Read part one of Android with as little closed source as possible, Life without US cloud services and Androids privacy invasiveness if you’re wondering why I’m doing this.
This is an update on how to live with a free and open (Android based) phone.
Some time during 2014 I went all-in, and removed Google Play. My previous article (Android with as little closed source as possible) left a list of closed source apps I was still dependent on:
I recently discovered nogapps, and it’s working great! Here’s an intro and how to use it.
When installing Android on a phone, one first flashes the ROM, i.e. Cyanogenmod. Then a package called gapps, which contains Googles proprietary Apps. This is necessary to get Play, Youtube, GMail, Maps, etc. And lots of apps from Play requires Play and it’s services to function.
See also Androids privacy invasiveness and Android with as little closed source as possible.
Read part one of Car-logger first, if you haven’t.
I chose to go with outdated Android phones in the previous article. Phones with CyanogenMod and no Google Play. This means that they run all free software, except for some firmware blobs and drivers. No background services driving up data or battery usage, no third party tracking my location.
I tried out Traccar. The app worked fine, but the backend was a big, horrible java thing. Poor UI, overkill for my purpose, and too much for me to get hacking on.