Hello,
In a sort while I will reflash my phone with a new mod, probably Paranoid Android.
I was thinking do I really need a the Google apps and playstore? Could I improve
the security and privacy of my phone with replacement apps?
Has anyone here on Tek Syndicate removed the Google apps and playstore from
their Android phone? And which replacement apps do you use?
\m/ Cheers AVEHD
I have several phones, I run Android (mainly Cyanogenmod) and SailfishOS, and I don't have any Google Apps on my phones. It doesn't stop you from using the apps that are only made available on the PlayStore, because you can easily sideload them with things like apkdownloader. If you use Cyanogenmod 11, the privacy sensitive access those apps require can be blocked by Cyanogenmod's app permission system, and by the built-in firewall. I have all the apps I want on my phones, and don't install apps that are crazily criminal when it comes to privacy rights violations, like Skype.
However, I also have several tablets. One of my main tablets is the Nexus 7 2013, which runs on the stock Google and isn't even rooted. It is registered to a bogus Google account that means nothing, and I use K9Mail for the real email accounts, which are not system-wide, and configured that Google doesn't spy on them. I occasionally sideload apps, but mainly get all my software from f-droid.org, which is all open source and very limited in privacy invasion and system access. I don't use the GPS function on it, and only use it from behind a strict Linux netfilter (it's WiFi only, so that solves a lot of privacy issues) that runs on a portable storage server/hotspot on which I store my documents and work, so that I can access it everywhere. It doesn't use any Google cloud services, it's a part of my own private cloud solutions, both for home and office use. My own cloud runs from my own servers, which are all hardened linux boxes that are entirely virtualized with NIC passthrough setups and dedicated NICs.
I wanted to keep the stock Google Android on the Nexus 7 because of the early updates, but I might just install Cyanogenmod on it once Cyanogenmod catches up a little bit more in the nightlies. On my phones, the Android ones of which run CM 11, Dalvik has been replaced by ART and it works great. With the 4.4.3 update from Google for the Nexus 7, Dalvik is still the default HAL and you can't change it to ART in the settings, so I'm pretty pissed off at Google for that. The net result is that I have cheap Chinese 80 USD tablets that run faster than the Nexus 7 2013 and with more recent Android software (but not such a nice screen as the Nexus 7). The problem is that Cyanogenmod hasn't quite caught up yet for bringing fully functional CM 11 to the Nexus 7 2013. The moment that happens, I'll reflash the Nexus 7 and dump the GApps from it, but I use the device a lot, it's become my main computing device in many aspects (I'm a small mobile computing devices fanatic, everything from calculators to PDA's etc... have always used them, love them to bits, love them more than PC's), so I want to be sure that everything will work, and I'm not convinced by the CM nightlies for the flo at this point in time.
Google is generally very bad news when it comes to respect for elemental human rights. GApps is the best example of that. Do you know that the newest Google keyboard has a built-in keylogger? According to Google, this was added of course because they want to improve the user experience... yeah... whatever... on a phone, that is always connected and locatable, and on which the application processor can be reprogrammed over the air through the (Microsoft patented through Nokia lol) radio processor, I think that it's very unwise to install GApps or any other apps that require any kind of system access or private data access. On wi-fi only tablets, which have no radio, this risk is much smaller, and the risk can be contained with some common sense. The sad truth is that you don't have any control whatsoever over a mobile phone, because the radio, over which you have no control whatsoever, overrides everything else. So the less interfunctional software you have on your phone, the better, and you have to realize that your phone - even when you've only loaded free and open source software on it - is never going to be completely safe and is never going to respect your human rights entirely.
Just configure your services so that Google doesn't get any privacy information. When they do violate your privacy - which they do - after you've denied them access through their own settings, at least you'll have a point in court if at some point the shit hits the fan (and sooner or later, it will).
The key thing is to check what's available for your device. Some devices, mainly from Samsung, Sony, Motorola and some Chinese manufacturers, are more receptive to custom firmwares than others. Although Google markets the Nexus devices as ideal for flashing, this is not always the case in reality, and it often takes a very long time before all the features of the hardware are unlocked in custom firmwares.
This is why the OnePlus devices are probably going to be a big deal, because they'll have Cyanogenmod 11 preinstalled, GApps optional. Although I really love the GUI feel and easy CLI system access (pure linux) of SailfishOS, I might get a OnePlus One because it's a newer device than my Jolla that has SailfishOS, which is my main phone. There certainly are limitations to SailfishOS for the moment, and I was definitely expecting a faster software evolution by the Jolla team.
Zoltan thank you for reacting and giving me plenty of tips. Interesting you mentioned the One Plus One I was going to buy for my next mobile device, never thought of it as a solution to the privacy problem.
i haven't set up my work email on my samsung s4 mini yet. still have it on my blackberry. i need to figure out a non-google method of using it, but i'm just getting used to android.
What's the big deal?
I never had a problem with Google's apps. It's not like I throw out extremely personal information on them anyway. If you want a lighter version, download the respective gapps package for your android version that is branded as "lightweight" or what have you. General it skips out on a lot of the dumb google apps and only installs the essentials (like google play store, etc). This is what I did for my nexus 5.
my phone has all of my personal and work contacts and once i set up my email, it will have all of my personal and work emails and documents that i send and receive as well as all of my calendar entries and schedule. basically my identity and my entire life's work.
why would i want to give that to a data mining / advertising / media company? that's what you are doing when you use a normal android OS. Google's entire business model revolves around using your data to sell your information (ahem.. "analytics") and services based on the same to others.
forget the NSA. Google is scary enough on its own.
I personally think Google is an excellent company. Much better than social media networks and APPLE....
I never had much of a problem using Google's contact application as well as their email application. Any other company is going to do the same exact thing if it's free. Nothing is truly free. There are always strings attached. I'm yet to have any problems because I have Google's product incorporated into my life.
apple is far better at not selling your data to others. they are primarily a hardware company so profit by selling your expensive hardware and giving you access to buy content through their distribution channel.
google's business model depends on harvesting and selling your data. this is a big difference. this is how they make money. this is their purpose.
personally, i would love to be able to use a smart phone without dealing with either company. i used to use a blackberry and was comfortable with them because they have a lot of corporate clients and they didn't have selling your data or as part of their business model. they made their money selling you their hardware and their platform and the key selling point was that it was secure and confidential.
i can see at some point insurance companies using google's services to price your premiums or adjust your claims... technologically, it is trivial for them to be able to do this. with phones now providing "health" monitoring apps it is just one step away.
that's just one example. another is that google uses your data to filter the internet for you. so it controls what you see. it effectively can influence how you feel and how you think. Facebook has already done research on this and have experimented with their users and found that they were able to influence voter turnout as well as change people's moods (which is why i have deleted my Facebook account). that means that in the future Google could sell a company or government or other entity a service to change opinions on a product, change voter/public opinion or such.
neither apple nor blackberry can do this.
if you want to continue using google, go ahead. its your choice. some of us want an alternative.