Alternative Apps(tores): Living without Google (FP1)

I’m afraid without a hard reset you’ll have some - not functioning - residues of GAPPS let and that could make installing openGAPPS impossible.

I believe you may be the first one who’ll try it.

PS: May I ask why you even want to install openGAPPS?

Apparently they are the exact same as GAPPS, only with the option not to install all of them:

That’s the reason… I want to choose what to install and to get rid of what I don’t want…

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Sorry for the delay … well, if possible i don’t want to have any shop/client on my phone. I also try to avoid apps if a website is as good (bookmarks in firefox make it almost as fast and simple). I’m talking about weather, timetables, news, dictionaries, … you really don’t need snoopy apps for such information.

Same on my computer, i know it’s “oldschool” but i just don’t like “app stores” of any kind. But i have to admit that APT is quite convenient. :wink:

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I have a question regarding OsmAnd: Suppose I have some app that uses (Google) Maps to show something (e. g. all the ATMs around me). I usually uses Google Maps. Can I make Android generally use OsmAnd instead of Google Maps when some third app asks for a map?

I’m not 100% sure but I don’t think that will work. I might be wrong but that choice should be implemented within the app you use :confused: (That’s not the smiley I expected to appear :joy:)

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I use apps because of the following advantages:

  • With apps, you can receive push messages. Mobile websites are pull-only technology.
  • An app is faster than a mobile website.
  • An app consumes less mobile data than a website. (But I have also an bad programmed app which consumes much data.)

Well, I don’t use apps for every use case.

weather

For weather forecasts, I don’t need an app. I have only (three) apps installed to receive severe weather warnings.

timetables

If you mean a school or university timetable, I would rather use a calendar app like Google Calendar. It’s faster than looking up on the website. Also, the calendar app can send me push messages.

If you mean a public transport timetable, I also use an app because of the speed (loading speed, lesser loading time) and lesser mobile data consumption. Well, the public transport company informs at Twitter (https://twitter.com/dvb_info) about disruptions. To receive them as a push message, I have the Twitter app installed.

news

Well, I would also rather use a mobile website here.

dictionaries

For Wikipedia, I use their website. But I have LEO (dictionary between English and German) installed. It’s faster. Theoretically, a dicationary app wouldn’t use any mobile data if the dictionary is stored on the device but this is often not the case.

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Thank you for your detailed answer. Well, i know the advantages of apps but in most cases i knowingly decide against using and therefore installing apps. First of all, i don’t want push messages - i pull the information when i want it … except for messages of course. But do i really need the push info that the sun has come out? i can see that. :wink:

Secondly, i don’t much care about my mobile data. As i used the stock android on my FP (so without Playstore or any Google apps) i had to prepare my phone for the next days (podcasts, music, ebooks) and so i just reduced my plan from 2 or 3GB to 500MB because i just don’t need this much … maybe also because i myself decide when to use mobile data? :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

And i don’t think that my bookmarks are slow … of course they link “the right place” not just the weather website but with the search implied so that the weather forecast for the next three days in my home town is shown … and for public transport it’s the very same, web form information makes the search faster … but i delete it too, every now an then. :wink:

But that’s the good thing about the choices you have with android every way has pros and cons but at the end of the day, everyone get’s their information. :smiley:

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Well, it depends on what Osmand implements as listeners for system intents.
Sometimes it shows up when you click on an address or an app requests the “navigate to” feature (I don’t remember now when I got this kind of result, sorry!) but in apps that require normal maps usage I saw the normal feature is something like a “maps” component inside the app activity itself, and the kind of maps depends on the single implementation, i.e. I have an app which uses OpenStreetMap maps in order to show the bus stops, while another app simply crashes when it opens the activity with the maps component because I don’t have GApps installed :slightly_smiling:

This should work in the stock calendar app, or I guess in the people app too.

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A post was merged into an existing topic: :pencil2: Living without Google 2.0 - A Google free FP2

Yes! It is the People app, just tried by clicking on a contact address and it opens Osmand :slightly_smiling:

I found this source for apps: Uptodown. I tried it with “marine compass” (the version from fdroid doesn’t work) and it seemed to be clean. Has anybody experience with this appstore?

Spielmops

Has anybody tried installing LibreSignal from this repository:

https://fdroid.eutopia.cz/

It seems OK, but would like to make sure, before installing

Did so. LibreSignal works fine. Cannot say if there are any nasty backdoors etc. - guess we need to compile the code ourselves or trust… :wink:

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That’s it, isn’t it. When you don’t trust google, your have to start (dis-)trusting every individual repository, apk, marketplace etc.

Yes, the perfect paranoia! I tend to peek over my shoulder when leaving home…not. :slightly_smiling:

No, seriously. There’s reasons beyond paranoia to go Google-free. Google monetizes from my meta data, which I am not to fond of. In addition, it is good practice to avoid data that is of no use to yourself and creates lots of effort to protect from misuse. And finally Google services are a real battery hog - I get hours of additional use out of one charge of my OPO once I kicked out Google.

Coming back to LibreSignal - the good thing is it is OpenSource. So trust is about the compilation (and hosting) only. I guess I will look into compiling it from Sources soon - should be fun as well. :slight_smile:

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Works fine. Me and also friends use it. And until now no problems came up.
Best,
g*

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Thanks, @root and @garmSTRG. I’ll install it later on as well. Seems like an interesting project. Seems this could be an exception to the rule to not use play-store-apps (discussed in this topic). :slight_smile:

Part of this thread discussed how to get apps from Google Play without installing the Play Store or other Google services itself. Using evozi, apk-dl or other websites means that you have to trust that they are not modifying the packages. A better way imho is Raccoon, a program to download APKs directly from Google to a computer from where you can copy them to your phone.

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Yep, Raccoon is the way for people that really need an app urgently. @Lidwien: I think this is what you should try for your trip planning app. Best … with a throw away account.

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