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).

> 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

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)