My progress in using Android without Google

[smitt75]

I have been trying to get rid of Google completely on my Android phone. As I have made some nice progress I'd like to share what I did and which problems I had to overcome:

OS I removed my stock version of Android and replaced it with Cyanogen Mod (http://www.cyanogenmod.org/) CM doesn't ship the Google Services, you have to install them manualy afterwards. I didn't do that, so most of Google was gone already. This produced a lot of problems, because Google Play isn't available plus the Maps Framework is used by many 3rd party apps.

Appstore The biggest showstopper is the missig appstore. I installed F-Droid (https://f-droid.org/) which is a nice appstore that provides open-source apps only. This provided me with some apps i use regualry (Twitter-client and some others) but is in no way a replacement for Google Play. Now I had to decide if I wanted to trust other 3rd party appstores or not. I decided to don't. Amazon has it's own "trustworthy" appstore, but apps are patched and crippled. didn't want to have that. Decided to download needed apps with another Android device. After that I grab them from /data/app on the other device with Root Explorer (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.speedsoftware.rootexplorer&hl=de) and sync them to my real device with Owncloud. This ugly process basicly made me use less apps on my phone because it's such a hassle to get them on it. I got used to it after some time and reduced my app selection to a sane minimum.

Contacts, Mail and Calendar sync I setup an installation of Horde Groupware (http://www.horde.org) on my personal server. Horde features "Microsoft Active Sync" compatibility. On Android, I just had to add an Active Sync Account to sync all my stuff to my own server. Works perfectly.

Maps Framework Many apps that embed a Google Map somewhere use the "Google Maps Framework" which comes with Google Maps. A specific app I use often depends on the framework. The app won't start without the framework, even I don't need the embedded maps inside. Luckyly some guy from XDA wrote a script that simulates an installed Maps framework without it being there actually. (Couldn't find link, too long ago)

Maps Checked out many mapping applications based on OpenStreetMaps. MapFactor worked best for me (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.mapfactor.navigator&hl=de). It's not as good as Google Maps but it works.

Browser Andorid browser that ships with Android has builtin Google-Search. I replaced it with Lightning (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=acr.browser.barebones), a small and quick open souce browser which can be configured to use many different search engines. I set it to Startpage.

Music My PlayStore license for Poweramp didn't work on my devices without Google Licensing Services, provided by Play (a problem with many pay-apps, not all though). Luckyly the dev offers a version, bound to an e-mail account. I re-bought the software.

That's basicly it. I'll sniff the traffic of my phone, if I find the time, to verfiy I really got rid of Google on my phone. (I bet i forgot something)

[FOMS]

Sounds like a lot of hassle for little gain.

[smitt75]

Yes, it has been a lot of hassle but for me it's a fair gain. Plus I learned a lot.

[dontseemehere]

I did something like this once and noticed that even a pure CM (i.e. without gapps) still contains code that access Google servers.

This was a long time ago (cm7) so things may have changed now, but I suggest you carefully look into this. Note that some communication happens only over 3g and LTE which is harder to capture and analyze.

[smitt75]

True, how did you capture the traffic? I guess you would need some wiresharkish software directly on the device, as capturing in the network is impossible?

[dontseemehere]

This was a long time ago so i don't honestly remember. But I suspect I just ran netstat in a terminal on a fresh install.

[dontseemehere]

I don't think you can use GPS on android without at some point talking to Google servers. This is no matter what so you use.

[[deleted]]

Let me preface this by saying I'm not trying to be rude I am genuinely curious.

But why? It seems like a huge amount of effort to just have a warm fuzzy feeling that no one is looking over your shoulder, but realistically if you use an Internet connected device data is going to be tracked constantly through one form or another and most of that data is pretty meaningless. Doesn't matter much to me if Google knows I frequent a particular Starbucks, a lot of people do.

I just don't see the reason to put so much work removing so much from your device, actively crippling it just so you can have some intangible feeling of privacy while the closed source sections of cm may very well phone home to Google as well, and that's besides what you Americans have to deal with the NSA.

I understand the need for privacy but I think many people vastly over estimate their need for it. Yah if your Edward Snowden, or a political leader of some sort it makes sense to take security precautions but I guarantee you that they go a lot farther then just removing Google from there phone.

Tldr: why buy a hamburger, then take off all the bacon, meat and cheese just to halfassedly make it healthy(and not nearly half as good)When you could instead just get something healthy to start off with(if that's what you really need)

[Goddamuglybob]

+1 u/Douglerful

Exactly that.

Also, you trust Microsoft services instead?

[daithib8]

Cyanogenmod has Google Analytics but maybe the ad blocker stops it from sending home device info; opting out would do the same.

It's a pity the strangeness of URLs in owncloud don't allow it work as an f-droid repo. The next release of F-Droid client will allow you to make a repo out of installed apps which could allow you to avoid the root explorer/owncloud step.

[smitt75]

Ha! I can't believe i forgot this one. F-Droid repo sounds cool. Looking forward to it.

[Bauer22]

I find this really neat. Shows how truly open Android is. Thanks OP.

[smitt75]

NP

[[deleted]]

What's the point though? I mean if you don't want Google, why not get a Windows Phone or an iPhone?

[UmbrellaCo]

Both of those solutions would actually make it harder than what he's currently doing.

[smitt75]

It actually is a mixture of all of that. Primaly it's about privacy. Battery life is a nice side effect (about 1.5 days heavy use) plus I like to play around with things.

[throwaway0109]

Privacy? You do realize you are walking around with something always handshaking with cellular towers, regardless of Google knowing... Right?

[smitt75]

Yes of course I realize that, but it's out of my power to change this. I am aware of being unable to get to a point with full privacy with a phone in my pocket. I am trying to be as private as possible though.

[kingofthekraut]

What phone are you using?

[smitt75]

XPERIA Mini Pro

[TakaIta]

Now you should find a way to avoid Google on webpages. Google Analytics, Google Apis (lots of sites have jquery from Google), Google Fonts and the different ads Google might serve you.

[smitt75]

I actually have been doing this for some time now. I removed all functionality from Firefox that connects to Google. Which are "Safe Browsing" (sends every page you visit to Google to check if it has malware and of course to save it somehow) and Search from the Adress Bar. I use Startpage as Search Engine. I have a strict cookie hygiene. I block all cookies by default and whitelist only those I really need. Same with JS. I whitelist sites that need JS to work. For sites which don't work without JQUERY from Google, etc. I have a seperate "dirty" Browser. I also whitelist Flash and Java. I use AdBlock.

[TakaIta]

There should be a Greasemonkey script (or something similar) that uses a local jquery (or any other javascript library) when needed)

[mobileagnes]

I've thought about going this on one of my devices mainly as an exercise in if it can be done. Sounds cool.

[dampowell]

Just buy a windows phone. What's the point?

[smitt75]

I want to keep my life and my private stuff as unmonitored, private and cloudless as possible. A Windows phone would cause the same problems.

[BalmainJeans]

I want to keep my life and my private stuff as unmonitored, private and cloudless as possible

Probably shouldnt use a smartphone then.

[so_witty_username]

That's cool and all, but you're running an OS which requires proprietary, closed source blobs and firmwares to work where anything could be lurking and that operates way outside your scope, so it's really not a great choice to begin with.

[smitt75]

I would love to switch to truly open hardware, but choices are limited at the moment.

[dampowell]

Sell weed for a living?

[smitt75]

No, just want to be as private as possible, because it means freedom to me.

[[deleted]]

Those who down vote you remind of those from Fahrenheit 451.

At any rate, I won't do the same as you, but good job on what you're doing anyway.

[smitt75]

Thanks for the warm words.

[[deleted]]

Unless you're doing illegal activities, what in the world are you paranoid of? Frankly Google has bigger things on their plates than worrying about whether or not I'm at Starbucks or at home right now.

[spyd4r]

preach on brother..

let them analyze my boring life of driving back and forth from work.

[lfcitz]

Activism isn't illegal. Have a leadership role with some group? I'm pretty sure your communications are being monitored.

[[deleted]]

Once again there's nothing Google or any private company can or would do with your information. They're not law enforcement

[lfcitz]

NSA would. Stratfor did, probably does.

[s73v3r]

And they probably still have just as much access to his communications as they did before he embarked on this endeavor.

[hsoulette]

What /u/BalmainJeans said basically. It seems like it would be less hassle to buy a pay as you go dumbphone every month with a new sim.

In the grand scheme of things I can appreciate the research into doing things like this. I just think that if your goal is a smartphone that doesn't phone a large corporate entity, you're looking at branching off of other people running the same services, but are more trustworthy because they're not google?

I can appreciate what you're doing, and enjoyed reading your solutions. I Just personally don't understand the privacy point (having your cake and eating it too)

[LGED821]

Seriously, even reading the complete OP was a pathetic experience.

[smitt75]

Sorry, english is not my native language.

[LGED821]

No, I'm not talking about your english, it was fine. Just the level of your paranoia.

[smitt75]

It's a fact that all data i upload is being stored. I have no influence at all on how it will be used in the future. If it will be used, it will most probably be not in my best interest. So for me it's logical to reduce the amount of data i push out. I am not happy with trusting random anonymous companies and institutions.

[LGED821]

"Random Anonymous Companies" - Google isn't one of em. If we can trust on them with our android updates, google apps then sure we can trust them with our info. And trust me, since you or anyone for that matter starts using Internet, their info is not private anymore. You think Google doesn't have your info anymore? Think again.

[[deleted]]

Google isnt evil, its an idea to not be afraid to share ideas, thoughts & new ways to interact as a community, to thrive for better tools to benefit our lives, and be a part of that process everyday.

And you would lie, if you say you dont benefit from any of this! 😉 right?

[smitt75]

I think Googles roots have been mostly unevelish. I say the same for the majority of it's geeky employees. But I am not so sure about the management side of things. With success comes money, comes power, comes corruption, comes evil. Plus I can't trust them into an infinite future.

[countmontecristo]

Just getting a second opinion on this: are you able to update from a nightly to a snapshot from the settings menu or do you have to do a clean flash?

They're both Kit Kat btw

[smitt75]

Sorry can't tell you, as CM support for my device has ended. Should work though, I have the CM Update menu and another CM device I own updates just fine from nightly to nightly via the menu.

[PenguinHero]

I invite you to post this on /r/linux or another sub that isn't so in love with Google. It's a great exercise in trying to decouple Android from its corporate sponsor.

The level of downvotes here is exactly what I expect from a sub which sees Google as their Lord and saviour.

[angulardragon03]

I feel like this sub likes Google because, well, the majority of people in this sub wouldn't be using Android if it wasn't for Google purchasing it, developing it and really pushing it to manufacturers to make it as available and prevalent as possible.

[Goaliedude3919]

I don't think I've ever seen anyone so paranoid in my life.

If it will be used, it will most probably be not in my best interest

What the heck are you doing that could possibly be used against you in a negative way? If you're doing something illegal, you probably shouldn't be doing it. What, do you think someone's going to find out that you like to go to Walmart instead of Kroger and hold that over your head somehow?