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Lineage builds usually come per default without Google services or apps. It's your decision whether or not you install them. Of course, lots of 3rd party apps d

Lineage builds usually come per default without Google services or apps. It's your decision whether or not you install them. Of course, lots of 3rd party apps do rely on the Google services and won't work without. There is no good workaround for that short of re-implementing the Google APIs yourself or trying to use microG.

Kequc 9y ago
A lot of first party apps and basic os functionality also relies on Google Play Services. As Google have been building more and more into the closed source portion of their operating system. They are attempting to create a foothold where the operating system doesn't work without it.
- endemic 9y ago
  Hmm, do you have any examples of this? I'm curious as I've been running LineageOS without Play Services... seems to work quite well, but maybe I'm missing something?
  - nimrody 9y ago
    Do you use whatsapp or any similar messenger app? If so, do you receive notifications when the app is not running (foreground or background) Play services is responsible for connectivity with Google's servers which are used to distribute notifications to the device. Play services is probably also responsible for backing up the App's data to Google servers (not sure about this one)
    - ViViDboarder 9y ago
      Those aren't first party apps.
  - jraph 9y ago
    The AOSP keyboard lacks functionality when compared to Google keyboard by default: there is no way to swipe on the keyboard to write words, and you cannot input emojis by writing their description.
- firmgently 9y ago
  I'm also wondering what basic OS functionality is missing? I've been running LineageOS 14.1 on a Sony Xperia tablet for several months without Google Play Services or MicroG and am not noticing any missing basic functionality. I do tend towards open source apps and away from Google stuff but I'm by no means strict about it. I use Yalp and F-Droid to install apps. Some of the apps I have installed (eg. SnapSeed) complain about missing Google Play Services and say they won't function but I ignore the warning and they seem to operate correctly... if there's some missing functionality I've yet to encounter it, I'm happily editing and exporting photos. I'm certain that some apps would fail to function without Google Play Services, just that I don't happen to have fallen foul of any of them. My usage is probably not hugely standard but I use modern browsers (Chromium/FF), video/audio players (VLC/Black Player/Spotify), K9 for email, browse and edit RAW photos... and jump into Debian Stretch via Linux Deploy + Xserver XSDL where I often do web dev work with tmux/vim and proper desktop Chrome/FF including Developer Tools. I'm using a Bluetooth keyboard and speakers... can't really think what basic things I might be missing? EDIT: (this is just the standard install of LineageOS btw - which doesn't come with Google Play Services, you have to install them separately - I just skipped that step)
  - yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
    > Xserver XSDL How's that work for you? I've tried it but it seemed a little rough.
Avamander 9y ago
> It's your decision whether or not you install them. FYI Even without GAPPs lineageOS contacts Google with IMHO way too much information, for example when you connect to a WiFi network a request to Google is made.
- gruez 9y ago
  that's for internet connectivity checking, and it's an anonymous http request (no cookies). iOS/windows does it as well (not sure about linux), and I can't see how you can implement such a feature without phoning home to some server.
  - anchpop 9y ago
    www.example.com
    - darklajid 9y ago
      I don't think you can ship millions of devices that randomly hit on a URL that you don't control or own. Example.com is for examples (so that if you copy & paste my code, you don't do weird things). I am not convinced that example.com would appreciate the worlds phones to use it at a whim.. (Plus, I'm not sure that's possible without controlling the domain. Not sure if the current ways to detect a capture portal are satisfied by a random 200 OK or actually _check the content_ of the reply. Which needs you to control said content)
  - swiley 9y ago
    GNU/Linux doesn't do anything like that by default unless you where to write a script to. I honestly don't see a good reason to do it although one of my friends pointed out that using TOR is probably one of the better ways to check for this since it won't rely on a specific server.
    - icebraining 9y ago
      Well, GNU/Linux itself is not an OS, but Ubuntu and Fedora do enable that check in NetworkManager by default, whereas Debian doesn't (for privacy reasons).

Kequc 9y ago

A lot of first party apps and basic os functionality also relies on Google Play Services. As Google have been building more and more into the closed source portion of their operating system. They are attempting to create a foothold where the operating system doesn't work without it.

endemic 9y ago
Hmm, do you have any examples of this? I'm curious as I've been running LineageOS without Play Services... seems to work quite well, but maybe I'm missing something?
- nimrody 9y ago
  Do you use whatsapp or any similar messenger app? If so, do you receive notifications when the app is not running (foreground or background) Play services is responsible for connectivity with Google's servers which are used to distribute notifications to the device. Play services is probably also responsible for backing up the App's data to Google servers (not sure about this one)
  - ViViDboarder 9y ago
    Those aren't first party apps.
- jraph 9y ago
  The AOSP keyboard lacks functionality when compared to Google keyboard by default: there is no way to swipe on the keyboard to write words, and you cannot input emojis by writing their description.
firmgently 9y ago
I'm also wondering what basic OS functionality is missing? I've been running LineageOS 14.1 on a Sony Xperia tablet for several months without Google Play Services or MicroG and am not noticing any missing basic functionality. I do tend towards open source apps and away from Google stuff but I'm by no means strict about it. I use Yalp and F-Droid to install apps. Some of the apps I have installed (eg. SnapSeed) complain about missing Google Play Services and say they won't function but I ignore the warning and they seem to operate correctly... if there's some missing functionality I've yet to encounter it, I'm happily editing and exporting photos. I'm certain that some apps would fail to function without Google Play Services, just that I don't happen to have fallen foul of any of them. My usage is probably not hugely standard but I use modern browsers (Chromium/FF), video/audio players (VLC/Black Player/Spotify), K9 for email, browse and edit RAW photos... and jump into Debian Stretch via Linux Deploy + Xserver XSDL where I often do web dev work with tmux/vim and proper desktop Chrome/FF including Developer Tools. I'm using a Bluetooth keyboard and speakers... can't really think what basic things I might be missing? EDIT: (this is just the standard install of LineageOS btw - which doesn't come with Google Play Services, you have to install them separately - I just skipped that step)
- yjftsjthsd-h 9y ago
  > Xserver XSDL How's that work for you? I've tried it but it seemed a little rough.

Avamander 9y ago

> It's your decision whether or not you install them. FYI Even without GAPPs lineageOS contacts Google with IMHO way too much information, for example when you connect to a WiFi network a request to Google is made.

gruez 9y ago
that's for internet connectivity checking, and it's an anonymous http request (no cookies). iOS/windows does it as well (not sure about linux), and I can't see how you can implement such a feature without phoning home to some server.
- anchpop 9y ago
  www.example.com
  - darklajid 9y ago
    I don't think you can ship millions of devices that randomly hit on a URL that you don't control or own. Example.com is for examples (so that if you copy & paste my code, you don't do weird things). I am not convinced that example.com would appreciate the worlds phones to use it at a whim.. (Plus, I'm not sure that's possible without controlling the domain. Not sure if the current ways to detect a capture portal are satisfied by a random 200 OK or actually _check the content_ of the reply. Which needs you to control said content)
- swiley 9y ago
  GNU/Linux doesn't do anything like that by default unless you where to write a script to. I honestly don't see a good reason to do it although one of my friends pointed out that using TOR is probably one of the better ways to check for this since it won't rely on a specific server.
  - icebraining 9y ago
    Well, GNU/Linux itself is not an OS, but Ubuntu and Fedora do enable that check in NetworkManager by default, whereas Debian doesn't (for privacy reasons).