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I run an older Android phone without a Google account. All apps are from F-Droid. Google services are all turned off. Mail is Thunderbird, browser is Fennec. I

I run an older Android phone without a Google account. All apps are from F-Droid. Google services are all turned off. Mail is Thunderbird, browser is Fennec. Is it still possible to initialize an Android phone without a Google account?

codethief 2y ago
Yes, it is.
Nux 2y ago
Yes, I do this routinely. Check devices supported by 3rd party distros like LineageOS which out of the box have no Google services. Ironically Pixel phones are very well supported. Xiaomi, OnePlus, too. There are quite a few: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/
- amaccuish 2y ago
  It should be said though that only Pixel, Fairphone, and maybe some Motorolas support relocking the bootloader with a custom OS. Without that ability, anyone can plug in to your phone and write whatever they want to the internal flash and your phone will be none the wiser.
  - lucb1e 2y ago
    Happens to me all the time. Also on laptops, secureboot is such a life saver any time you're out and about ...it's sure nice this exists and is available to anyone but it's not seriously a risk if you're not of interest to people who are willing to physically show up and bug your hardware in a way that requires quite a bit of preparation
  - Klonoar 2y ago
    Some Sony models (not the Verizon one last sold in the USA) should too, no?
  - JCattheATM 2y ago
    The OnePlus6T supports it, it will still display a warning but it will be locked.
- amelius 2y ago
  Routinely? How often do you buy a new phone? :) Or maybe it is because mobile computing is just stuck, and it won't move even in decades ...
  - Nux 2y ago
    Alright, perhaps "routinely" is a strong word, but all my phones run non-stock and I don't buy devices I can't do this on. All in all I must have installed 3rd party roms on 6-7 devices with good results.
lawn 2y ago
Lookup LineageOS and CalyxOS. I use CalyxOS with MicroG and can download apps from the app store without a Google account or Google services (although some apps won't work without them of course).
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
blackbear_ 2y ago
> Is it still possible to initialize an Android phone without a Google account? Totally, get a Pixel phone and put GrapheneOS on it. You get state of the art hardware and the latest Android hardened for privacy and with optional Google services. That is, you can install and remove them anytime like any other app.
- Animats 2y ago
  Do you have to install a whole new distro? I just managed to get past the signup screen, then deleted the "first use" app and disabled Google's apps.
  - blackbear_ 2y ago
    Yes, you need to flash their image. They have a web installer from the browser and the process is relatively straightforward: https://grapheneos.org/install/web https://grapheneos.org/install/web
wishfish 2y ago
Recently picked up a Moto G Power 2024 as a cheap way to play around with Android. Never signed in with Google. Use Thunderbird / Firefox. Mixplorer for files. Most Google services & apps disabled. Use Obtanium as my main way to install apps, with a few from F-droid too. Have Aurora for anonymous Play if I need it but so far have just used it for Dropbox. At the heart of this is Netguard. I'm using this firewall as a whitelist. Blocking network for everything except for the things I approve. So far, this seems to be working well. It's been a great experience. Have ended up using this device more than my iPhone. Still has the stock ROM but, with the bad stuff disabled, it hasn't gotten in my way. This feels like it's truly my own device in a way that's rare these days. Main drawback is the lack of future updates.
BlueTemplar 2y ago
Easily ? I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S21 as a backup and am posting from it right now (from Firefox). Never associated a Google account. The issue is that it's just a stop-gap solution : we ought to strive to remove our dependence on Android/iOS(/Xiaomi) entirely.
QuantumNoodle 2y ago
Get a pixel and immediately flash GrapheneOS. The appeal of GrapheneOS is it uses the same AOSP android that Google uses, but with all Google things stripped out. So you have 1st class support for all firmware and software features and a really polished experience out of the box. You even get to use things like the awesome Google camera that doesn't phone home. You can even sandbox some Google services to get things like maps working.

codethief 2y ago

Yes, it is.

Nux 2y ago

Yes, I do this routinely. Check devices supported by 3rd party distros like LineageOS which out of the box have no Google services. Ironically Pixel phones are very well supported. Xiaomi, OnePlus, too. There are quite a few: https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/

amaccuish 2y ago
It should be said though that only Pixel, Fairphone, and maybe some Motorolas support relocking the bootloader with a custom OS. Without that ability, anyone can plug in to your phone and write whatever they want to the internal flash and your phone will be none the wiser.
- lucb1e 2y ago
  Happens to me all the time. Also on laptops, secureboot is such a life saver any time you're out and about ...it's sure nice this exists and is available to anyone but it's not seriously a risk if you're not of interest to people who are willing to physically show up and bug your hardware in a way that requires quite a bit of preparation
- Klonoar 2y ago
  Some Sony models (not the Verizon one last sold in the USA) should too, no?
- JCattheATM 2y ago
  The OnePlus6T supports it, it will still display a warning but it will be locked.
amelius 2y ago
Routinely? How often do you buy a new phone? :) Or maybe it is because mobile computing is just stuck, and it won't move even in decades ...
- Nux 2y ago
  Alright, perhaps "routinely" is a strong word, but all my phones run non-stock and I don't buy devices I can't do this on. All in all I must have installed 3rd party roms on 6-7 devices with good results.

lawn 2y ago

Lookup LineageOS and CalyxOS. I use CalyxOS with MicroG and can download apps from the app store without a Google account or Google services (although some apps won't work without them of course).

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

blackbear_ 2y ago

> Is it still possible to initialize an Android phone without a Google account? Totally, get a Pixel phone and put GrapheneOS on it. You get state of the art hardware and the latest Android hardened for privacy and with optional Google services. That is, you can install and remove them anytime like any other app.

Animats 2y ago
Do you have to install a whole new distro? I just managed to get past the signup screen, then deleted the "first use" app and disabled Google's apps.
- blackbear_ 2y ago
  Yes, you need to flash their image. They have a web installer from the browser and the process is relatively straightforward: https://grapheneos.org/install/web https://grapheneos.org/install/web

wishfish 2y ago

Recently picked up a Moto G Power 2024 as a cheap way to play around with Android. Never signed in with Google. Use Thunderbird / Firefox. Mixplorer for files. Most Google services & apps disabled. Use Obtanium as my main way to install apps, with a few from F-droid too. Have Aurora for anonymous Play if I need it but so far have just used it for Dropbox. At the heart of this is Netguard. I'm using this firewall as a whitelist. Blocking network for everything except for the things I approve. So far, this seems to be working well. It's been a great experience. Have ended up using this device more than my iPhone. Still has the stock ROM but, with the bad stuff disabled, it hasn't gotten in my way. This feels like it's truly my own device in a way that's rare these days. Main drawback is the lack of future updates.

BlueTemplar 2y ago

Easily ? I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy S21 as a backup and am posting from it right now (from Firefox). Never associated a Google account. The issue is that it's just a stop-gap solution : we ought to strive to remove our dependence on Android/iOS(/Xiaomi) entirely.

QuantumNoodle 2y ago

Get a pixel and immediately flash GrapheneOS. The appeal of GrapheneOS is it uses the same AOSP android that Google uses, but with all Google things stripped out. So you have 1st class support for all firmware and software features and a really polished experience out of the box. You even get to use things like the awesome Google camera that doesn't phone home. You can even sandbox some Google services to get things like maps working.