6 ms·

I'd love to know just how different/bare bones AOSP (Android Open Source Project) is to regular Android. As an experiment, I'd love to compile it, put it on a

by jmkni 7y ago

I'd love to know just how different/bare bones AOSP (Android Open Source Project) is to regular Android. As an experiment, I'd love to compile it, put it on a spare phone and use it as my daily driver for a week.

grenoire 7y ago
Practically, it's very difficult. LineageOS people are trying to work on that, but it's just a very big hassle with the variety of OEM components running amok the industry.
- jmkni 7y ago
  I'll check out LineageOS, thanks
iaml 7y ago
You won't get play store, default apps and apps from store itself. You can install f-droid, some other store or use microG as replacement for google services and apkmirror as a store, but you'll probably have some problems with compatibility.
realusername 7y ago
You can't get anything running with AOSP, there's not a single common phone which would run without random Android blobs & custom kernel changes. Then once you add those blobs, you need to add MicroG to have any hope to run any moderately popular app.
Iolaum 7y ago
You can get a close enough view on this by finding a phone supported by LineageOS and installing it without anything esle (e.g. no fdroidPriviligedExtension, no openGapps etc). Alternatively, or maybe even better to what you ask, if you have a Pixel phone you can build RattlesnakeOS, again without adding anything like openGapps, which is almost pure AOSP iirc.
pzmarzly 7y ago
I was using clean LineageOS for over 2 years, recently switching to LineageOS+microG. I'm using APKPure and F-Droid for apps, Chrome for browsing (as in Firefox, last time I checked, one tap separates you from losing all open tabs). Some apps refuse to work or break (e.g. Bitwarden does not sync), some have degraded functionality (e.g. WhatsApp sometimes does not ring when someone is calling you), many are just spamming "This program will not run without Google Play Services" (but there is Xposed module called something like "This program will run" that gets rid of these). In case of Google Maps, I'm using old version (9.69.1), and for Youtube, I'm using NewPipe. Overall I liked the experience, battery life (especially with greenify) was amazing.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  I’m surprised Chrome runs without Google Play Services.
  - pzmarzly 7y ago
    It does complain about them on the first launch (when the setup screen tries to sign you in for synchronization), but works perfectly after that. I was a bit surprised too. Now, my Chrome installation has been moved between 5 devices (via Titanium Backup) and still works. The only big inconvenience is getting bookmarks to PC. There is XML file in /data/data/com.android.chrome called Bookmarks (by the way, Chrome seems to be the only Google app in com.android namespace). I just use regex to select the lines with URLs.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  > Chrome for browsing (as in Firefox, last time I checked, one tap separates you from losing all open tabs). I've been using Firefox on Android for a couple of years now and have literally never had that happen, so I'm intrigued now. Are you referring to "Close All Tabs" being next to "Private Browsing" in the dropdown? I can see how that could be fat-fingered but I've always used the icon instead of the dropdown.
- jeroenhd 7y ago
  In my experience, Firefox with the Bitwarden addon installed syncs well without requiring you to install any Google services. The obvious downside being that you need to open Firefox to copy your password, but that can probably be worked around by adding a shortcut to the Bitwarden addon page to the home screen. I don't know what you mean with "one tap away from losing all your tabs" though, perhaps you have an issue I haven't encountered yet. I personally never lose any Firefox tabs, even if I manage to make it crash somehow; I suppose what I'm trying to say is you might want to try Firefox again to see if the situation has improved. As for maps and navigation, you might try Maps [0] or Here Maps [1] (if that runs without play services, I assume so with Microsoft behind it). Of course, an old copy of GMaps works fine, but Maps [0] is open source, which one might likely favour on a Google-less phone. [0]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.m...
scoutt 7y ago
I compile and run Android (AOSP) on custom devices. We're waiting to start CTS soon, to be able to run Google Services. Without Google Services, a bare bone AOSP has more or less the same capabilities of some cheap low-end Chinese tablet that cannot run Google Apps.

by jmkni 7y ago

grenoire 7y ago

Practically, it's very difficult. LineageOS people are trying to work on that, but it's just a very big hassle with the variety of OEM components running amok the industry.

jmkni 7y ago
I'll check out LineageOS, thanks

iaml 7y ago

You won't get play store, default apps and apps from store itself. You can install f-droid, some other store or use microG as replacement for google services and apkmirror as a store, but you'll probably have some problems with compatibility.

realusername 7y ago

You can't get anything running with AOSP, there's not a single common phone which would run without random Android blobs & custom kernel changes. Then once you add those blobs, you need to add MicroG to have any hope to run any moderately popular app.

Iolaum 7y ago

You can get a close enough view on this by finding a phone supported by LineageOS and installing it without anything esle (e.g. no fdroidPriviligedExtension, no openGapps etc). Alternatively, or maybe even better to what you ask, if you have a Pixel phone you can build RattlesnakeOS, again without adding anything like openGapps, which is almost pure AOSP iirc.

pzmarzly 7y ago

I was using clean LineageOS for over 2 years, recently switching to LineageOS+microG. I'm using APKPure and F-Droid for apps, Chrome for browsing (as in Firefox, last time I checked, one tap separates you from losing all open tabs). Some apps refuse to work or break (e.g. Bitwarden does not sync), some have degraded functionality (e.g. WhatsApp sometimes does not ring when someone is calling you), many are just spamming "This program will not run without Google Play Services" (but there is Xposed module called something like "This program will run" that gets rid of these). In case of Google Maps, I'm using old version (9.69.1), and for Youtube, I'm using NewPipe. Overall I liked the experience, battery life (especially with greenify) was amazing.

saagarjha 7y ago
I’m surprised Chrome runs without Google Play Services.
- pzmarzly 7y ago
  It does complain about them on the first launch (when the setup screen tries to sign you in for synchronization), but works perfectly after that. I was a bit surprised too. Now, my Chrome installation has been moved between 5 devices (via Titanium Backup) and still works. The only big inconvenience is getting bookmarks to PC. There is XML file in /data/data/com.android.chrome called Bookmarks (by the way, Chrome seems to be the only Google app in com.android namespace). I just use regex to select the lines with URLs.
SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
> Chrome for browsing (as in Firefox, last time I checked, one tap separates you from losing all open tabs). I've been using Firefox on Android for a couple of years now and have literally never had that happen, so I'm intrigued now. Are you referring to "Close All Tabs" being next to "Private Browsing" in the dropdown? I can see how that could be fat-fingered but I've always used the icon instead of the dropdown.
jeroenhd 7y ago
In my experience, Firefox with the Bitwarden addon installed syncs well without requiring you to install any Google services. The obvious downside being that you need to open Firefox to copy your password, but that can probably be worked around by adding a shortcut to the Bitwarden addon page to the home screen. I don't know what you mean with "one tap away from losing all your tabs" though, perhaps you have an issue I haven't encountered yet. I personally never lose any Firefox tabs, even if I manage to make it crash somehow; I suppose what I'm trying to say is you might want to try Firefox again to see if the situation has improved. As for maps and navigation, you might try Maps [0] or Here Maps [1] (if that runs without play services, I assume so with Microsoft behind it). Of course, an old copy of GMaps works fine, but Maps [0] is open source, which one might likely favour on a Google-less phone. [0]: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.axet.maps/ [1]: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.maps https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.here.app.m...

scoutt 7y ago

I compile and run Android (AOSP) on custom devices. We're waiting to start CTS soon, to be able to run Google Services. Without Google Services, a bare bone AOSP has more or less the same capabilities of some cheap low-end Chinese tablet that cannot run Google Apps.