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