
Effectively Using Android Without Google Play Services with Gplayweb in Docker - fxaguessy
https://fxaguessy.fr/en/articles/2017/02/11/effectively-using-android-without-google-play-services-gplayweb-in-docker/
======
JulienSchmidt
Time to mention [https://microg.org/](https://microg.org/) /
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12864429](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12864429)
again. It's a FLOSS re-implementation of Google Play Services. It offers e.g.:

* Optional completely offline geo location service via an on-phone database which often preserves battery and even works when no internet access is available. Online backends using e.g. Mozilla Location Service are also available

* The often unavoidable Push notifications via Google Cloud Messaging while only sending minimal identifying data

* The Analytics (tracking) and Ad parts are simple stubs which avoid app crashes but do nothing else

~~~
mike-cardwell
Can I use Signal under this setup?

~~~
ce4
Copperhead maintains a fork called Noise available in their F-Droid repository

[https://fdroid.copperhead.co/repo](https://fdroid.copperhead.co/repo)

The repo's signing key fingerprint (sha256) is

    
    
        F0 D4 EB 11 93 AD 82 FE B2 24 BD 11 74 B6 FB
        D8 9A 39 D8 ED 98 8C 9F FF 2A DD 0D CD 1C 4E
        27 1B

------
deep_attention
Or you can just install Yalp Store from F-Droid
([https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.github.yerio...](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdid=com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore))
and download the apps from the Google Play Store directly to your device. You
can also easily update your apps with Yalp Store.

Another possibility is to use the Java software Raccoon on your Desktop,
available here: [http://raccoon.onyxbits.de/](http://raccoon.onyxbits.de/)

~~~
voltagex_
No idea what Yalp is doing with your email here:
[https://github.com/yeriomin/YalpStore/blob/23503d639034d68b8...](https://github.com/yeriomin/YalpStore/blob/23503d639034d68b8055a39ec486f7073c4ddd61/app/src/main/java/com/github/yeriomin/yalpstore/TokenDispenser.java)

I find Android code really hard to read - there's so many levels of
indirection here I can't find where it's actually calling whatever.google.com
to grab the APK

~~~
jay-anderson
This particular code looks fairly straightforward (could definitely be
clearer). It's building a url and including the email as a path segment. What
the remote service ([http://tokendispenser-
yeriomin.rhcloud.com/](http://tokendispenser-yeriomin.rhcloud.com/)) is doing
with that email is harder to determine.

~~~
problems
That part is open source too: [https://github.com/yeriomin/token-
dispenser](https://github.com/yeriomin/token-dispenser)

That said, if you're sketched out by it, don't use it on a Google account with
any data on it. Just make a new empty account for apk downloading.

~~~
voltagex_
"Stores email-password pairs, gives out Google Play Store tokens"

I couldn't tell if it was encrypting the password but even if it was... yuck!

------
necessity
Uber, Tinder, and other apps I use require Google Play Services in their
latest version. They simply refuse to work without it and there is no web
alternative. It's either downgrade to a bug-prone version or use Google Play
Services. There is really no privacy on a fully functional Android Phone that
isn't just email and phone services - though I guess if you're using Uber and
Tinder there is no privacy one way or the other.

~~~
trendia
The Economist magazine not only requires Google Play Services, but also access
to your microphone. There is no way to disable that.

I cannot figure out why they would need such intrusive access -- there is no
"speak" feature in their app that I'm aware of.

~~~
codebeaker
I've no evidence this is being used by The Economist's app - but this is
"usually" the reason for this feature:

\- [https://www.wired.com/2016/11/block-ultrasonic-signals-
didnt...](https://www.wired.com/2016/11/block-ultrasonic-signals-didnt-know-
tracking/)

(not trying to spread FUD, endorse this practice or criticise in anyway, just
trying to help the parent comment understand one potential "excuse" for an app
"needing" this functionality for a non-obvious use-case.)

~~~
trendia
Thanks for the link -- that would explain why so many apps need access to the
mic.

------
Animats
I use an Android phone without any Google services or a Google account. When I
got the phone, it brought up a demand to sign in with a Google account. But
there's a "Later" option to bypass that temporarily. Disabling "Google One
Time Setup" made that go away.

Mail is the built-in IMAP client. Browsing is with Firefox. Apps come from
F-droid. Maps come from ZNavi. It's OK.

~~~
glogla
Sure, but sometimes you want app that's only in play store - maybe Signal (if
you trust the creator), maybe e-banking app, or local transport app, or Waze,
or whatever.

Some bigger apps are on apkmirror.com, but smaller ones aren't uploaded very
often, so this might be a way to get them.

~~~
moonfern
In that case you can try yalpstore:
[https://f-droid.org/wiki/page/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore](https://f-droid.org/wiki/page/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore)
The app downloads apks from the play store. You'll have to use a Google
account, perhaps a trowaway account created on a different device.

------
whyagaindavid
Remember using play services _unofficially_ like e.g. microg can get your
account locked. It is OK to create a throw away accounted for downloading
apps,but continued usage _may_ lock your account. I do use lineageOS on a
nexus 5 without play services and battery lasts 2 days with light usage.

------
Midiv0k
Instead of downloading an app from Google Play and transferring it to the open
source phone you could use Aptoide.
[https://www.aptoide.com/?lang=en](https://www.aptoide.com/?lang=en)

------
hoschicz
What is the worst thing about G Play Services you can't turn off?

~~~
ocdtrekkie
Probably the fact that Google Play Services can update itself without your
approval or consent, so Google can push any antiprivacy feature to your phone
they want without your knowledge at any time.

Play Services meets basically every definition of malware.

~~~
TwoNineA
Hyperbole much?

~~~
Sir_Cmpwn
Not really. Strictly speaking Google Play Services is a rootkit. One that can
be used remotely. And it contains heaps of invasive user tracking code. Is is
pretty much malware.

~~~
pjmlp
Yet on geek kingdom, bad Microsoft pushing W10 telemetry on us, but Google is
cool and doesn't do no evil.

~~~
ocdtrekkie
To be fair though, it is important that we continue to pressure Microsoft
about their telemetry practices as well. Microsoft's business doesn't depend
on data collection, and they could very easily return to not mandatorily
collecting it, but our voices on the issue have not been loud enough yet. (And
actually, as I recently discovered, Microsoft won't allow you to submit
feedback about their apps unless telemetry is enabled at the Enhanced or Full
levels on their OSes.)

But, I do agree that Google gets naturally positive response and Microsoft
gets automatically negative response, even though many of their practices are
quite similar.

~~~
mememachine
Googles much nmore threatening to privacy the way i see it.

------
tehwalrus
I tried to use a Cyanogenmod phone over the summer without google play
services (I couldn't get it to install).

I used the Amazon android store, which has many of the same applications as
the play store. However, most apps I installed crashed on first launch due to
(I assumed) lack of play services.

It was a very crappy experience which lasted only about a week before I
switched back to a handset where the gapps flash worked correctly.

------
swiley
There really isn't that much on google play store worth installing (except
games I guess? even that's not so great and most cost money) that doesn't have
some open source counterpart. The only exceptions are things like kik (and
those don't run well, if at all, without google play services.)

------
known
G play services sucks phone battery

~~~
a3n
I actually don't use my phone much, and not at all for entertainment.
Consequently my battery usually lasts three or four days. (Motorola G4).

Vaguely within the last week or two, no change in behavior, no new apps,
that's been cut at least in half. One day it lasted less than a day.

I've got things like location and bluetooth turned off. I haven't been able to
track it down. I'm wondering if it's a recent google or other app update. It's
pissing me off.

~~~
on_and_off
it could also come from the hardware.

~~~
a3n
Possible, sure. You mean like the battery getting old? Capacitors getting
arthritis? It's less than six months old. And it was a vaguely sudden change.

~~~
on_and_off
Even high end devices often have batteries issues. Battery tech is just not
that great.

Usually they arrive at the one year date though.

Otherwise, you should be able to track the culprit with the battery historian
(unless it is hiding behind play services ..)

~~~
scholia
They'd be a lot better if they just made the phone 1mm thicker ;-)

~~~
on_and_off
that would help a lot for sure. Batteries would still lose roughly half of
their maximum capacity over time though, afaik battery tech has not solved
that yet.

