Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

calyxos.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 496 posts

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#31

Post by grawprog »

m12k wrote: post #24

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps an…

There's places like APK mirror or Aurora which will download .apk's from the play store.

The problem with degoogled phones isn't not accessing the google play store, it's not having the confusingly named google play services.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Services

A lot of apps rely on google play services. It mostly depends on how much of google play services an app requires as to whether it'll work on a degoogled phone or not.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#32

Post by tn1 »

m12k wrote: post #24

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps an…

There are sites like APKPure that mirror the Play store. That particular site also has an app of their own that functions as an app store, which will install from their catalog.

Of course, you're just moving your trust from Google to this other third party, it's up to you if you consider that wise.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#33

Post by 0x416c6578 »

m12k wrote: post #24

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps an…

There are third-party clients for the Play Store (Aurora store being a good example). Aurora store uses anonymous accounts to download the APKs directly from Google. That being said, just because you can install the application doesn't mean it will actually work without Play Services installed. I've had quite a bit of luck with random applications I've installed (interestingly most Google apps like Gboard, Photos and GCam work fine offline and without Play Services), however YMMV.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#34

Post by fragileone »

jszymborski wrote: post #3

So, what's the current experience like on Android w/o Play services? I know at some point it was quite bad but that there were some up-and-coming solutions.

microG as a semi-Play Services experience is fine, the only issue I have is that most network-based geolocation backends tend to be hit or miss. I usually have to enable the Apple location service if I need a fast geolocation.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#35

Post by grey_earthling »

spinax wrote: post #18
grey_earthling wrote: post #16

From https://calyxos.org/about/ : > In social science, agency is defined as: the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. > built-in integration for Signal and WhatsApp calls Signal and WhatsApp are both fully centralised, tied to a single organisation each — they are antithetical to agency. Why not use open protocols like DeltaChat, Matrix or XMPP instead? > built-in free “Vir…

> Trusted by whom? Calyx VPN uses the same tech stack as Riseup VPN, which are branded versions of the Bitmask client - CalyxOS is a part of the Calyx Institute family. You can instead use the Bitmask client from the F-Droid repo and choose to connect to either service with the same app (rather than using branded apps for each service).

So the organizations that provide the VPN service are Calyx VPN and Calyx Institute (have I understood correctly?)

The site says these organizations are “trusted”, but I'm still not sure who are they saying is doing the trusting.

It's very easy to label something “trusted”, but trusted by whom?

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#36

Post by zmnxo718 »

dtx1 wrote: post #21
kiawe_fire wrote: post #4

Anybody have experience using something like this (or others like GrapheneOS) as a daily driver? I’m interested in moving away from Apple and big tech in general, but I don’t know how practical that is yet.

I am daily driving GrapheneOS for over a year now as my only phone on a pixel 3a and I like it quite a lot. Here's how I handle stuff and what limits i encountered. Keep in Mind that you have to rethink your app usage aswell, meaning testing a lot of apps from F-Droid to see what works for you. You average FAANG Privacy Invasion App dejour propably won´t work and i´d be wary of hardware requiring an app to be used if…

Bromium is also a good alternative to vanadium.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#38

Post by google234123 »

0x416c6578 wrote: post #33
m12k wrote: post #24

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps an…

There are third-party clients for the Play Store (Aurora store being a good example). Aurora store uses anonymous accounts to download the APKs directly from Google. That being said, just because you can install the application doesn't mean it will actually work without Play Services installed. I've had quite a bit of luck with random applications I've installed (interestingly most Google apps like Gboard, Photos and…

That’s a piracy site.

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#39

Post by mackrevinack »

m12k wrote: post #24

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps an…

ive been trying that it the last while with an old phone where i didn't bother logging into google when i reset it. i just use tasker on my main phone to extract the apk for the current app and save it into to my syncthing folder and sync it across that way. but there are other apps that will let you extract the apk's as well.

so far only one or two have worked unfortunately but most do

Re: CalyxOS – De-Googled Android Alternative

#40

Post by steelbrain »

spinax wrote: post #18
grey_earthling wrote: post #16

From https://calyxos.org/about/ : > In social science, agency is defined as: the capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices. > built-in integration for Signal and WhatsApp calls Signal and WhatsApp are both fully centralised, tied to a single organisation each — they are antithetical to agency. Why not use open protocols like DeltaChat, Matrix or XMPP instead? > built-in free “Vir…

> Trusted by whom? Calyx VPN uses the same tech stack as Riseup VPN, which are branded versions of the Bitmask client - CalyxOS is a part of the Calyx Institute family. You can instead use the Bitmask client from the F-Droid repo and choose to connect to either service with the same app (rather than using branded apps for each service).

Curious, does anyone know what's their business model to monetizing the "free" VPN service? How do they make their money back or is it a donation kind of thing?
Post reply on HN