Evozi downloads an app for you (you have to trust them that they don’t include malware in the apk you get). It is no substitute for the Google framework/services these apps use for maps and notifications.
I’m pretty lucky that the app, I use, at least doesn’t crash, when I click “map”:anachb (Austrian public transport, downloaded through Blankstore). I don’t have Google Services installed (so the Maps API is missing too), but when I try to view the map, there is “only” an info, asking me to install Google Services:
(The app crashes when I hit “OK”… )
I have contacted some app developers about their apps: “Why can’t I download your app outside Google Play?”. They always answer: “Well you just need to install Google Play on your device.” Once they even sent me a link to a Fairphone support article about installing Google Apps…
I understand app developers in the sense that they seek to keep their apps up to date. I favour the way Whatsapp does it: Whatsapp can be downloaded from their website and can update itself. (If they only could implement a notification policy with less wakeups, similar to GCM…) Of course it requires more programming skills to replace features of the Google framework with own services.
PS: I’m adding @werner_noebauer to this discussion. His company has stopped uploading their app on their own website in favor of using Google Play. Maybe he can share some insights.
As a travel planer i suggest Öffi. In my opinion one of the best apps that exists!
Doesn’t have the same coverage in all countries, but i think it has the most data-sources of any travel planers.
There are versions for phones without Play Store, Maps.
Theres also a f-droid repo!
One of the few apps that i really miss on sailfish os at the moment.
Fluidtime started the app “AnachB” but transfered it to Verkehrsauskunft several years ago.
So you have to contact Verkehrsauskunft if there are any problems.
The problem with providing an app without a store is, that many users do not update their apps on their own and you have to integrate an update notification service. So if you want to provide an “uptodate” app it’s easier to use a store e.g. Google Play Store. Therefore many companies provide their apps via stores.
Let me put that in perspective: not a single smartphone in the market (including Fairphone’s) comply with the four freedoms of libre software that certification requires.
Although FPOS-OS is open source, having blobs in the kernel is the main problem. It’s so hard to push SoC makers (i.e. Mediatek for FP1, Qualcomm for FP2) to release the code their chips run, and even open sourcing them is not complying with that program. The freedom to read the code is only one of the four freedoms of libre software.
That said, Fairphone has proved to know how to push the limits so far, mainly for fairer electronics, but releasing an (near-full-)open source system too. A fully open source Fairphone <n> would be great, and a fully libre Fairphone <n+m> would be awesome and superb. But it takes time, work and money. Let’s support and help Fairphone until then,
It seems to me that you are addressing Fairphone in your post. The forum is not an official contact channel of Fairphone, and they do not read each end every post. If you want to make sure to get an official answer, you have to contact them via the contact form.
I’m fine with all names, they are just names. But it would be nice to have some goals for the OS written down somewhere. Else it is just Android without the Google services … and that’s pretty much what Google offers anyway.
To apply the Android litmus test: How will you deal with patches that will modify standard Android behavior? Same for mainline kernel GPU drivers and other stuff. Qualcomm and Freedreno also comes to mind.
Unified NLP for example needs some very small modifications in config files, other bigger patches could follow. This could conflict with the goal to have two OSes, with the other ‘just’ without google services.
Update: This often quoted article helps understanding the related problems (app store vs non-app store apps life cycle on a non-google phone) a bit better:
“Google’s strategy with Google Play Services is to turn the “Android App Ecosystem” into the “Google Play Ecosystem” by making a developer’s life as easy as possible on a Google-approved device—and as difficult as possible on a non-Google-approved device.”
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