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Freeing My Phone from Google

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Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#41

Post by izacus »

commoner wrote: post #26
izacus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MicroG talks to Google servers and uses Google's infrastructure while breaking the terms of service (at least in case of FCM). Same goes with NewPipe - you're using YouTube without actually paying for bandwidth, storage costs or the video author. So you're not actually getting yourself rid of Google or tracking, you're just using their resources without paying the asking price. Use other alternatives instead.

Similar arguments have been employed against ad blocking. Users should be aware of the ramifications of their software decisions, but whether someone should download and use Google Play Services vs. MicroG, YouTube vs. NewPipe, etc. is the user's choice. From a privacy perspective, MicroG and NewPipe are much less intrusive than Google Play Service and YouTube, because the open source apps send less user data to Goog…

That would be fine if they'd be clean reimplementations of an API using their own backends. But advertising services which abuse SaaS infrastructure of a company is just not ok, especially in an article that's all about not using anything from Google.

I'd feel similarly about having someone advertise a way to crack Slack enterprise features instead of using something like Matternmost.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#42

Post by meruru »

beatgammit wrote: post #39
meruru wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Riot.im and the broader Matrix ecosystem are doing pretty well. Matrix was even adopted by the French government for internal communications. I tried Jami when it was called Ring and I couldn't figure it out after some fumbling with the app and skimming of the website. If I can't figure it out how can I expect nontechnical people to? That was one of the reasons why I ended up adopting Riot/Matrix back then and have b…

My problem with Riot specifically and Matrix generally is that the adoption process isn't very gentle. Yes they have bridges, but my experience has been that they're way more pain than they're worth, especially if you're the odd one out. The thing I like about Signal is that I can use it for regular texts as well as encrypted communications. Instead of converting all of my friends at once (or even just a significant…

>The thing I like about Signal is that I can use it for regular texts as well as encrypted communications.

Can you expand on that? I'm afraid I don't quite understand the advantage here. Also, have you tried Silence for sending encrypted SMS?

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#43

Post by beatgammit »

sbr464 wrote: post #27
cameronbrown wrote: post #3

There's two Google apps I just can't live without: YouTube and Google Maps. There's simply no alternative to the amount of value these bring me. OSM is getting good but it's just not there yet. I'm working on this in my area. I'd suggest to anyone worried about Google tracking to use Privacy Guard built into LineageOS, which aims to make each and every request for sensitive permissions explicit. A big benefit of free…

Open question: Which Google Maps feature does everyone here use or value the most? Driving/walking directions? Reliability? Traffic? Street View? I imagine it’s a combination but curious in general what would a competitor need to master to change the conversation, if OSM isn’t there yet.

For me it's mostly driving directions, followed by reviews. OSM does that, but the interface is a bit confusing since that isn't really it's focus, and AFAIK there's nothing like their reviews (maybe an optional integration with Yelp?). And when I'm looking up directions, it seems to expect coordinates or a specific address, though usually I only have the have to name on hand, which means a separate step to look it up.

OSM has a ton of features, but the most useful ones to people who use Google Maps just aren't dead simple to use. Maybe they should make a directions-specific app. I'm not sure how good the directions are since I've only managed to use it a couple times before getting frustrated and switching back to Google Maps.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#44

Post by meruru »

nvrspyx wrote: post #25
tarsinge wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's two Google apps I just can't live without: YouTube and Google Maps. Did you give a recent try to Apple Maps? Just finishing a few months road trip across the US and to my surprise I vastly prefer Apple Maps for the navigation and I now default to it. While in France I can't live without Waze/Google Maps because it's so efficient to workaround congestions in real time, I found it no better than Apple Maps in…

Instead of !g, you can use !s to use Startpage, which uses Google results, but privately.

Or you can actually add the engines you use to your browser and skip the middle man.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#45

Post by autoexec »

izacus wrote: post #22
commoner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps is fully compatible with MicroG, a free and open source replacement for the Google Play Services client. MicroG includes UnifiedNlp, which was discussed in the blog post. https://microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ At the moment, I recommend the previous version of MicroG (0.2.6.13280) since the latest version (0.2.7.17455) may have compatibility issues. If you're using LineageOS for MicroG, builds on…

MicroG talks to Google servers and uses Google's infrastructure while breaking the terms of service (at least in case of FCM). Same goes with NewPipe - you're using YouTube without actually paying for bandwidth, storage costs or the video author. So you're not actually getting yourself rid of Google or tracking, you're just using their resources without paying the asking price. Use other alternatives instead.

> Same goes with NewPipe - you're using YouTube without actually paying for bandwidth, storage costs or the video author.

> So you're not actually getting yourself rid of Google or tracking, you're just using their resources without paying the asking price.

I love newpipe. I block ads on my desktop, I'm not going to feel bad blocking them on my phone. Google has taken far too much from us, from me, for me to worry about their bandwidth or storage costs. Somehow I think the multinational billionaires will manage.

As for video creators (who themselves are regularly screwed over by Google) they should be supported using other channels.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#46

Post by autoexec »

sbr464 wrote: post #27
cameronbrown wrote: post #3

There's two Google apps I just can't live without: YouTube and Google Maps. There's simply no alternative to the amount of value these bring me. OSM is getting good but it's just not there yet. I'm working on this in my area. I'd suggest to anyone worried about Google tracking to use Privacy Guard built into LineageOS, which aims to make each and every request for sensitive permissions explicit. A big benefit of free…

Open question: Which Google Maps feature does everyone here use or value the most? Driving/walking directions? Reliability? Traffic? Street View? I imagine it’s a combination but curious in general what would a competitor need to master to change the conversation, if OSM isn’t there yet.

In my case it's street view. Directions I can pretty much get anywhere, but nothing beats virtually taking the drive yourself so you know what to expect when going somewhere new.

I'd love to see a competitor who could make that experience a little smoother. Navigating in streetview is more like a slide show than a drive.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#47

Post by fencepost »

cameronbrown wrote: post #3

There's two Google apps I just can't live without: YouTube and Google Maps. There's simply no alternative to the amount of value these bring me. OSM is getting good but it's just not there yet. I'm working on this in my area. I'd suggest to anyone worried about Google tracking to use Privacy Guard built into LineageOS, which aims to make each and every request for sensitive permissions explicit. A big benefit of free…

You might look at Here maps, which used to also be the mapping solution on Windows phone.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#48

Post by jasonjayr »

diafygi wrote: post #38
commoner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps is fully compatible with MicroG, a free and open source replacement for the Google Play Services client. MicroG includes UnifiedNlp, which was discussed in the blog post. https://microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ At the moment, I recommend the previous version of MicroG (0.2.6.13280) since the latest version (0.2.7.17455) may have compatibility issues. If you're using LineageOS for MicroG, builds on…

Do you have a recommendation for a phone that has a <=5" screen that is supported by LineageOS and MicroG? It seems like most of the well supported phones are too big to comfortably fit in my pocket.

I struggled for a long time to find a useful recommendation. I finally arrived at a way of figuring it out:

Check their stats: https://stats.lineageos.org/

Pick your country on the right, then lookup the models listed at the left from most popular to least popular.

The phones that are the most popular stand the chance of being the most stable, and best supported. I finally arrived @ "nash", which is more commonly known as the "Moto Z Force" (https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/nash). You'll have to copy/paste the code names to their devices wiki to get the specs.

I got one second hand with some wear for about US$100 on ebay. It was easy to unlock, and I'm fairly impressed with how it works with Lineage thus far (About 2-3 months as my only phone). It's 6" tall, I'm not sure the diagonal, but it fits comfortably in my pockets. I added a case since it's super thin otherwise.

#3 in the US is https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/klte @ 5.59" tall ...

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#49

Post by bubblethink »

izacus wrote: post #41
commoner wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Similar arguments have been employed against ad blocking. Users should be aware of the ramifications of their software decisions, but whether someone should download and use Google Play Services vs. MicroG, YouTube vs. NewPipe, etc. is the user's choice. From a privacy perspective, MicroG and NewPipe are much less intrusive than Google Play Service and YouTube, because the open source apps send less user data to Goog…

That would be fine if they'd be clean reimplementations of an API using their own backends. But advertising services which abuse SaaS infrastructure of a company is just not ok, especially in an article that's all about not using anything from Google. I'd feel similarly about having someone advertise a way to crack Slack enterprise features instead of using something like Matternmost.

Newpipe is literally doing what the browser does, which is fair. The rest of the argument boils down to ad blocking. If you are a stickler, you could use youtube in a browser and get the ads.

Re: Freeing My Phone from Google

#50

Post by commoner »

diafygi wrote: post #38
commoner wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google Maps is fully compatible with MicroG, a free and open source replacement for the Google Play Services client. MicroG includes UnifiedNlp, which was discussed in the blog post. https://microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/ At the moment, I recommend the previous version of MicroG (0.2.6.13280) since the latest version (0.2.7.17455) may have compatibility issues. If you're using LineageOS for MicroG, builds on…

Do you have a recommendation for a phone that has a <=5" screen that is supported by LineageOS and MicroG? It seems like most of the well supported phones are too big to comfortably fit in my pocket.

I personally recommend the first-generation Google Pixel XL (marlin), which costs under $100 used on eBay.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel_(smartphone)

With MicroG, Google Camera works as it does on stock Android. Most phones on LineageOS aren't able to use their stock camera app, which results in reduced camera quality compared to stock Android. The Pixel/Nexus line, ironically, is the main exception.

Google Camera isn't available on F-Droid or Yalp/Aurora Store, but you can download it from APKMirror:

https://www.apkmirror.com/apk/google-inc/camera

(APKMirror is operated by Android Police, so it's a trusted site.)

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