1---
 2title: "A (Mostly) Google-Free Android"
 3description: "My experience running Android without any Google Services or even a compatibility layer"
 4author: Amolith
 5date: 2020-05-18T15:28:02-04:00
 6cover: /assets/pngs/android.png
 7toc: true
 8categories:
 9  - Technology
10tags:
11  - FLOSS
12  - Android
13  - Google
14  - Mobile
15  - 100 Days To Offload
16---
17
18Let me put a little disclaimer right here at the beginning: I don't use
19my mobile phone how a lot of people do so your mileage will vary. I also
20say "Mostly" in the title because it's incredibly difficult to
21*completely* remove Google from Android though [some
22projects](https://www.replicant.us/) have done a very good job of it.
23
24## My motivation
25In short, I value my privacy and Google is about as far from
26privacy-friendly as you can get. What information algorithms are capable
27of extrapolating given enough data is downright *scary* and **[that is
28Google's entire business
29model.](https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/03/google-says-it-doesnt-sell-your-data-heres-how-company-shares-monetizes-and)**
30In addition, the company itself is [really quite
31terrible,](https://www.alphabetworkers.org/resignation-letter/) from
32[launching a censored search engine in
33China](https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/google-china-search-engine-censorship/)
34and [selling AI tech to the US
35military](https://gizmodo.com/google-employees-resign-in-protest-against-pentagon-con-1825729300)
36to [mishandling sexual assault
37cases](https://gizmodo.com/massive-google-walkout-over-sexual-misconduct-marks-tec-1830157276)
38and [forcing people onto Google services with sheer market
39dominance.](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/10/eu-hits-alphabet-google-with-android-antitrust-fine.html)
40
41I do not like Google and I do not want it on my phone.
42
43## What I'm using
44I have the [Redmi Note 5 Pro](https://www.mi.com/in/redmi-note-5-pro/)
45and love it. Specifically, one of the things I like is Xiaomi's business
46model. It's exactly the same as Google's—data collection and
47advertising—but it's incredibly easy to circumvent. Xiaomi not only uses
48its [MIUI](https://en.miui.com/) (*me-you-eye*) for user tracking and
49profiling but it also displays ads on the lock screen and elsewhere.
50Because of all that, they're able to *seriously* drop the price on their
51phones and almost sell them at no more than the hardware and
52manufacturing cost.
53
54Circumventing the data collection is as easy as flashing your own ROM; I
55prefer [AospExtended](https://aospextended.com/) though
56[LineageOS](https://lineageos.org/) is a much simpler and "cleaner"
57Android experience. Many of the installation guide will tell you to
58flash some [Open GApps](https://opengapps.org/) package but I don't.
59Others will say to use [microG,](https://microg.org/) which is much
60better but I decided to even omit that the last time I flashed my phone.
61Thus, I have absolutely no compatibility with Google Services and apps
62that break without it, well, break.
63
64I also have the [Mi Band 4](https://www.mi.com/global/mi-smart-band-4)
65which does give Xiaomi the ability to collect a plethora of biometric
66data as well … if I use their app. Instead, I like
67[Gadgetbridge](https://codeberg.org/Freeyourgadget/Gadgetbridge/) from
68[F-Droid.](https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge/)
69I do occasionally want proprietary apps such as
70[Linguee](https://www.linguee.com/) for English/German translation and I
71get those through [Aurora](https://auroraoss.com/) rather than Google
72Play.
73
74## What it's like
75I mentioned that some apps will break without Google Services, however,
76I find that they are solidly in the minority; most proprietary
77applications will work perfectly fine without Google Services or microG
78though you won't get push notifications. That's really not a big deal
79for me because I've been moving to a more minimal mobile experience and
80do most things on my desktop anyway. This is closely related to the
81disclaimer at the top. I rarely use my phone for anything other than
82communication through open source apps and listening to podcasts; I
83don't even have an email client installed (but if I did, it would be
84[K-9 Mail.](https://k9mail.app/)) In all, it's perfectly useable but
85don't expect your banking application to work.[^1]
86
87---
88
89This was posted as part of
90[#100DaysToOffload,](https://100daystooffload.com/) an [awesome
91idea](https://fosstodon.org/@kev/104053977554016690) from [Kev
92Quirk](https://kevq.uk/). If you want to participate, just write
93something every day for 100 days and post a link on social media with
94the hashtag!
95
96[^1]: Why would you bank on mobile anyway? Mobile platforms are some of
97    the most insecure and something that sensitive should be kept far
98    away.