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De-Googling my phone

piware.de

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Re: De-Googling my phone

#121

Post by junaru »

distances wrote: post #75
cyphar wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They don't package upstream Firefox, but you can get GNU IceCat Mobile (which is the GNU fork of it). And they also package Firefox Klar (which is the European edition of the "always incognito" version of Firefox they released last year, with all the telemetry disabled).

Firefox Focus elsewhere I think? I really like the concept, I've made it the default browser for opening links and switch to Firefox mostly just when something doesn't render properly (scripts blocked perhaps?)

Firefox Focus gets mentioned a lot on HN yet still doesn't support a simple feature like file upload.

https://github.com/mozilla-mobile/focus-android/issues/937

Re: De-Googling my phone

#122

Post by firmgently »

JepZ wrote: post #114

That blog post is mostly just about the apps. Sadly we still have a lot Google services in use afterwards, like e.g. the optional location service which speeds up the GPS positioning, but those parts are much harder to replace :-/ Some time ago MicroG[1] was set to solve that problem, but I don't know how far they have come. [1]: https://microg.org

"LineageOS 14.1 without the Google apps" (from the OP)

Google apps/Gapps is what MicroG replaces. Gapps is an optional, separate install not included in LineageOS. Location services etc are part of that.

MicroG works well, I use it on one Android device and have another using LineageOS without either Google apps or MicroG. Both devices are extremely useful and capable and do everything I require, but I've never let myself become dependent on any Google services in the first place (despite having been a web dev for almost 20 years).

Re: De-Googling my phone

#123

Post by Markoff »

i stopped reading after claim that Firefox is fast on android. it's objectively one of the slowest browsers

freeotp is also crap compared to andotp and name other alternatives are questionable and seem author has no clue about android/apps

Re: De-Googling my phone

#124

Post by Markoff »

letsgetphysITal wrote: post #87
Lurkars wrote: post #54

I run a similiar setup for almost 1,5 years. LineageOS 14.1 with f-droid "store"; syncing contacts and calendar with davdroid over nextcloud; also switched search to duckduckgo (on desktop, too) and I really don't miss anything. Another advantage of missing Google play services on my now 5 year old phone is, that the power last two times longer than before. A google service free phone is absolutely usable in my opini…

How do you find it when communicating with people who don't share your ethos, say those heavily invested in Whatsapp, or another platform to which there is no F/OSS compatible client.

you can use whatsapp without gapps

Re: De-Googling my phone

#125

Post by Markoff »

evjim wrote: post #57

I used k9mail for awhile until I realized it had sent every temporary draft of an email as I revised something and changed between apps. Was super embarrassing. Hard to trust it now even though the ui seemed great.

k9 doesn't have exchange so it's useless, your only relatively safe options are Nine, Aquamail and Maildroid

Re: De-Googling my phone

#126

Post by Markoff »

dublinben wrote: post #26
deepbreath wrote: post #8

I think one of the things I'd really miss is Google Maps. The directions are really good, and the web app is unusably slow

If you don't need real-time traffic data, OsmAnd or Maps.me are both pretty good replacements.

maps.me doesn't have traffic data? what is the traffic light icon in top left corner for?

Re: De-Googling my phone

#127

Post by giancarlostoro »

Been thinking of getting the Essential Phone as my next phone as opposed to the Pixel 2 but not sure if I want to root and install Lineage, which begs two questions: how secure is Lineage does it maintain close ties to Android or does it drift a little? and... Are there LineageOS phones out there yet?

Re: De-Googling my phone

#128

Post by anyzen »

maccard wrote: post #80
as1mov wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cons: You end up in Apple's high walled closed source garden. And have to deal with whatever they remove from the next iteration of the device based on their whims and fancies. And the exorbitant price tag.

> You end up in Apple's high walled closed source garden. Google’s ecosystem is just as negative as apples walled garden. If you want, you can build and sign your own apps and put them on your device on an iPhone. > And have to deal with whatever they remove from the next iteration of the device based on their whims and fancies. I presume you’re talking about the headphone jack, which google followed up by removing f…

> If you want, you can build and sign your own apps and put them on your device on an iPhone.

HA! Sure. For $100 a year. And from a Mac.

> I presume you’re talking about the headphone jack, which google followed up by removing from their pixel phone 12 months later? Why does apple get the hate here and not google?

Because Pixel is not the only choice one has inside the Android ecosystem, as opposed to iOS one? Samsung, Sony and others still have the jack afaik.

I agree with you about price though. Apple is no more expensive than others (considering the quality of build).

Re: De-Googling my phone

#129

Post by sidcool »

I am adopting a different approach. It seems likely that I may not be able to de-BigBrother myself without tremendous efforts. There are all kinds of devils out there, why not at least sell the soul only to a single devil? So I am going all Google. Nothing else. I exclusively use all their products (even Google+). I don't have FB, Twitter etc. Google is the devil I have sold my soul to.

Re: De-Googling my phone

#130

Post by russjr08 »

anyzen wrote: post #128
maccard wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You end up in Apple's high walled closed source garden. Google’s ecosystem is just as negative as apples walled garden. If you want, you can build and sign your own apps and put them on your device on an iPhone. > And have to deal with whatever they remove from the next iteration of the device based on their whims and fancies. I presume you’re talking about the headphone jack, which google followed up by removing f…

> If you want, you can build and sign your own apps and put them on your device on an iPhone. HA! Sure. For $100 a year. And from a Mac. > I presume you’re talking about the headphone jack, which google followed up by removing from their pixel phone 12 months later? Why does apple get the hate here and not google? Because Pixel is not the only choice one has inside the Android ecosystem, as opposed to iOS one? Samsun…

You can actually now self-sign apps without being a developer now.

There is a caveat however, you have to resign it every seven days.

Edit: I also want to say there’s a limit to the amount of apps you can do this with.

It’s not a great solution, but I have a feeling it’s as good as we’ll ever get.

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