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> Minor annoyances are the absence of the pretty good Google Maps I don't understand. What prevents you from installing Google Maps on your phone? It works per

> Minor annoyances are the absence of the pretty good Google Maps I don't understand. What prevents you from installing Google Maps on your phone? It works perfectly fine on mine. (I'm running the MicroG-infused version of LineageOS. [1]) [1] https://lineage.microg.org/ https://lineage.microg.org/

chasil 7y ago
I use MapsGo, which requires Chrome. These run well on MicroG/Lineage, and I also was unable to run the full Maps APK.
archi42 7y ago
Hm, not wanting Google on my device? ;-) But yeah, I could probably use it.
- codethief 7y ago
  So you're not using Google search, either, I assume? Just curious because while I absolutely understand your aversion torwards Google, I do think it's more sensible sometimes to strike a good balance between privacy concerns and comfort/laziness than to completely sacrifice one for the other.
  - 0xADEADBEE 7y ago
    Not the person you're replying to but hopefully useful information: I stopped using Google services incrementally over the past year or so. I started with this distro on my 5x (but had difficulty getting updates to work) and eventually moved to an iPhone. In the last few months I've switched to DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox for browsing and offline Open Street Maps for navigation. I still have a gmail account but I only check it about once per month, if that. I suspect I'll export my data from it soon and close it. It was tricky in places and fiddly in others, but overall I'm happy that I'm doing a reasonable amount to keep Google out of my life without being inconvenienced now. A piecemeal approach certainly worked for me, so I'd certainly recommend that to minimise impact for anyone thinking of doing the same.
  - mcv 7y ago
    Search is the easiest to replace. There are plenty of other search engines available, and Google Search really isn't all that good anymore. They're mostly good if you're looking for big sites, news sites, or commercial stuff. Anything obscure they don't seem to know anymore. Replacing gmail is possible, but annoying, because I've got way too many site subscriptions tied to it. I really need to start using email addresses on my own domain for everything from now on. That way, in the future it's painless to switch email providers. Android is one of the hardest, because of all the Android apps that rely on Google services. I'll definitely be checking out Lineage + microG.
  - archi42 7y ago
    "Aversion" is such a strong word... I mean, yes, I try to avoid Google due to privacy concerns. That means no more Chrome, no Google-Search-as-default and not logging in via Google. OTOH, you're totally right about striking a balance: If I'm sitting at work, looking something up and DuckDuckGo doesn't yield the expected results I'm quick to prepend a "!g" - which gets me the desired information in about 90% of the cases. Or if I plan a trip in advance I use Google Maps so I can get a good estimate of the travel time for a specific time of day. Also: My SO and I have a shared Google Calendar, which I sync to my device via DAV. I just stopped indiscriminately streaming all my personal information to Google, instead I gained some more control about what data the company gets.
Liquix 7y ago
The goal of some MicroG users is to completely remove all Google apps. It's more a matter of preference and principle than the app not working. Also, Maps is constantly harvesting location data and beaming it back to G servers, something many MicroG users are explicitly trying to prevent.
- StavrosK 7y ago
  I'm still disappointed by Google's ongoing refusal to implement "allow only while in foreground" permissions to apps (for things like location).
- mcv 7y ago
  I think there's two different use cases for Lineage + MicroG: remove all ties to Google, and make sure they can't track you, no matter what convenience and functionality you sacrifice; and remove as many ties to Google as possible without sacrificing significant convenience and functionality. The latter of course rewards Google for their sleaziest, most locked-down services that everybody still needs. The former punishes the user for the same thing.
_underfl0w_ 7y ago
> I don't understand. What prevents you from installing Google Maps on your phone? ...or visiting maps.google.com ? Still works just as well, play services or not.
- codethief 7y ago
  Except for the fact that the web interface is a lot slower.

chasil 7y ago

I use MapsGo, which requires Chrome. These run well on MicroG/Lineage, and I also was unable to run the full Maps APK.

archi42 7y ago

Hm, not wanting Google on my device? ;-) But yeah, I could probably use it.

codethief 7y ago
So you're not using Google search, either, I assume? Just curious because while I absolutely understand your aversion torwards Google, I do think it's more sensible sometimes to strike a good balance between privacy concerns and comfort/laziness than to completely sacrifice one for the other.
- 0xADEADBEE 7y ago
  Not the person you're replying to but hopefully useful information: I stopped using Google services incrementally over the past year or so. I started with this distro on my 5x (but had difficulty getting updates to work) and eventually moved to an iPhone. In the last few months I've switched to DuckDuckGo for search, Firefox for browsing and offline Open Street Maps for navigation. I still have a gmail account but I only check it about once per month, if that. I suspect I'll export my data from it soon and close it. It was tricky in places and fiddly in others, but overall I'm happy that I'm doing a reasonable amount to keep Google out of my life without being inconvenienced now. A piecemeal approach certainly worked for me, so I'd certainly recommend that to minimise impact for anyone thinking of doing the same.
- mcv 7y ago
  Search is the easiest to replace. There are plenty of other search engines available, and Google Search really isn't all that good anymore. They're mostly good if you're looking for big sites, news sites, or commercial stuff. Anything obscure they don't seem to know anymore. Replacing gmail is possible, but annoying, because I've got way too many site subscriptions tied to it. I really need to start using email addresses on my own domain for everything from now on. That way, in the future it's painless to switch email providers. Android is one of the hardest, because of all the Android apps that rely on Google services. I'll definitely be checking out Lineage + microG.
- archi42 7y ago
  "Aversion" is such a strong word... I mean, yes, I try to avoid Google due to privacy concerns. That means no more Chrome, no Google-Search-as-default and not logging in via Google. OTOH, you're totally right about striking a balance: If I'm sitting at work, looking something up and DuckDuckGo doesn't yield the expected results I'm quick to prepend a "!g" - which gets me the desired information in about 90% of the cases. Or if I plan a trip in advance I use Google Maps so I can get a good estimate of the travel time for a specific time of day. Also: My SO and I have a shared Google Calendar, which I sync to my device via DAV. I just stopped indiscriminately streaming all my personal information to Google, instead I gained some more control about what data the company gets.

Liquix 7y ago

The goal of some MicroG users is to completely remove all Google apps. It's more a matter of preference and principle than the app not working. Also, Maps is constantly harvesting location data and beaming it back to G servers, something many MicroG users are explicitly trying to prevent.

StavrosK 7y ago
I'm still disappointed by Google's ongoing refusal to implement "allow only while in foreground" permissions to apps (for things like location).
mcv 7y ago
I think there's two different use cases for Lineage + MicroG: remove all ties to Google, and make sure they can't track you, no matter what convenience and functionality you sacrifice; and remove as many ties to Google as possible without sacrificing significant convenience and functionality. The latter of course rewards Google for their sleaziest, most locked-down services that everybody still needs. The former punishes the user for the same thing.

_underfl0w_ 7y ago

> I don't understand. What prevents you from installing Google Maps on your phone? ...or visiting maps.google.com ? Still works just as well, play services or not.

codethief 7y ago
Except for the fact that the web interface is a lot slower.