That's right, I'm running an android phone without a Google presence.
No Gapps, no Play store, no Google Play Services, no Google Account.
To be more specific, I'm running a nightly build of Cyanogenmod CM12 (Android 5.0.2 [Lollipop]) for the Nexus 4. It's stable and relatively bug free.
In CM 11, I could use Privacy Guard to turn off some of the Google annoyances. But so far in CM12, blocking location reporting to the Play store, or disabling even the smallest privilege to Play Services causes it to force-close uncontrollably.
I'm just getting tired of the Play store and Play Services waking my phone literally HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES. The same with my location. There is absolutely no reason for the Play Store to query my exact location on the planet HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF TIMES. I'm not exaggerating. This is not hyperbole. That's how close of an eye Google is keeping on you.
So I'm doing something about it.
I switched from:
Browser: Chrome to Firefox
App Store: Play to Amazon and F-Droid
Email: Gmail app to IMAP email app
Maps: Google Maps to Sideloaded Google Maps (not attached to my Google account)
Messaging: Hangouts to built in Messaging app
Calendar: Google Calendar to GooCal (a few bucks from the Amazon App Store)
Contacts: Google Contacts to vCard export (my contacts change little enough to not be synced)
As you can see, I'm still using Google services. I haven't cut that cord and probably won't.
But I'm probably less monitizable and trackable.
The biggest thing I'm going to miss (in order of pining):
- Chrome Remote Desktop
- Hangouts
- Google Maps linked to my account
- Google Music
- Google Keep
- Probably some other stuff that hasn't come up yet
These Google apps run fine without Google Play Services (albeit without account integration)
- Chrome
- Google Maps
- Nest (no Google account necessary)
I can always run some of the stuff I miss in a browser anyway. Also, I'll probably start leaning on Microsoft services more since they've (finally) got their act together in a good way. We'll see how long I last, and if I go back.
