As the title says, I want to finally degoogle (completely) my life. I’ve found a Pixel 7 8/128 for ~270€ (or pixel 8? ~470€ but no white :c) it’s refurbished so google doesn’t get a shit from me.
I’m curious to know if:
- You can change the default icons color (black and gray-ish in the image) or is based on the wallpaper
- The camera app is good. Not going to make professional pics or videos but I still want to use it to take pics and a good quality is important. Tried their camera on a phone and the bottom menu to switch mode (picture/video/night mode/etc) was buggy
- Battery life is better/worse than stock Android (if anyone tried that)
- How the sandboxed play services work
- Anything else that I should know about. Some people say it’s good, some it’s bad so I’m curious to know.
I’m still looking for a good maps replacement, Organic Map is not the best because it’s missing a lot of places where I live. I wish there was a google wallet Foss alternative… I needed it to use my card with the phone (rare but still possible!)
Help a new user to fully leave shitty phone companies
Batter was better. Like by a lot. It became normal when I installed the google play sandbox.
But which one between 7, 7 pro and 8? Not a biggie for money but I’m curious to know.
I’d get the newest one for longer support window.
So 8. Can’t and don’t want to spend 1000€
The 7 gets 5 years of support and some of that is over. The 8 has 7 years of support. Make of that info what you want with your budget
Try Magic Earth for a maps app.
You may also want to check out Murena. I have a fai-phone 5 with thier E/OS on it, I’m very happy with it, and 100% google-free.
While it looks good, maybe it’s my ignorance but it feels like you’re replacing Google with somebody else that will have the same power over you, am i mistaken? I am very much against the “all your eggs in one basket” approach after Google so not sure if replacing it with these people won’t be a repeat of the same thing
I certianly agree with your concern in principle, but I also think that not all corporations are evil by default. It’s important to be sceptical, but in my experience the e/OS is extremely privacy and user focused.
They partner with fairphone, they support some older hardware (etc. Samsung galaxy S7), and they have an installer app and installation intructions complete with the OS files freely available.
You even do not have to use a murena account to use the phone at all. If you perfer, you can get your apps 100% from APKs & F-Droid, and Murena doesn’t know you exist.
For me that’s enough.
- Can’t change the default icons on the default launcher. I think custom launchers may be able to.
- I use Open Camera whose quality I would say is fine for my purposes (no kind of professional photography, just taking pics for record-keeping, to show people things, etc)
- Battery life is way better than stock Android IME. It makes sense cause stock GrapheneOS is so debloated and isn’t running all these spyware services in the background.
- You go to the app called “App Store” (preinstalled), download Google Play, then you use it like a normal Google Play app. Very user-friendly.
Been exclusively using GrapheneOS for ages, never had any problems. It’s very easy to install (especially now they have a WebUSB installer) and even easier to use.
- I asked the color, I know I can’t change the icons without a launcher
- For me it’s confusing but just downloaded and opened it, I have to try before judging
- Makes sense!
- So I can make a new profile, name it(?) “FUCK GOOGLE” and install the google play app there. Not sure if I’ll ever use it but I know I can do it
Yeah the flashing through chromium browser. Need to install one for that purpose but I’ll do it. Thank you
I asked the color, I know I can’t change the icons without a launcher
Yeah I was including colour changing as an icon change. The colours don’t change based on wallpaper nor are they customisable in default launcher.
So I can make a new profile, name it(?) “FUCK GOOGLE” and install the google play app there. Not sure if I’ll ever use it but I know I can do it
Yep, GOS profiles (and maybe Android profiles, not used stock Android in so long so I wouldn’t know) act like a completely different phone basically, so you can have GPlay installed in one profile and it won’t affect the other profiles at all.
Uh weird! Others said it’s possible to do it.
That’s awesome! I want to isolate a few apps
I have tried on several occasions to like GrapheneOS. But every time I install it on my Pixel 7, basic functionality breaks. Things like receiving regular phone calls, as in people calling my number using a normal phone. GrapheneOS will sometimes not even ring and immediately display a notification saying “Missed call”. If my phone cannot be used as a … phone, what good is is?
That’s just “regular” Android behaviour
Is it a problem with you only or is it a problem others have too?
I’ve had 2 phones with GrapheneOS and never heard of those issues before.
So it’s not a known problem (?). Good to know
Generally with android custom ROMs including GrapheneOS, you will need to make sure your cell service and data is working properly on stock android first. Things like VoLTE provisioning need to be done on stock OS for some reason.
Basically if everything with cellular talk / text / data works on stock, it’s probably good to go for upgrading to custom ROMs. VoLTE provisioning can be checked with a secret dialpad code I don’t remember at the moment.
So I have to use my Sim to see if everything works? 🤔 we’ll see about it, nees to pick a phone first
I’ve been using GrapheneOS on my phones since the Pixel 3 and I have not had this issue when using Verizon. For the other person maybe it was a different carrier? Or some issue a while ago with that carrier and GrapheneOS.
Hell my android does that
Ditto. Deeply frustrating.
- You can change the default app icons easily. The Accrescent store that can be downloaded from the gOS store even have some icon packs that are FOSS.
- You can download the Pixel Camera from the App Store. I would keep it without Network access and remove the meta data with ExitEraser depending of where I am posting those pictures.
- Battery seems the same but you won’t have access to Adaptive Charging (when your phone is plugged in it tries to keep your phone without reaching 100% to improve battery life).
- You won’t be able to tap cards with your phone unless your bank app provides it. Google Wallet doesn’t and won’t work.
- I wasn’t able to get Android Auto to work at all.
- You will need to be used to apps not working properly and testing the compatibility modes, specially if they use the location services.
- that’s interesting! I’m looking for a pack tbh
- Uh I dont like it but I want to try it first. What about Image Toolbox? https://f-droid.org/packages/ru.tech.imageresizershrinker/ it can remove Exit data and I like the app!
- Never heard of it but it’s okay, not a big deal
- Im really disappointed to know my bank uses the cards from a brand but they don’t have an app to pay without card
- I don’t need Android auto, not a problem for me
- What do you mean? Do you have any example for popular-ish apps? I want to know more
I used GOS for about a year and a half, it’s pretty great. Tbh I didn’t feel I was really losing anything from the standard Android experience, but of course gaining more privacy and security.
Sandboxed Play Services works great. The only downside is you still need a Google account to use it, even if you only use the account for that purpose. And Google has really clamped down on not letting you create an account without providing a phone number.
But overall I definitely recommend GOS.
I don’t think you need a Google account to use Sandboxed Play Services in general. Maybe some specific things that require you to be logged into the Play Store but overall I can use Android Auto and other things I need without being logged in.
What did you find you needed to be logged in for?
You can change the icons with a different launcher. Try Lawnchair.
I think it’s pretty good, although I did install the isolated GCam but I wouldn’t with another chance.
I hear battery is better but I can’t confirm.
I haven’t used the sandboxed services other than the isolated GCam but that worked great.
I’ve used Graphene for years now and I’ve loved it!
No, no, the icons are fine but I want to know if their color is based on wallpaper or it’s black and stop. Sadly, I miss the old Nova paging but they sold the app 🤷♂️ using NeoLauncher now, I tried lawnchair but didn’t use it for some reason (I don’t remember why)
What do you mean? I can try GCam but I was curious above GOSCam
I just meant I hear GOSCam is actually better now than it was when I first got Graphene. So, if I had another chance (realistically I could do it now but I’m lazy to change it) then I would just stick with GOSCam to avoid having any Google software.
Ooh I get it. Yes, the app is good but I had this small problem on a non pixel phone, nothing crazy though
The icons can be set to use material you on the default launcher which should change them to match the colors of your wallpaper. Not sure if the built in graphene apps respect this though
I was curious. I will try again Lawnchair
I use magic earth for maps. It lacks in a lot of ways but is a usable map and navigation system. I like the nav and some of the features bit has (safety alerts, reported police) but the map detail kind of sucks. You zoom in and not every street name is shown. But try it and see if it works for you.
Battery life will be better, and by how much depends on your setup and usage. For instance, I have play services installed, which does eat some battery. But I also turn off location, Bluetooth, mic, camera and sometimes WiFi. I only turn services on when I want to use them. That saves battery. So expect good battery life, but don’t expect any miracles.
Remember that you can add missing ways by yourself at https://osm.org/
That’s not what I’m saying. Magic Earth doesn’t always display every street name, but it isn’t like it doesn’t know them. Zoom in a different way or at a different zooms depth and different things show. But when zoomed all the way in, not every street name shows.
I will try it later! Sadly, even organic map is good but misses some good stuff or it’s not perfect
Damn, you reminded me I have to find some automation apps to disable Bluetooth/wifi based on location. Nothing foss as far as I know (tasker or automate are not foss)
I want to de-Google my life. *Buys Google phone…
This reply is very ignorant and you are not adding anything to the conversation, just being unnecessarily toxic.
They point out in the post thats its refurbished so Google gets no money from them purchasing it.
Like someone else said: its a refurbished and google gets no money, I’ll install GrapheneOS so google gets even less from me
The comment also assumes that you even care if Google made a profit on the sale.
I for one think that “voting with your dollar” is (neo)liberal, individualistic politics that produce almost nothing aside from feel-good vibes. And I’m not the only one to think it: “Voting With Your Dollars” Is an Antidemocratic Illusion
The only answer is getting a phone from a manufacture that is not google or a major brand, that runs linux. linux on mobile devices from what i’m told is not a mature product yet.
Thank you for the article, I added to my reading list!
What google makes on phonesales is nothin to what they make of your data so your argument is flawed
I’ve tried all the other map apps, and while they work great for navigation, there’s no replacement for reviews on Google Maps. So it’s the one Google service I still use.
If you need Google Play services I recommend installing them on a separate profile using Shelter. It’s really easy to do. I use that profile for Google Maps and a few other items the require Play services.
For me Google Maps is good because has all the places I need near me and what not, other maps don’t have all of them
StreetComplete from F-Droid is what you need for this
I can try it. Thank you
I’ve been using Organic Maps lately and found that at least in my area it has more detail than google.
Not for me, unfortunately
You could consider adding what is missing to OpenStreetMaps so others later will not have the same experience and want to go back to Google Maps
Never used OpenStreetMap
Organic Maps gets their map data from OpenStreetMap (OSM). All OSM stuff is open source and the data is entered in by volunteers. If your area doesn’t have much yet, you should consider being the change by adding your favorite spots!
Other people have mentioned things like StreetComplete, which is an app that helps you fill in the gaps of some OSM data.
U can change icons etc by installing different launcher fdroid has a bunch take a look through to find one u like.
There are a few apps that wont work amazon prime is one. My banking apps work but some people have had issues. Overall ive had no issues that i couldnt solve with dr gpt. Would reccommend.
I tried a few launchers and NeoLauncher is the one I’m currently using. Lawnchair has something I didn’t like but I don’t remember what lol
Looking to degoogle myself too. For the maps, Here we go is a german brand. I know it’s not foss but being german, they have to follow GDPR which, I guess, is better than google anyways.
I would like to compare it to another non-foss app: Waze
I think it’s better that maps but I don’t know
Google bought Waze 11 years ago, it’s been part of Google Maps for years now
TIL! Not gonna try it then, thank you
I want to de-google but i don’t own a pixel. I gotta wait till i can grab a used one from 2nd hand market.
You don’t need a pixel to degoogle, you can degoogle with lineage OS which supports a lot of phones.
I want to de-google but i don’t own a pixel.
Without context that’s such a weird sentence.
i have an android phone.
No, what I meant it’s funny without the context that has already been provided. i.e. If someone didn’t know about GrapheneOS, they would find it odd that someone would buy a Google phone to get away from Google.
It’s hilarious, you see? Please laugh.
I’m a photographer and don’t find the stock GOS camera to be good enough. I use BigKaka’s GCAM mod which is Google’s camera with even more features. It doesn’t require internet access and everything works in version 9.2 on my Pixel 8. It doesn’t require google photos like the stock GCam.
I wish it was on fdroid though… But I’ll check it, thanks!
Is it foss and is this why its not on fdroid.
Also anyone know how to contact said bigkaka?
Edit: forgot somthing
It’s not FOSS as it’s a modded version of Google Camera which is not open source.
Thats a shame
Thanks, I’m going to check this out. I’m using Gcam but love that there is something better.
FYI you don’t need google photos even though its a requirement. Basically I cant take a picture and then click the little photo thumb to see it. I need to exit the app and click my photo app (the stock GOS one) to open up my photos. “Inconvenient” but really no big deal.
There is GCam photos preview on Izzyondroid (or Calyx) f-droid repo that is supposed to allow you to preview photos using the little photo thumb while using stock GCam.
