How to use Android without using Google

Is it possible to use an Android phone without Google in the middle? During the last few years we have seen all kinds of scandals of surveillance and we have seen a growing concern for privacy and how they are used our personal data. As a result a significant number of users are interested in to distance themselves from the yoke of the great technological. At first sight it may seem that using the operating system of the green robot without the intervention of the Great G it is a mission impossible, but there are ways of doing it. If you are considering it, keep reading.

Why not use Android with Google?

There are several reasons of more or less weight to wanting to do it:

• Google collects data to right-handed and sinister.
• The Services of Google Play are a gap in the privacy of the user.
• It is necessary to enhance the use of open source software.

Now, keep in mind that doing so means saying goodbye to many things and make many sacrifices. To start, you’ll have to stop using many apps in which you rest now. To continue, your terminal will receive important updates more slowly to not depend on Google. And, to finish, you can that you incur in more risks of security precisely because of the delay of the updates. If you are aware of these limitations, keep reading. The process of pulling out the Big G of your terminal consists of 3 important steps, which we will see below.

Be very aware also that each device is a world, and there may be dependencies specific in your case that prodizcan undesirable effects. Be careful and make a backup of all your data before you do anything else to pull it in case of problems.

1. Delete your Google account on the device

The first passes by delete the Google account. Your account is the heart of your terminal, and to delete it will cause a chain reaction that will cause many applications to stop working.

To begin this process we have to go to the path Settings > Accounts and click on the Google account:

Adjustments of the accounts on the phone

On the next screen, we click on Remove account:

Deletion of the Google account

You will now get a warning message making it clear what will happen, but if you want to go ahead just to confirm that you want to delete your account from your phone.

2. Uninstall or disable the apps from Google

Then we have the most tedious of all: remove or disable the Google Apps. The only way to do this is to go the route Settings > Applications and notifications and access the input of each one of them, looking in each case if you can uninstall or just disable. In any case, these apps not return to work. Yes, make sure before you have a web browser alternative to Chrome if you wish to remove it, otherwise it will be impossible to download and subsequently install apps alternatives.

It is important to do it this way, because for now the only way to uninstall apps batch is through Google Play, and we’re also going to disable it. If that weren’t enough, the Google store has the particular skill of continue to update Google apps even when there is an associated Google account to the phone.

3. Disable Google Play Protect and location

Lastly, we have to off Play Protect the location manually. Started by Play Protect, that is the antivirus that the Play Store uses to make sure that everything we install on our terminal meets the safety criteria of Google.

To disable it go to Settings > Security and location. There look for the section Google Play Protect and we click on it. We will arrive to this screen, where clicaremos on the sprocket:

Main screen of the Google Play Protect

Then click on the two sliders to turn them off:

Off Play Protect

To turn off the location we Settings > Security and location and look for the section Privacywhere we click Location:

Security settings of Android

Again, we click on the slider to turn it off:

Location settings of Google

In this way, Android will no longer be able to rely on the Google location services, which means that you will have to determine it from the GPS, WiFi network or Bluetooth.

From here, you can start looking at ways to replace these Google applications that you have stopped using.

Alternatives to the apps Google

If something is left over Android is alternatives to the most common applications of “officers”. In fact any mobile phone that has a layer of customization to the manufacturer (most of them) will already include your own e-mail application, browser, calendar, or music player.

Keep in mind that the selection of apps alternatives can vary depending on what each user needs. I don’t know how to live without a music player powerful (PowerAmp in my case), but you you may go perfectly without it. In addition, many applications of Google have a excellent replica in the Microsoft with the exception of the maps. And is that Google Maps has no rival today.

Here are a few suggestions of apps alternatives to supliar the uninstalled or disabled Google:

This is about finding the APK files that you need, to sources that you trust (such as for example our website) and install them manually on your terminal.

However, even though you have installed the alternatives necessary we are kicking the problem of the location. When you are not able to rely on the services of Google, if you have the habit of tag places in your photos on your social networks you will only the GPS as an alternative. And the GPS, by itself, is not what it says very accurate, nor does it work as well as they should. There is No possible alternative to the location services of Google, you’re warned.

The ROMs, the most efficient and effective

This is not an option available to all users (in fact it is required to have some experience and a good base documentary before you even think of it), but the most efficient and effective use of Android without relying on Google goes by to install a ROM as LineageOS or Replicant.

Lineage I

In the case of the first we find ourselves with a project with a lot of experience, that comes picking up the baton from the defunct CyanogenMod, which has a community of developers and users very active behind, and that is compatible with a wide number of devices.

The advantage of choosing LineageOS is that the Google apps are only installed on the terminal if the user so decides, can function perfectly without them. And also, you are releasing updates on a regular basis through the official channels, which decreases the security risks.

Download

Replicant

In the case of Replicant we meet with a ROM completely free and sponsored by the Free Software Foundation, but it has some disadvantages to consider:

• Does not work on a large number of devices and it is not easy to find ROMs that allow to install it in any part.
• The version of Android that takes as its base is very outdated (currently going for Android 6.0 Marshmallow), and given its slow development cycle, it may take a long time to catch up (if ever).

Precisely because it is not easy to find ZIP files flasheables of Replicant OS, from the web-site of the ROM is given the option to buy some terminals that bring pre-series. What’s wrong? The most modern that can be found in the list of terminals supported is a Samsung Galaxy S3 (and I’m not exaggerating). If you’re interested in using this ROM, you will have to visit their website and download the version specific necessary for the dispsitivo compatible you have at hand.

The best of these two ROMs is that, to be completely free of Google, you can install a provider of third-party location such as UnifiedNlp to not completely rely on the GPS. If you have the Google location services pre-installed, you can forget about even trying.

As you can see, to use Android without Google is not a road exactly easy, but if you decide to try, you can see that it is perfectly possible. The sacrifices that you have to do, yes, depend only of you.