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How to Android without Google

bytemybits.gitlab.io

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Re: How to Android without Google

#61

Post by gcb0 »

rehemiau wrote: post #59

I don't even run microg. Here WeGo is great for maps. Firefox is great as a browser, and has nice things like playing youtube in background (after adding an extension) or ublock. Slack works (without notifications), Spotify, Netflix, Authy, Signal... Many things have PWAs that work because they are platform-independent. For installing things there's F-Droid or APKUpdater. You could even use Facebook Messenger without…

OSMand for maps is even better than google maps, in terms of map correctness and navigation options.

Re: How to Android without Google

#62

Post by gcb0 »

it is still impossible. the step #1 there, "install lineageOS" translates to "install a bunch of binaries blobs that include kernel drivers and firmwares that were signed by the OEM and google", so no, you are still not free from google code there.

Re: How to Android without Google

#63

Post by biafra »

opencl wrote: post #53
bennofs wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunatly, copperhead only supports a tiny number of devices: Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P (+hikey as preview)

And for the Pixel models it also costs $500 per device unless you want to run your own build server.

Do they not provide fastboot images for the Pixel devices? I know I could just flash those images on a Nexus 5X.

Re: How to Android without Google

#64

Post by Sir_Substance »

cmroanirgo wrote: post #7
627467 wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What Google services? MicroG replaces most (if not all) Google services.

> What Google services? MicroG replaces most (if not all) Google services. RTM. From the article: "If you read the purpose of microG you’ll understand it mainly serves as a proxy, something that still communicates with Google servers . The fact is, there is no way around that. The whole Android ecosystem is dependent of Google, either because of Google Play services or Play Store" (Emphasis added that Google is still…

Actually, the play store is one of the most replacement google components. You can not use it on even a standard non-rooted phone.

Avoiding their location services is harder but micro-g does actually support other location services backends.

Push notifications is the problem child. When people "send" you push notifications, they actually send them direct to google and rely on google to send them to you. Installing micro-g can disconnect google at your end, but not at the app vendors end. It's likely that they will do this in many cases even if your phone actually lacks the software to receive the push from google.

Re: How to Android without Google

#65

Post by gcb0 »

sigfubar wrote: post #17

LineageOS is no longer the CyanogenMod it once was. Where CM received regular updates and supported a plethora of devices, LOS has been dropping devices and doesn't do Oreo. My Galaxy S7 is no longer supported by LOS for absolutely no valid reason: https://lineageos.org/Changelog-18/ > Removed 14.1 devices > Samsung Galaxy S7 (herolte) and S7 Edge (hero2lte) due to licensing issues of the device trees

neither of them do updates for the same reason. Yeah, you might get a few updates for a few phones, but that is because the OEM did the work too.

Every off-brand android distro does the same thing: they get the kernel+drivers from the OEM image, and repackage the rest (the rest being AOSP).

besides the android libraries, nothing is visible. It is all a binary blob picked from the OEM image. So if the android version X is release by OEM, the off-brand android distros will pick up version X for that phone by just building AOSP on top of that kernel+drivers. When a new version for android comes up and it depends on a newer kernel version, that phone won't be updated no matter what! ...exception is if the phone's kernel+drivers are shared with another model that did received the update, but you guess how rare that is.

bottom line, no matter how may hours an off-brand android distro use, it will NEVER support anything newer than what is supported by the OEM.

In some cases, even if they claim they are releasing android security patch X for your phone, if that patch bundle included kernel fixes, you can be guaranteed that they will not be included.

Re: How to Android without Google

#66

Post by dabockster »

gcb0 wrote: post #62

it is still impossible. the step #1 there, "install lineageOS" translates to "install a bunch of binaries blobs that include kernel drivers and firmwares that were signed by the OEM and google", so no, you are still not free from google code there.

Is Replikant still a thing?

Re: How to Android without Google

#67

Post by userbinator »

whyagaindavid wrote: post #24
exikyut wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, as long as it doesn't have a locked bootloader (I presume it doesn't), you should theoretically be able to get somewhere with it. Rebuilding Android surely isn't that difficult (it's been on my todo list for some time, I've just never gotten around to it due to insufficient RAM).

Sadly for most devices it is impossible as many OEMs do not release kernel and firmware. Yes it may be a open source violation but try telling this to any OEMs. Search in XDA and you will see one of the largest manufacturer Xiaomi does not release sources. If you have MediaTek SoC forget it.

Mediatek sources are out there, along with full datasheets, desige guides, schematics, PCB layouts, etc. They're just not released "officially", but that doesn't mean they don't publicly exist.

Re: How to Android without Google

#70

Post by FairDune »

When I last did something like this, I reset to the original OS because of only one other thing I encountered - proprietary software like for e.g. Samsung S-Pen would not work. Unless I missed something?
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