People should be able to write software for Android, and distribute it outside Google’s Play store, without having to:
- pay Google
- give government ID to Google
- agree to Google terms and conditions
People should be able to install the software they want on their phone, from sources other than Google’s Play store, without having to jump through Google-imposed hoops.
e.g. via F-Droid.
We’ve got until September this year to stop Google squeezing the open Android ecosystem.
And I’m already steadily moving to Linux based platforms like Mobian, SailfishOS, Ubuntu Touch, and others.
This vile move by Google was written on the wall for years. Those who use their products are test subjects who then are promoted to cattle, not customers.
Which devices do you use? I really want to do this but need banking stuff, WhatsApp (for family communication) and the phone on my Pixel 7 is really good so dont want to lose that.
Graphene runs on pixel and has a step by step guide on how to install it. You can also put your banking apps in another profile with Google Play services in it or run Google Play services in a sandbox on your main profile (I believe you can set that up when setting up the phone it’s just a toggle switch).
I will say my pixel 6 runs significantly better with graphene than my 8 does with regular Android and it was easy to install to test drive. I did have an issue with Android Auto but I have to check again to see if I fixed it.
I have a Pixel 7 I’ve been dailying for over a year with GrapheneOS. All my banking apps work great in their segregated profile and even Android Auto. I don’t use WhatsApp, I’ve converted my friends and family to Signal. Your mileage may obviously vary, but definitely consider it. Graphene doesn’t address the meat of this post (Google fucking Android), but definitely helps for the interim (until Linux phones are truly viable).
Run any Android specific apps in Waydroid (e.g. WhatsApp) and it appears as just another icon in your app drawer, or use a web app, again you can make it a dedicated icon in your app drawer.
Unfortunately Google Pixel 7 is not a device supported yet on any distros I’ve seen; PostmarketOS has the best support for Android devices. Across distros, Fairphone has the best support.
What people with Android devices can do though, is install Linux on top of Android. Opposite of Waydroid (not as good), but at least lets you play around with it to get familiar without needing root:
Andronix
UserLAnd
Termux (install distro via command line)
Not OP, but when i was running custom ROMs on my main device I carried 2 devices, i had my main phone in my pocket and my secondary in my purse. The secondary ran “Android” so i could use tap pay and the like.
You said ‘When’ - does that mean you stopped?
Yeah, i just run a very heavily modified android now. Hard to find good phones (with features that i want and need) with enough software support. Couldn’t get lineage os working on my zenfone, it was a horribly buggy experience and I couldn’t get mobile networks working. I needed more reliability and stability, so i manually debloated and stripped almost all telemetry. Rooted this thing and blocked anything that isn’t whitelisted.