Re: Good news - the FOSS Google Play Store replacement app enables PRIVACY on Android

Danart wrote on Sun, 09 Jun 2024 21:03:20 +0000 :

It does not matter because if you have a google
phone ( with play services and other system apps that run without your
knowledge ) you are in the google environment.

As I stated, the biggest instant improvement in privacy is to press the
SKIP button when Android setup asks you to create an account on the phone.

The same instant increase in privacy can happen if you press the REMOVE
button in your phone Accounts setup, for every account set up there.

You need a degoogled phone, or even android or linux phone install.

Without being rooted, you can uninstall any Google package you want to.

For example, you can uninstall Google Location History even if not rooted.
(com.google.android.gms.location.history

Then you need to have something called MicroG in order to use Google
related features. Also you need to have full access to root and the
Host files ( so you could block advertisements )
without that your reduced to accessing via ADB ( ABD whatever )
command-line to perform this task.

That's a different method, but some people have baseband versions which are
not rootable (e.g., mine, unfortunately, is apparently unrootable).

Android make it impossible for you to service your own phone without a
desktop computer. That is how silly this is. Apple is even worst. You
have to call people to get stuff done. 

I think you're unaware of the ladb open source app (local adb).
It works locally on Android without any need for a computer.

On top of that alternative apps like Newpipe have tons of fake errors
because google is making it harder to access there services with
non-google products.

While this was true in the past, the open source Google 1:1 replacement
apps seem to be getting more and more stable over time, in my experience.

For example, I use NewPipe every day and I see no problems recently.
 <https://newpipe.net/>

I also use Ungoogled Chromium every single day. And FairEmail too.
Hence, I think it's fear mongering to say what you just said, IMHO.

The only bonus you get from this is not having to see advertisements
or mail targeting your messages ( that little info when you swip or
tap your phone ) being used against you. Along with all the fake
"Click here" video buttons.

Wrong. Very wrong. So wrong I'm only going to refute it outright.
Google can't run an app on your phone that isn't there in the first place.

My Desktop is clean because I use a HOSTS list which blocks most
traffic and allow me to enjoy web-results as much as possible. Android
nope because I have to use a third party tool like Ublock or some
other browser.

If someone is blocking ads in browsers, they don't know what they're doing.
The way to block ads is system wide - not just in their web browsers.

Check out NetGuard (but don't use the Google Play Store crippled version).
 <https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/releases>

See also the Private DNS settings in the latest Android operating system.
 (Settings > Connections > More connection settings > Private DNS)