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Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

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Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#231
post #228
post #43

On my Pixel 2XL, I cannot set temperature to Celsius on my home and lock screen unless I allow this setting.

When I had my Pixel I remember not being able to save reminders or events with the assisstant unless I enabled Google Now Cards, which shoved advertisements and bullshit articles onto my home screen

I remember using Google now cards but stopped after they decided they needed my full history to make them work. I guess I was lucky I missed the advertisement phase.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#232
post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's harder than it looks. In theory, there's microg, in reality, if you do a complete un-googling, most push notifications won't come through. If you do want to try it: - factory reset the phone to get rid of any google accounts - root the phone - get "System app remover (ROOT)"[^1] - remove all google applications, except google play services and framework - reboot - remove remaining google applications - reboot -…

Thanks, but I was more thinking along the lines of installing a new OS (Linux) and running Android apps (e.g. for banking) in a sandbox. Is that possible?

Not at this point in time, as far as I'm aware.

I've been trying to do this on my linux, so far, I failed; all the android emulators are extremely slow.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had uninstalled Apple Maps [1] from my iPhone after iOS 11 upgrade because it was useless. Apple put it back with iOS 12 upgrade and I have kept it around so far. It is still useless here in India [1]. Often I sadly have no alternative to Google apps. I have tried at least a dozen apps (online/offline) and nothing even comes close to Google Maps. Of course other features like News etc are not even shown on the app…

How does OsmAnd fare in your region? Curiously, I find that it's often more detailed and accurate than Google Maps hereabouts.

Pretty bad in my experience. Also traffic scene is pathetic down here so that makes Google Maps even more indispensable. Add to fact that they did a good months long round of ads here on everything including Google Maps hoarding all around the city.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#234
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I switched my assistant app to Cortana, if you can believe that. It works well enough, and doesn't require every permission to be enabled. It'll work fine with whatever you give it. (Within reason. It can't give you information about your calendar unless you give it that permission, etc.) Reminders and such get synced to my PC. There are, of course, many holes in its functionality... hoping it gets better. Don't know…

How did you completely get rid of Google Assistant on an android phone? Did it involve rooting it?

I didn't get rid of it, it's just not mapped to my home key anymore and isn't otherwise used.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#235
post #82
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you sharing your location? Maybe nothing is stored, but your current location is used for searches you make.

I've had the same results when I've explicitly not shared location. I will also use Google maps to find the route to some restaurant, turn off the GPS because I don't like being tracked and it's no too far, then head to the restaurant within 10-60 minutes of when I checked the GPS. If I have wifi on I will invariably get asked to rate the restaurant within 5 minutes of arriving there, regardless of how much time has…

Don't forget replacing all G logins with custom ones to various places. https://myaccount.google.com/permissions

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#236

What is your Google Maps alternative of choice for Android? I wish OsmAnd ( https://osmand.net/ ) would be more interactive on the map and complete regarding addresses. For example if I want to know which bus or subway to take to get from A to B in Hamburg I always have to resort to Maps.

https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#237

I'm not sure why people are surprised. Google has been downright evil for quite a while now. They do this in all their products, down to the point of intentionally crippling them. For instance, since Android 5, the standard contact app doesn't allow you to modify a contact which is not synced with an account. Why even do this? The list of tracking settings that can be turned permanently on, but only temporarily off i…

A bit of a side note, but we should avoid saying things like "not sure why people are surprised" or similar, like in a few other comments.

It is true that Google has done this several times over, but we shouldn't normalize it as nothing new, move on. We should still call it out each and every time we see it, even if we are repeating ourselves. Also, what might be obvious to our community is not to those outside, which in the end are the majority.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#238
Been annoyed about this for a long time. Google still knows about my home address as I have that label set in my Google Maps settings, it just won't let me use it unless I allow them to track all my search history. Wtf. Evil design pattern for sure.

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#239

I'm not sure why people are surprised. Google has been downright evil for quite a while now. They do this in all their products, down to the point of intentionally crippling them. For instance, since Android 5, the standard contact app doesn't allow you to modify a contact which is not synced with an account. Why even do this? The list of tracking settings that can be turned permanently on, but only temporarily off i…

Maps is insanely laggy on my Xiaomi Redmi note 4x. THis is with the performance kernel configuration on with GPU running 100%. Its just horribly optimised and has so much clutter now.

Does anyone know a decent alternative? (please don't say waze)

Re: Google Maps won't let you save home address without allowing all Google tracking

#240

I'm not sure why people are surprised. Google has been downright evil for quite a while now. They do this in all their products, down to the point of intentionally crippling them. For instance, since Android 5, the standard contact app doesn't allow you to modify a contact which is not synced with an account. Why even do this? The list of tracking settings that can be turned permanently on, but only temporarily off i…

I feel the same way, and it makes me sad. I was so bullish on Google when I first got a job and investing my savings, bought into the company when it was still Google. I thought the rebrand to Alphabet was a good idea like everything Google, though their abandonment of 'Don't be Evil' planted the first seed of doubt. What made that doubt grow was that I use Youtube as a customer and... well. I'm sure you've seen the same decline.

I finally divested this Spring after giving Google six months to come out with something that would reawaken my old optimism. Besides coming out with a mean go engine, all the news out of Google in that time was depressing.

I'm frankly surprised at how easily a true believer like myself could do a one-eighty in their opinion of the company. I know there's a possibility that they turn this thing around and I look foolish, but they'd have to do that without my cheerleading.

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