GmsCore VS MinMicroG

I, an engineer, am not doing this myself, too. There is a middle ground though: just use a privacy-oriented Android build, like DivestOS. [1]

There are a couple caveats:

1. It is still a bit tricky for a non-technical person to install. Should not be a problem if they know somebody who can help, though. There's been some progress making the process more user friendly recently (e.g. WebUSB-based GrapheneOS installer).

2. There are some papercuts if you don't install Google services on your phone. microG [2] helps with most but some still remain. My main concern with this setup is that I can't use Google Pay this way, but having to bring my card with me every time seems like an acceptable trade off to me.

[1]: https://divestos.org/

[2]: https://microg.org/

I have been running de-googled LineageOS since before it renamed/reformed from CyanogenMod, so since somewhere around 2013/14. That has looked rather different depending on what exactly I need from my phone but I'll share what my current set up looks like.

First, I have don't use any kind of Google/Samsung/Apple Pay wallets so if you do, this may not be helpful; I've never looked into trying to get any of those working. Also, by "de-googled" I mean that I don't have GApps installed on my phone. I do have microG[0] installed as a Magisk[1]/LSPosed[2] module; this allows a few apps to believe I have GApps while most apps do not see/have access. I do not turn on microG for any apps (i.e. no connection to the Google servers/services via microG).

Most of my apps come from F-Droid[3], a few from Aurora Store[4] (a 3rd-part frontend for the Play Store that does not require either an account or GApps installed), a very few from FFupdater[5], and have played with using Obtanium[6] but currently only have one (weather) app updating via it. I have several different repositories configured in F-Droid but I don't generally keep mental track of which repository I am dependent on for which apps; the default, IzzyOnDroid[7], Bitwarden[8], NewPipe[9], microG[10], and Collabora[11] are some of them.

I have two banking apps installed via Aurora Store, one of which requires microG and root-hiding (via Magisk module) while the other doesn't require either. My browsers (Firefox, Firefox Klar, Brave) come from FFupdater and none require microG. My texting (QUIK SMS), email (K-9 Mail), TOTP authenticator (Aegis), password manager (Bitwarden), GPS/Maps (OsmAnd), file syncing (Nextcloud), notes (Nextcloud Notes), HN reader (HN), and Contacts/Calendar sync (DAVx5, ICSx5) apps all come via F-Droid (either the main repo or others). I have many others apps which come from F-Droid or Aurora Store but the above are my most used.

For file, calendar, notes, photo, & contact syncing, I have a Nextcloud server set up and find it to work quite well; the Nextcloud apps are also quite good. Someone who doesn't want to run their own could use a hosted account[12]. Contacts & calendars are synced to Nextcloud via DAVx5 & ICSx5.

The primary challenges I am aware of at this point are hardware (it is increasingly difficult to install LineageOS on most hardware due to bootloader locks), and navigation (OpenStreetMap data usually doesn't include addresses in the USA). For hardware, the solution is essentially just to properly research the phone you want to buy; I always make sure the model is well supported by LineageOS before purchasing and then tend to hang on to it for several years. For navigation, I usually find the address on my desktop or mobile browser (via DuckDuckGo) and then manually input the location into OsmAnd before the trip but I also keep WeGo Here maps installed in case I don't have time for that (it usually takes <2 minutes and rarely more than 5 to manually find & enter the address). Additionally, getting the one banking app to work without GApps was a pain in the butt initially (requiring testing several Magisk & LSPosed modules), but now it just works and I don't really think about it.

Overall, I don't find my version of de-googled to be a detriment; my phone is useful and I have more control over my data and over annoyances (such as unnecessary notifications) than I would otherwise.

[0] https://microg.org

Is anyone here daily-driving microg and can share their experiences? https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Implementation-Status does not exactly inspire confidence.

...will need to be rewritten to avoid Google Play Services.

Not true.

All that needs to happen is for open source developers to "re-implement Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries".

https://microg.org/

microG itself connects directly to Google: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Google-Network-Connec...

No shit, of course they do.

>In general, we obviously try to minimize the connections to Google, but some services strictly rely on them and would just not work without.

What exactly do you think they should do instead?

MicroG

In release notes for GmsCore v0.2.29.233013 (https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/releases/tag/v0.2.29.233013), I also see:

Yes, the Xposed module is one way. There are also other ways

Which one should I use? Is this MicroG's official website right? (https://microg.org/)

I have crDroid 9.2 + Magisk v25.2 + MinMicroG (NoGoolag version). Magisk is hidden. I pass SafetyNet and RootBeer says I'm not rooted, but UBS still recognizes it (it's the only app on my phone that detects root!)

While this one is not as stable as the last one it does has more options to choose from and it does use latest vanilla (untouched) playstore (which I did a guide for that for to get it on the other one and it is not easy) The explanation lof packages are here: https://github.com/FriendlyNeighborhoodShane/MinMicroG

In order to flash MinMicroG, you either need to flash from recovery (which requires TWRP, as stated in the official guide: "Newer LOS recoveries are usually missing important tools, so you will probably require a full-fledged custom recovery like TWRP." I tried without TWRP and got 'Footer is wrong' and Signature failed errors, which I'm guessing is due to missing tools in the iodéOS recovery ROM

By the way I was checking that I didn't bullshit you here : https://github.com/FriendlyNeighborhoodShane/MinMicroG

Yes, you can just flash MicroG after Lineage and it is the same. I think LineageOS for MicroG also ships with Fdroid. I would recommend to flash something like MinMicroG.

for your question. i found this was the best way to install microg on roms MicroG you have to build it yourself which is easy and there is a guide for it. they have a repo with prebuilds too but they are usually outdated.

Ah yeah, didn't think of that, as a sidenote I personally use the minmicrog installer, it has a couple more features

I had a look at MinMicroG and it seems to include proprietary Google stuff. My main reason for moving off of standard ROM and installing MicroG was to keep my apps working but without having any Google tracking. Do you know if installing this will lead to any form of tracking by Google?

If you have root permissions or even just a recovery with file manager support (like TWRP) you can just place some files related to SWYPE libs inside a specific location and viola! You have Gesture Typing on AOSP keyboard. Look into the MinMicroG project and if you don't want everything it offers, just extract the zip and remove the things you don't want and repackage and flash. It's not difficult at all and completely worth trying as you can flash that same zip on whatever ROM you will be running in future.

If it helps, from a privacy perspective, mindthegapps and OpenGapps pico are inferior to microG. If you don't want to stick with LineageOS, you should look into MinMicroG. It's NoGoolag edition comes with the following and can be installed on any ROM allowing for signature spoofing