Hey all. Lately I've been on a mission to "cut the Google" cord and have now worked my way down to my Nexus 4. I was wondering if anyone else in the Nexus 4 community runs a Google free device.. Maybe we can share our setups and suggestions.. Android for me isn't what it was when I first got involved.. More and more Google seems to want to dig deeper and deeper into tying everything on a phone into their servers.. I'm sorta over it and Google itself at this point with their hamfisting of their apps and services .. I love the OS, not the company.. Hence.. AOSP without Gapps..
My Google free setup right now is the following
ROM: Raskat (without any Gapps or Google Play Services obviously)
I use the following as my software sources.. Main one being 1Mobile Market which is one of the largest (and legal) Play Store alternatives.. Even has Chrome, Maps, Play Services etc if you actually want Google apps. (which would defeat the purpose but they are there)
Amazon App Store
F-Droid
1Mobile Market
Slide Me
Mail: I haven't ditched gmail yet as I have 3 gmail accounts and it's going to be the largest move away from Google and saving it for last. I connect with the AOSP email IMAP client for now though.
Browser: Cleared all my saved bookmarks and passwords off Googles Dashboard and manually create a list of bookmarks saved locally only in AOSP browser. Passwords all saved locally in KeePass
Contacts: I exported my contact list from the Google servers as a Vcard (then deleted them all from Google) and imported it to my contacts app. I keep a backup on a cloud service and locally if I update them.
Maps: I use MapQuest as it doesn't rely on the Google Maps API.
Calendar: is my only missing link right now as most all calender apps I found rely on Google Calenders framework to sync etc.
So far I'm enjoying it. I lost a lot of payware from the Play Store I've bought over the years but I'm learning to live without it. I'm thoroughly enjoying knowing my device is truly Google free at this point.
styckx said:
Hey all. Lately I've been on a mission to "cut the Google" cord and have now worked my way down to my Nexus 4. I was wondering if anyone else in the Nexus 4 community runs a Google free device.. Maybe we can share our setups and suggestions.. Android for me isn't what it was when I first got involved.. More and more Google seems to want to dig deeper and deeper into tying everything on a phone into their servers.. I'm sorta over it and Google itself at this point. I love the OS, not the company..
My Google free setup right now is the following
Raskat (without any Gapps obviously)
I use the following as my software sources.. Main one being 1Mobile Market which is one of the largest (and legal) Play Store alternatives.. Even has Chrome, Maps, Play Services etc if you actually want Google apps. (which would defeat the purpose but they are there)
Amazon App Store
F-Droid
1Mobile Market
Slide Me
Mail: I haven't ditched gmail yet as I have 3 gmail accounts and it's going to be the largest move away from Google and saving it for last. I connect with the AOSP email IMAP client for now though.
Browser: Cleared all my saved bookmarks and passwords off Googles Dashboard and manually create a list of bookmarks saved locally only in AOSP browser. No more syncing.. Passwords all saved locally in KeePass
Contacts: I exported my contact list from the Google servers as a Vcard (then deleted them all from Google) and imported it to my contacts app. I keep a backup on a cloud service and locally if I update them.
Maps: I use MapQuest as it doesn't rely on the Google Maps API.
Calendar: is my only missing link right now as most all calender apps I found rely on Google Calenders framework to sync etc.
So far I'm enjoying it. I lost a lot of payware from the Play Store I've bought over the years but I'm learning to live without it. I'm thoroughly enjoying knowing my device is truly Google free at this point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I, too, have cut off most of my links to Google. I would like to know if there are any more alternatives out there....
Scheherez said:
I, too, have cut off most of my links to Google. I would like to know if there are any more alternatives out there....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice to see I'm not the only one here so far.. There are a lot of options out there and 100% completely possible to run a 100% completely Google free device.. AOSP is beautiful without Googles apps and Play Services hamfisted into it data mining god knows what. I also don't miss the Play Store and everything and anything having a price tag attached to it regardless of quality.
It's nice looking into the accounts section and not seeing Google or them even being an option.
Another great Maps alternative is OsmAnd Maps and Navigation
Is there also an increased battery life using your phone this way without all the processes running in the background?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Probably but I haven't really focused on that so I can't give any sound feedback. Running your device this way is more of a personal choice to get rid of "big brother Google". I liken it to dumping Ubuntu for pure Debian instead.
Sent from my Nexus 10
I have thought about doing this many times but for me it is all about the ease of the items I use from Google that make my life easier. Also, the play store has me hooked in because I have spent quite a bit on there.
Yeah I'm in the process of doing the same thing. I'll be honest Google wanting to access more and more of my data has gotten to me a little. It's okay for them to manage my mail (I've come too far), but when I get notifications about flight itineraries it goes from being convenient to conveniently creepy. To be frank, I have no doubt that Google is as responsible as any other company is with my information. And given their user base, the occasional slip up is to be expected. But the bottom line is I don't really enjoy a multinational corporation having that much access to my personal data. And no, they're not harvesting all my information and selling it to other companies to spy on me, like some think.
I just feel like they ought to be reined in a bit. And F Google+ and uploading my photos without me having ever asked. Do you, Google. Just do it without me.
Sent from my Nexus 4 using xda app-developers app
1Mobile Market? Don't they take your information too?
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Nope.. I never created an account. it is optional or sign in with your Google account. Nothing to buy there really anyway. Has everything I need that is normally carried on the Play Store. Just the freeware versions.
Sent from my Nexus 10
You mentioned you use the aosp browser. Just so you know, that is a google app, and if you allow it, it will sync to your google account.....just sayin' I personally think firefox would be the first choice if you don't want anything google. It allows firefox account syncing, plugins, etc. And the plugings aren't cheesy like dolphin's. They have real ones like ab+, and all.
AOSP Browser without Google Services Framework will not sync to anything, it can't. It's Impossible. It is a plain as day web browser with local bookmarks being the only thing available. If I go to add an account in settings there isn't an option for Google because nothing Google related is on my build. It's AOSP as AOSP gets.
Sent from my Nexus 10
styckx said:
AOSP Browser without Google Services Framework will not sync to anything, it can't.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right....no gapps package. I forgot
hp420 said:
Right....no gapps package. I forgot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No problems. This has been fun and not something most actually do so.. It's out of the typical routine of things. :laugh:
Sounds interesting to try cuz I don't understand why android system is always searching for location in app ops although I have all location off
Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk
Do not forget the article on the XDA main page:
Remove the Google from CyanogenMod with Freecygn
I would mostly/only miss Google Maps.
user822 said:
Do not forget the article on the XDA main page:
Remove the Google from CyanogenMod with Freecygn
I would mostly/only miss Google Maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but. No way..
I refuse to touch Cyanogenmod with someone elses devices let alone my own devices. Cyanogenmod has been dead to me for years.
styckx said:
Thanks but. No way..
I refuse to touch Cyanogenmod with someone elses devices let alone my own devices. Cyanogenmod has been dead to me for years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mind elaborating as to why? Purely curious lol. I personally only do AOSP builds, myself, but I'm interested in why you are so anti-CM? I assume nowadays it has to do with Cyanogenmod, Inc.?
EnMod said:
Mind elaborating as to why? Purely curious lol. I personally only do AOSP builds, myself, but I'm interested in why you are so anti-CM? I assume nowadays it has to do with Cyanogenmod, Inc.?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since you asked and I'll keep it short.
What Cyanogen Inc is now isn't a surprise to many.. Most purist (read: Fans of AOSP) Android users after CM7 saw the direction CM was heading and abandoned ship at ICS/CM9. I've said many times.. Cyanogenmod 7 was the last good Cyanogenmod. Instead of just making a cool AOSP based ROM with features they started trying to make Cyanogenmod a "thing". It all started with that terrible File Manager they shoehorned in and snowballed from there. It's laughable at best to pitch Cyanogenmod on the "AOSP Derived" line that so many still use.. At this point it's like saying the Ford Fusion is derived from the Model T (ok, that's an extreme example but you get my point). Add in everything they did when the Cyanogen Inc company was formed.
Nope..
Wow.
I could never imagine doing this.. I use Google for contact and calendar sync and email, bookmarks etc... even on my Lumia 520.
MameTozhio said:
Wow.
I could never imagine doing this.. I use Google for contact and calendar sync and email, bookmarks etc... even on my Lumia 520.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah.. It's a personal thing. It hit me just how much data Google hoards when I randomly looked at my Google Dashboard one day and saw the Chrome Sync stats. Seeing in pictures just the sheer amount of data they have on me was a "moment". Then I started just piecing everything together about how many sectors of technology they've got their hands in all based around "providing services" over the internet. I just decided that was the end for me. I deleted all my dashboard data, went back to Firefox, deleted my Google+ accounts. I'm just going back to the old school days.. Limiting what is given to companies and lowering my online profile. For now keeping Google just for email and nothing more. It's just not per-say Google.. It's just the current trend of everything "needing" to be online and "synced" in some cloud. I don't need my entire livelihood and trends online.. No one should.. But... That's just my opinion. I can't stay away from everything (I mean I have a Facebook account) but I can do a lot to minimize what is given.
Moderators, please delete this thread as it is already available on http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=52004643
Hi,
We have a very special idea about a new Play Store alterego. We would display Android apps in a dedicated app just like AppAware, 1Mobile Market, AppSales, Appsfire, but in a special way. However, we don't know if we can display the apps without the developers' permission.
Do these apps scrape Play Store for data and display the apps without the permission of the developers or do they ask developers if they can use their apps? Considering these apps provide users with thousands of apps, I don't think they mail all developers.
What do you think? Can this be done? Is there a risk that a developer sues these apps for using his app without his exact permission? These apps have 500,000-1,000,000 downloads which mean they are very popular.
Note: we won't offer direct download of apps. When they click on an app in our App they will be directed to Google Play.
Thanks,
Hi guys. I'm starting this thread in hopes of sparking a conversation and a concerted effort to rid ourselves as users from the clutches of Google and other big tech companies. I am sick and tired of Google tracking me and attempting to force feed me ads on a daily send constant basis. Then selling my info to other companies such as Facebook. So, I have started down the path of decluttering (De-Google-ing) my device(s). I am primarily interested in securing my device as much as possible and protecting my privacy.
So far, I have reformatted my entire device to factory default settings installed and using F-Droid (FOSS) for all my apps. I use Yandex as my search engine (I am often to suggestions and recommendations) in the "private browser" app. I use Aurora instead of Google Play store, New Pipe for YouTube-ing, Frost for Facebookingand SlimSocial for Twitter. I have stopped using Google keyboard and any other Google apps. I have abandoned gmail and replaced it with proton mail instead. So far, no ads and as far as I can tell, no tracking. I have also installed a VPN and am using it religiously—Cyber Ghost, a $99 for 3 years subscription with support up to 8 devices.
However, I am still very much connected to Samsung for I am not privy as to whether or not Samsung is as sinister as Google and Facebook.
Again, I am open to all suggestions, corrections and recommendations. Thank you and I hope to engage with you all.
Thread Closed
see De-Google-ing my Note 9 thread already started on this discussion.
Friendly reminder to only open 1 thread concerning your question / topic
Note: The lists below are not necessarily in rank order. Choose the best products and services based on your own unique needs. Credits
Sven Taylor
Google search alternatives
When it comes to privacy, using Google search is not a good idea. When you use their search engine, Google is recording your IP address, search terms, user agent, and often a unique identifier, which is stored in cookies.
Here are ten alternatives to Google search:
Searx – A privacy-friendly and versatile metasearch engine that’s also open source.
MetaGer – An open source metasearch engine with good features, based in Germany.
SwissCows – A zero-tracking private search engine based in Switzerland, hosted on secure Swiss infrastructure.
Qwant – A private search engine based in France.
DuckDuckGo – A private search engine based in the US.
Mojeek – The only true search engine (rather than metasearch engine) that has its own crawler and index (based in the UK).
YaCy – A decentralized, open source, peer-to-peer search engine.
Givero – Based in Denmark, Givero offers more privacy than Google and combines search with charitable donations.
Ecosia – Ecosia is based in Germany and donates a part of revenues to planting trees.
*Note: With the exception of Mojeek, all of the private search engines above are technically metasearch engines, since they source their results from other search engines, such as Bing and Google.
Gmail alternatives
Gmail may be convenient and popular, but there are three major problems:
Your inbox is used as a data collection tool. (Did you know Google is tracking your purchasing history from the receipts in your inbox?)
Rather than seeing just emails, your email inbox is also used for ads and marketing.
The contents of your inbox are being shared with Google and other random third parties.
When you remain logged in to your Gmail account, Google can easily track your activities online as you browse different websites, which may be hosting Google Analytics or Google ads (Adsense).
Here are ten alternatives to Gmail that do well in terms of privacy:
Tutanota – based in Germany; very secure and private; free accounts up to 1 GB
Mailfence – based in Belgium; lots of features; free accounts up to 500 MB
Posteo – based in Germany; €1/mo with 14 day refund window
StartMail – based in Netherlands; $5.00/mo with 7 day free trial
Runbox – based in Norway; lots of storage and features; $1.66/mo with 30 day free trial
Mailbox.org – based in Germany; €1/mo with 30 day free trial
CounterMail – based in Sweden; $4.00/mo with 7 day free trial
Kolab Now – based in Switzerland; €4.41/mo with 30 day money-back guarantee
ProtonMail – based in Switzerland; free accounts up to 500 MB
Thexyz – based in Canada; $1.95/mo with 30 day refund window
Chrome alternatives
Google Chrome is a popular browser, but it’s also a data collection tool – and many people are taking notice. Just a few days ago, the Washington Post asserted that “Google’s web browser has become spy software,” with 11,000 tracker cookies observed in a single week.
Here are seven alternatives for more privacy:
Firefox browser – Firefox is a very customizable, open-source browser that is popular in privacy circles. There are also many different Firefox modifications and tweaks that will give you more privacy and security. (Also check out Firefox Focus, a privacy-focused version for mobile users.)
Iridium – Based on open source Chromium, Iridium offers numerous privacy and security enhancements over Chrome, source code here.
GNU IceCat – A fork of Firefox from the Free Software Foundation.
Tor browser – A hardened and secured version of Firefox that runs on the Tor network by default. (It also does a good job against browser fingerprinting.)
Ungoogled Chromium – Just as the name says, this is an open source version of Chromium that has been “ungoogled” and modified for more privacy.
Brave – Brave is another Chromium-based browser that is rather popular. It blocks trackers and ads by default (except for “approved” ads that are part of the “Brave Ads” network).
Waterfox – This is a fork of Firefox that is configured for more privacy by default, with Mozilla telemetry stripped out of the code.
Of course, there are other alternatives to Chrome, such as Safari (from Apple), Microsoft Internet Explorer/Edge, Opera, and Vivaldi – but these also come with some privacy drawbacks.
Google Drive alternatives
If you’re looking for a secure cloud storage option, you can check out these Google Drive alternatives:
Tresorit – A user-friendly cloud storage option based in Switzerland.
ownCloud – An open source and self-hosted cloud platform developed in Germany.
Nextcloud – Nextcloud is also an open source, self-hosted file sharing and collaboration platform, based in Germany.
Sync – Based in Canada, Sync offers a secure, encrypted cloud storage solution for businesses and individuals.
Syncthing – Here we have a decentralized, open source, peer-to-peer cloud storage platform.
Of course, Dropbox is another popular Google drive alternative, but it’s not the best in terms of privacy.
Google Calendar alternative
Here are some Google Calendar alternatives:
Lightning Calendar is an open source calendar option developed by Mozilla, and it’s compatible with Thunderbird and Seamonkey.
Etar, an open source, basic calendar option.
Fruux, an open source calendar with good features and support for many operating systems.
For those wanting a combined solution for both email and calendar functionality, these providers offer that:
Mailfence
Kolab Now
Posteo.de
Mailbox.org
Tutanota
Google Docs / Sheets / Slides alternative
There are many solid Google Docs alternatives available. The largest offline document editing suite is, of course, Microsoft Office. As most people know, however, Microsoft is not the best company for privacy. Nonetheless, there are a few other good Google Docs alternatives:
CryptPad – CryptPad is a privacy-focused alternative with strong encryption, and it’s free.
Etherpad – A self-hosted collaborative online editor that’s also open source.
Mailfence Documents – From the Mailfence team, this is a secure file sharing, storage, and collaboration tool.
Zoho Docs – This is another good Google Docs alternative with a clean interface and good functionality, although it may not be the best for privacy.
OnlyOffice – OnlyOffice feels a bit more restricted than some of the other options in terms of features.
Cryptee – This is a privacy-focused platform for photo and document storage and editing. It’s open source and based in Estonia.
LibreOffice (offline) – You can use LibreOffice which is free and open source.
Apache OpenOffice (offline) – Another good open source office suite.
Google Photos alternative
Here are a few good Google Photos alternatives:
Piwigo – Piwigo is a great option that you can self-host. It is also free and open source.
Lychee – Lychee is another self-hosted, open source photo management platform.
Cryptee – Mentioned already above, Cyrptee is also a great option for securely storing photos.
Shoebox was another alternative, but it closed operations in June 2019.
YouTube alternatives
Unfortunately, YouTube alternatives can really be hit or miss, with most struggling to gain popularity.
Peertube
DTube
*****ute
invidio.us
Vimeo
Bit.tube
Dailymotion
Hooktube
Tip: Invidio.us is a great Youtube proxy that allows you to watch any Youtube video without logging in, even if the video is somehow restricted. To do this, simply replace [www.youtube.com] with [invidio.us] in the URL you want to view.
Google translate alternative
Here are a few Google translate alternatives I have come across:
DeepL – DeepL is a solid Google Translate alternative that seems to give great results. Like Google Translate, DeepL allows you to post up to 5,000 characters at a time (but the pro version is unlimited). The user interface is good and there is also a built-in dictionary feature.
Linguee – Linguee does not allow you to post large blocks of text like DeepL. However, Linguee will give you very accurate translations for single words or phrases, along with context examples.
dict.cc – This Google Translate alternative seems to do a decent job on single-world lookups, but it also feels a bit outdated.
Swisscows Translate – A good translation service supporting many languages.
If you want to translate blocks of text, check out DeepL. If you want in-depth translations for single words or phrases, then Linguee is a good choice.
Google analytics alternative
For website admins, there are many reasons to use an alternative to Google analytics. Aside from privacy concerns, there are also faster and more user-friendly alternatives that also respect your visitors’ privacy.
Clicky is a great alternative to Google Analytics that truncates and anonymizes visitor IP addresses by default. It is lightweight, user-friendly, and fully compliant with GDPR regulations, while also being certified by Privacy Shield.
Matomo (formerly Piwik) is an open-source analytics platform that respects the privacy of visitors by anonymizing and truncating visitor IP addresses (if enabled by the website admin). It is also certified to respect user privacy.
Fathom Analytics is an open source alternative to Google Analytics that’s available on Github here. It’s minimal, fast, and lightweight.
Get Insights – Another privacy-focused analytics platform, with a full analytics suite. The front-end client is open source and available here.
AT Internet is a France-based analytics provider that is fully GDPR compliant, with all data stored on French servers, and a good track record going back to 1996.
Many websites host Google Analytics because they run Google Adsense campaigns. Without Google Analytics, tracking performance of these campaigns would be difficult. Nonetheless, there are still better options for privacy.
Google Maps alternative
A map alternative for PCs is OpenStreetMap.
A few Google Maps alternatives for mobile devices include:
OsmAnd is a free and open-source mobile maps app for both Android and iOS (based on OpenStreetMap data).
Maps (F Droid) uses OpenStreetMap data (offline).
Maps.Me is another option that is free on both Android and iOS, but there is a fair amount of data collection with this alternative, as explained in their privacy policy.
MapHub is also based on OpenStreeMap data and it does not collect locations or user IP addresses.
Note: Waze is not an “alternative” as it is now owned by Google.
Google Play Store alternative
Currently the best Google Play Store alternative is to use F-Droid and then go through the Yalp store. As explained on the official site, F-Droid is an installable catalog of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) applications for the Android platform.
After you have installed F-Droid, you can then download the Yalp store APK, which allows you to download apps from the Google Play Store directly as APK files.
I have tried alternatives for all Google products, the only ones i miss are Google Map & Google Duo and Google Family Link, remaining are already covered.
Amazon Photos or Piktures is a good alternative to Google Photos
Perfect List,
Is there a list of apps that can handle google hosted stuff like contacts, calendars and gmail ?
I'm using the Microsoft Office suite:
- Outlook for mails accounts, agendas and contacts
- One Drive for storage and pictures
- Translator
Others :
Opera browser with privacy and VPN.
Tubemate for Youtube
Google Maps is working fine without account
youn54 said:
I'm using the Microsoft Office suite:
- Outlook for mails accounts, agendas and contacts
- One Drive for storage and pictures
- Translator
Others :
Opera browser with privacy and VPN.
Tubemate for Youtube
Google Maps is working fine without account
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How do you sync your outlook contacts with the Phone?
Does a Free outlook account support this function ?
Hello! I have installed Yalp Store but unable to login by trying both ways, i.e. Yalp store builtin account and my own google account. Please help me
JazonX said:
How do you sync your outlook contacts with the Phone?
Does a Free outlook account support this function ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am deciding between outlook and yahoo .. both look very nice and a nice change after a long time with google.
JazonX said:
How do you sync your outlook contacts with the Phone?
Does a Free outlook account support this function ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've just migrated my gmail - emails, calendar and contacts to outlook. So far it works great.
JazonX said:
How do you sync your outlook contacts with the Phone?
Does a Free outlook account support this function ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
https://www.bettercloud.com/monitor/the-academy/how-to-import-migrate-gmail-contacts-to-outlook/
Hi,
good work, this topic, here's my (little) contribution :
Youtube Alternative :
- NewPipe
- Skytube
All available on F-Droid.
Good post. Best list of google play 'Application'.
I use nextcloud for cloud and office.
Mailcow as emailserver, syncing Contacts amd Calendars with exchange sync.
I use digital as a calendar, I think it was one of the first ones to have a dark theme on android
Enviado do meu CLT-L09 através do Tapatalk
Anyone knows a proper authenticator app? Like Microsoft Authenticator, Auty or Authenticator Plus (all not available (yet) in Central Europe) available in the AppGallery?
In My Opinion And Usage.
Vanced Is Best Alternative For YouTube.
Mega Is Superior In Space And Management From Google Drive.
usdy said:
Anyone knows a proper authenticator app? Like Microsoft Authenticator, Auty or Authenticator Plus (all not available (yet) in Central Europe) available in the AppGallery?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi
you can find a lot of authenticator apps with f-droid.
Good and sure open source appmarket.
Hi, exists any alternative to use Google Chat and Google Meet?. I use this apps to work, and cant live without this....
Assistant and music
Is anyone able to tell me if it's possible to change the default assistant app to say alexa? As well, do music subscription services work?
You can't live without gsms because we have apps paid in Google store and without Google services P40 pro can't read them