, so I'd like to retain the functionality somehow while being able to remove it and the Google account it requires from my device.
Are there any decent solutions for that? I know that there's been some work going on to get it to run in an Android emulator, but this seems to include a lot of unreliable hacking, and I'm not sure how usable it would be for practical purposes. Basically, I'd just like to have some way to retrieve the APKs for free apps and those I paid for without resorting to dubious third-party download sites.
Please not that I'm not trying to do anything illegitimate here, for some reasons someone looking for privacy seems to get accused of that a lot. I could just get the APKs from the phone itself if I wanted to redistribute them or similar.
Thanks!
David
Sorry if the question has already been asked and or answered but I have been looking and maybe I just don't know what to search for.
I have Verizons Samsung S3
SCH-I535
Android: 4.1.2
I am looking for an app (paid or free) I can install on my device that has the ability to track via gps, and either turn on or off the microphone with the ability to take pictures via camera OR use the video camera (with sound of course)
Thank You for any responses
Try any one of the popular security apps currently out...such as... Lookout, Avast, Norton, NQ, AVG, not sure but MAYBE McAfee, Avira, Webroot, B-Secure Tracker, QuickHeal Mobile Security, Vipre, TrackMyDroid, GPS Tracking Pro, GRIP Security, CMC, Symantec, 12Track..... Again that is just a FEW of whats available lol....and so ya know EVERY SINGLE one of these tracking/security apps can be found in the Google Play Store... I hope that this helped ya put in someway bubba...take care
Thanks
I went with mspy.com pro plan. will let you know how it works
iKeyMonitor is worth trying
iKeyMonitor is a great invisible spy app for Android. It offers free version for testing. I suggest you have a try!:victory:
I need a download link.
EDIT-- This post is super old (but still works).
Another method (maybe better for your use case?) is the Aurora store. Please see the COMMENTS SECTION.
How To Download any app on the playstore, Without installing GMS, GAPPS, AMAZON, Or any other App Store
EVOZI:
https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/
GOOGLE PLAY STORE:
Android Apps on Google Play
Enjoy millions of the latest Android apps, games, music, movies, TV, books, magazines & more. Anytime, anywhere, across your devices.
play.google.com
Simply paste the playstore link to evozi, of the app you want to download!
This is not warez, you Can Not Download Paid apps.
This site just caches and backs up all our favorite apps.
Rarely, if you're looking for something too obscure, it will not be able to locate it.
Have Fun
Google Play Store lets you download and install Android apps on an Android-powered phone or tablet or emulator if GMS Core already are installed thereon.
Sometimes evozi will say something about "you're being rate limited" and it won't work. I think this is bc they are getting too much traffic. I use Evozi in this example, as it is the cleanest (adless) experience, but do bare in mind you can always use other Mirrors~! sites like APKpure.com are mostly safe
any idea how does https://apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ work as am trying to automate some work and i dont want to depend on apk-downloader or any other mirror
@synackers sorry I just now had the time to research what I wanted to share. There's a "store" that has access to the playstore repositories, that is open source, and gives the user the freedom to choose to enable google features or not. This works on windows phones too and I would guess WSA too?
It is called the "aurora store" it's website is here:
auroraoss.com
This is still new to me so I can not explain it personally but the knowledge is available
This article explains a little about it and shows pictures
Maybe they have a github repo somewhere you can obtain the code you need to dl things
Hope it helps!
Hi Jeneh , to be honest am not interested in any open source apk mirroring available in internet
am seeking to understand how auroraoss or evozi actually works behind the screen ... how do they give you apk to be downloadable is also fetched from other mirror or do they have google developer and google offer any api to play store ..etc
more deep technical details is of my interest . i do appreciate your feedback
@synackers The Aurora Store is different from evozi or other sites like evozi, in that it actually accesses the repositories, ie the link to the android app in question.
For instance: to download the app "Termux" a call is made to get the app from com.termux and it goes on to install and build from there, the latest software.
When using evozi or apk mirror, they save actual hard copies of the apps to their servers to share to users, which could be any older version of the app.
Evozi regularly redownloads the more popular apps from the play store and they take requests. However there is No version choice available. The downloaded apks hash signatures will match the playstore app sigs for that app version.
Sites like apk mirror and others tend to keep all the older app versions and provide a choice which version to download. This is my only use case for these as they are more risky and you should vet the sigs on them.
Here is aurora's gitlab https://gitlab.com/AuroraOSS/AuroraStore
This link has all the code to be able to go through and find exactly what you need.
Some info on the code
"Aurora Store was originally based on Sergei Yeriomin's Yalp store. Aurora Store v4.0 is a rewrite of version 3 in Kotlin"
The developer of the store has made a page here on xda that maybe they would be willing to give better insight to a specific question you have in the installation process to provide the technicals.
Outside of Aurora, it may be beneficial to learn about PackageInstaller to be able to manually install and or uninstall apps with code. Or Package Manager, if you open that spoiler and select the "PM" option you can see all the code for using it.
Hi Jenneh ,
much appreciate your response and cooperation |
https://www.codevoila.com/post/77/how-to-install-or-uninstall-an-android-apk-file-programmatically this is definitely valuable and its crystal clear for me on how aurora works.. i had a glance at the code in github .
now my challenge or use case which i want to achieve is as following ;
1. need to take APK directly from play store ( i dont mind if google offer paid API which am not aware or seen )
this should be automated off android physical phone / or emulator
working in other project ^^ and stuck in this point
what i have noticed indeed evozi take package from playstore cause i checked an APK which recently was published and not available in any other mirror site
Aruroa still need mobile phone or emulator to work
Thanks again and appreciate your cooperation
With regards to thread's title "Download Any Apk Off The Playstore Without installing Google, AMAZON, or Any other APP Store" take note that you of course need an app store to get APKs from.
Never make use of Aptoide: it's Large, Decentralized, Dangerous.
Aptoide is one of the most sophisticated app sources. The store works with a distributed network of different store providers and combines them on a unified platform. However, this poses significant security risks.
Truely not what am seeking , any mirror is not an enterprise grade options cause security risk is high so if there is any way to download directly apk from play store without the need for emulator or device would be much appreciated
The app store with least security risks is Google Play Store.
Apps from outside of the Google Play Store are also scan using Google Play protect on the device, it is a security risk to install apps outside of the Play Store but as long as you trust the app developer you should be fine.
well, what is the case if i need to automate a way for MDM solutions
IDK.
Probably MDM isn't not applicable if the managed devices differ in Android version and ARM architecture.