Rookie mistake, remove Play Services if you want to limit tracking.
this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
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good luck "removing" that while not breaking the system. It so deeply integrates itself that you can't really remove it even from a lineage os install
Quite easy. Simply remove it. It is not deeply integrated as you say. The Problem is using other apps that depends on Google thus sending data to Google. Is that the case: reconsider your app usage
And most of them still work, just can't display ads.
The most noticeable change in behavior would actually be lack of push notifications. At least by default - you can set up push without Google (like with UnifiedPush), but not all apps support that.
I dislike being bothered if i'm not actively using the device, so that's a plus for me.
I only recently got pushes working on this phone and very happy to have them again - but I absolutely get this. I only have them on in a few places, so they're convenient and not distracting - only on personal messages and on some chats I want to keep an eye on.
you can just silence all the notifications, and still know which messaging app out of the 5 has new messages, and whether you got emails, etc
Usually in app settings and Lineage has a notification permission. And calendar, phone and sms have their own things anyway. Nothing amiss.
the most noticable change is when the developer built all functionality around every kind of firebase service, and didn't care to handle the case when those are not available
that's not my experience, but maybe they changed something recently
I don't have one. GOS
ok, but that's not what most people on this world use. they are basically stuck with a rom that has google services integrated
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Lineage by default has no gapps.
that's true, I meant when you install opengapps to it
Don't do that :)
you are making choices for others. some apps require it. and then the post was about removing gapps, and my point was that it's not possible to just uninstall it.
Nope. You want to add them I say don't do that. Post was not about removing Gapps. Adb commands for uninstalling system apps exist but there is like 10 minute of a learning curve to flash GOS
I don't want to add them. I want to remove them (if I had such a phone), like the top level comment in this thread says.
Adb commands for uninstalling system apps exist
which in my experience causes bootloops. even App Manager's recent debloater feature warns of this
Yea its a lot easier just to flash a custom rom and not use it then trying to clean out a already google infested install. Usually a lot of headache , but usefull for really old cheap phone the runs out of storage due to updates.
Buy a used pixel in cash, install Graphene. This is probably the best way to accomplish running without google services.
most people for whom I help configure their phones they don't want to buy a new one. and they are often terribly afraid of used phones. I don't have any google services on my phone, the problem is not about me, but lets be honest, the absolute majority of the world's population
Why such an obsession with used Pixels? While $300 for mine was expensive, it wasn't a lottery when buying at least, and its battery didn't come pre-worn. Also I had no trouble buying it in cash.
Because no one should give Google any more money! Buying second hand/refurbished is the only way it makes sense for me to get a device by a large corporation like that.
I've had a couple of refurbished pixel phones and they've each worked well for years. The battery health was at about 95% when I bought them I think.
But by that logic, the unofficial reseller I buy from has also already paid Google for the phones they're selling now...
Google do Google stuff not because they are evil. They do it because they can , which is true for any company in this system. If another takes the position it will do the same. Also its not like phones are Googles main income source. Buying a pixel and putting GOS on it probably is worse for Googles bottom line , no matter new or used, than using a stock any other Android.
Yeah but you have no control over how other people spend their money. That second hand phone would still be there whether you buy it or not. But if you buy a new one you're giving google more money.
Ideally there would be no second hand google phones because nobody would buy them new, but that's not happening
they didn't mean to buy from a reseller who got it directly from google, but to buy from people who had it and are selling it now.
Why would I buy brand new when I could provide life to a phone that might otherwise end up in a landfill?
Use GrapheneOS and don't have an Ad ID
I don't have one..
I use stock Android, so I don't have one too.