• Good news - the FOSS Google Play Store replacement app enables PRIVACY

    From Andrew@21:1/5 to All on Thu Jun 6 20:00:07 2024
    As most of you know, the biggest increase in your privacy, by far, is to
    own a nuclear umbrella - which eliminates the need to use any Google app
    which requires you to surrender your privacy by requiring an Android
    Account to be explicitly set up on the Android phone.

    As you also know, there are 1:1 replacements for every Google app out
    there. That 1:1 FOSS replacement is always BETTER than the Google app.

    The good news is the FOSS Google Play Store app replacement development
    team has been WONDERFUL at working on bugs and enhancement requests.

    I have been giving them enhancement requests all along, but they just
    accepted two more (one bug & one enh) today - which is great news.

    XDA Developer's Forum Thread Topic on Google Play Store replacements
    <https://xdaforums.com/t/app-5-0-aurora-store-open-source-google-play-client.3739733/post-89547113>

    In summary, if you have a Google Account set up on your Android phone,
    you're doing something wrong (in terms of privacy & functionality).

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  • From Danart@21:1/5 to All on Sun Jun 9 21:03:20 2024
    Andrew wrote:
    As most of you know, the biggest increase in your privacy, by far,
    is to
    own a nuclear umbrella - which eliminates the need to use any
    Google app
    which requires you to surrender your privacy by requiring an
    Android
    Account to be explicitly set up on the Android phone.

    As you also know, there are 1:1 replacements for every Google app
    out
    there. That 1:1 FOSS replacement is always BETTER than the Google
    app.

    The good news is the FOSS Google Play Store app replacement
    development
    team has been WONDERFUL at working on bugs and enhancement
    requests.

    I have been giving them enhancement requests all along, but they
    just
    accepted two more (one bug & one enh) today - which is great
    news.

    XDA Developer's Forum Thread Topic on Google Play Store
    replacements

    https://xdaforums.com/t/app-5-0-aurora-store-open-source-google-play-client.3739733/post-89547113


    In summary, if you have a Google Account set up on your Android
    phone,
    you're doing something wrong (in terms of privacy &
    functionality).

    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.

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

    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.

    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.

    ...............


    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.

    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.


    This is a response to the post seen at: http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=666950341#666950341

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  • From Andrew@21:1/5 to Danart on Mon Jun 10 17:03:49 2024
    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)

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