Android without google account

[NoImagination]

@411

I don't know what you mean with "it is completely useless without google". I have an HTC Desire Z and it works fine without the Google 'services'.

As everybody else, I was forced to sign up for GMail in order to get access to the Market, but I never use GMail, so the only thing Google can data mine is their own emails to me (I assume they sent a welcome to GMail email, but I don't know since I have never logged on to GMail).

I have disabled the Google location service as it is of no value to me and I have replaced the native email program with K9-Mail. Of course I have disabled all use of GMail as backup repository for MY contacts, MY emails, and MY calendar events. As dialer/phone book I am currently using Youlu Addressbook. With K9-Mail I can use my own email server (I have a small business, so I send emails as both info@ and office@ from the same account, which the native email app did not support). I have installed MyPhoneExplorer on my PC, so I can backup and manage contacts, SMS, and calendar events without sharing that info with Google. All in all, my smartphone has remained smart even after I cut the connection to GMail.

It takes a bit of fiddling around to get the Google 'services' turned off everywhere, but when you get through it you can easily use Android without a navel chord to the Google servers.

 

[knifemaker]

Sorry for the necropost. I know this topic is a year old, but it has new relevance with google's new privacy policy. I really don't have any problem with google tracking my browsing - gps location or other stuff, but I do have a problem with them mining my contacts and incoming mail for data from my friends and customers - who have not consented to that data collection.

I do have a Google account (used for advertising), but it's really important to me that I keep my mail and contact information private. Is it enough to just turn off sync of mail and contacts, or are there other measures I should be taking as well?

Not sure if the private email address associated with my google account will suffice, or if I'll need a gmail account for the market.

I have to say I support everything Google is doing to improve my browsing experience. But I'm not comfortable consenting to release of personal information that been entrusted to me.

Thanks

 

[junk4]

There are few methods to circumvent Google and its all catching tentacles. I have done it on my SGS i9100 running Cyanogen.

You can do it on stock Android distributions provided by most phone manufactures so long as these allow installing APKs yourself instead of via the Market. I do not have a Gmail account on my 'phone and never shall.

*) Install Aptoide. It is a Market alternative for freely released software. It also includes Google Maps etc. http://www.aptoide.com
*) Install AdroidPit (AppCenter) for the paid applications.
http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/app-center
One can search on the Android Market and then locate the app on Aptoide.

Google Maps and Earth
I have noticed that recent Google Maps and maybe Earth force one to have a Gmail account configured, which I do not want. To counter this install this Google Maps version from Aptoide :
Google Maps 5.7.0
Google Earth 2.0.2 (6.0.3.2228)

Email
As noted above, I use K9 Mail for personal email ( I run my own email server ), and have TouchDown for work emails as they use Lotus Notes. K9 is very good but offers no calendar integration.Both are available outside the Market. Touchdown (NitroDelux) is an excellent application (calendar integration) for Microsoft and LotusNotes use.
http://code.google.com/p/k9mail/downloads/list
http://www.nitrodesk.com/purchase.aspx

The cloud and backups
* ) Contacts and Calendar: Funambol is an option. You can run your own server (tomcat) and sync with this.
* ) Your data: The makers of Titanium Backup sell a neat data backup solution, but sadly only available from the Android Market. I imagine its down with rsync. There is an rsync binary compiled for Andoird that you can search for, and then wrap some scripts around it - I think CyanogenMod has the concept of cron.

Buying applications
I bought Touchdown tTorrent and a few apps for my phone directly from the seller. If it is not for sale via App Centre or on their site, ask them it there is another method.

Privacy concerns
I won't back up any thing to Google (those who wihs their data to be mined are asking for it, along with their personal life disclosed : I work as a UNIX admin and have 20 years for in the industry, and I know where the clients' data is, and know that some employees may well sell the data. Its rare, and these are often caught, yet the damage is done. Also, there is a lot of data in those log files. Its meant to be deleted, but its likely to end up on a tape backup somewhere.

Google is a company with its fingers in many pies. Marketing is just one part of them. Really, they want to know everything thing about you. Funny this

Its up to you how you use your 'phone. You paid for it, so you should not be dictated how your use your 'phone by any entity when its more for their own good than yours. Data is valuable. Why do people think they should give it away for free to a company. I don't mind charging Google for it

 

[tcat007]

Some people are paranoid and some are not... My wife writes checks, won't do any online banking. I online bank, I browse with Firefox, I use Gmail for personal and business, I have a Google account, a Yahoo account, an Amazon account, and probably 50 other online accounts. My wife's bank info can get hacked just about as easily as my Google account. Don't worry, be happy. Android is fun, enjoy it to its fullest. I get hacked, we all get hacked... China has all our money anyway.

 

[junk4]

@tcat

I think this thread is to present practical measures abouthow to circumvent Google, and not the reasons why. Although I did mention these within my post (a mistake).

> China has all our money anyway.
China does not have all our money, but Google has your data

> Don't worry, be happy
"Ignorance is bliss", said the Jew walking in the shower. (This is not anti-semanic. This is a historical event happened used an an example of why "Don't worry, be happy" is daft.)

 

[askme1fIcare]

I agree with the person who left the tut on how to *not to use a gmail account.

So far, so good, I followed your instructions and it was fairly easy.

Android 1 Google 0

The problem is that most SW or HW users (myself included) have very little insight into how much their privacy is lost every time they sign up for an e-mail client or some such service which requires quite a bit of unique/identifiable information. It's not just the loss of privacy, it's the loss of rights and the trading of private information (even aggregated information).

Most people are naive or just don't take the time to read the fine print. I have been doing a lot of fine print reading lately and most Companies have loose policies to say the least.

Two rules of thumb. If it isn't opensource or a paid service then it is usually a privacy risk.

You don't receive nothing for nothing.That's why Android is a bit of a trick. They claim opensource, but it is bundled with Google products. When you purchase you recieve a piece of hardware which you limits you via default software. There was nothing on the box that said, "You will be constantly giving most of your personal information to Google once you purchase this product and follow the tutorials it gives when you first start your android device." Fineprint.

If anyone here knows how to clean up a rom and make an update.zip to include everything excluding google products and those unecessary prepackaged extras (game software) ... or remove all the google products (and $$$ extras) excluding all the basics, please PM me or just send a reply.

I don't dislike Google, they have to make money somehow, but with Android you should be given the option of not using or disinstalling their software.

It's your toy do with it what you like, but it shouldn't be called an open source operating system they're giving you.
It's a misnomer.

Limited Source maybe.

 

[mrqs]

you're a misnomer; google apps and market access have nothing to do with the os - they are an additional thing that most manufacturers opt for when they make a device using the open source android os

you can find devices (mainly chinese ones) that don't have any of that

 

[mikedt]

If anyone here knows how to clean up a rom and make an update.zip to include everything excluding google products and those unecessary prepackaged extras (game software) ... or remove all the google products (and $$$ extras) excluding all the basics, please PM me or just send a reply.

That's quite easy actually, just buy your phone here in China. It doesn't have to be a crappy whatever thing, you can get Samsungs, HTCs, Motorolas, Huaweis, ZTEs, Lenovos etc, all completely free of anything Google.

I'm sure most of third-party ROMs are free of Google stuff, e.g. CyanogenMod. You can always install the proprietary Google apps if you want.

 

[Chroon]

yes, i only get apk file to my phone without the account.
You can download them directly from app homepage, or appbrain.

 

[jprjay]

On my blackberry, google maps works fine, no problems.

On the Android, it keeps bugging me for a Google account. I don't have one. Actually I don't want one. The few apps I've gotten, I get from Amazon (I also have a Fire).

The reason is this:

The Amazon account is strictly to buy products and services. That's fine, I use it for that. Unfortunately the Google account is much more pervasive. It ties email, map searches, internet searches, all together (Amazon doesn't know where I am, what I search for, where I map to, who I email). This makes it a far bigger threat to privacy than the Amazon account, which does only one thing.

I' not trying to get rid of everything Google, I just don't want my ID associated with the history my activities (my IP is not very useful for marketing purposes).

But back to the original question: How can I use the maps app like it is in the Blackberry, no account, no login?

 

[sampsrepa]

I think its funny how often someone complains about needing a google account likes its a big deal or a huge inconvenience. Its not like you can use an iphone without an itunes account....and you have to physically connect the iphone! You don't have to use a google email, you don't have to use a google calendar...but you do need a google account, plus its nice that all your contacts are stored in the cloud for you.

That is not correct or accurate, if I register for iTunes they will just leave me alone, however on my htc phone as soon as I signed up for a google account I got constant notifications of useless apps (including duplicate ones). This didn't happen on my iPhone, I don't want or need advertising. The other thing, to get rid of your google account you have to do a full factory reset rather than just closing the google account.

I honestly think that htc phones are as good if not better than iphones, not to mention cheaper but I probably wouldn't get another one due to the thrid line forcing of a need for a google account.

It's all well and good if it's just your personal phone but I was using it for work. I would love to get everyone's thoughts on this and if you think its the little things like this that make apple dominate the market

 

[chanchan05]

That is not correct or accurate, if I register for iTunes they will just leave me alone, however on my htc phone as soon as I signed up for a google account I got constant notifications of useless apps (including duplicate ones). This didn't happen on my iPhone, I don't want or need advertising. The other thing, to get rid of your google account you have to do a full factory reset rather than just closing the google account.

I honestly think that htc phones are as good if not better than iphones, not to mention cheaper but I probably wouldn't get another one due to the thrid line forcing of a need for a google account.

It's all well and good if it's just your personal phone but I was using it for work. I would love to get everyone's thoughts on this and if you think its the little things like this that make apple dominate the market

Notifications of useless apps or whatever doesn't come from Google. Its a push advertising from one of the apps you downloaded. I don't get any notifications of apps for download simply because I am not using any app with push ads.

 

[Hadron]

There's a sticky thread in this forum about push advertising, which will tell you how to check for this and identify the offending apps if that's what it is.

As chanchan05 says, Android itself does not do this. The Play Store app will notify you of updates to the apps you have, but won't notify you of anything else, and you can turn those notifications off if you prefer (Play Store app settings).

 

[anonimity]

Wow, just read many of the responses to the question here. I can't believe how many unhelpful responses you get. It was a simple question and yet most of the responses are so unhelpful and so concerned with the "unbelievable" proposition that someone would dare to NOT use a Google account.

Really people, it's about freedom and it's about choices. It has nothing to do with what the product was designed for. Nothing more, nothing less.

If, for my own reasons, I want to use my cell phone as a hammer then freedom dictates that I have that choice no matter how ridiculous that choice may be seem as long as it doesn't interfere with another's rights or freedoms. It also seems that I should be able to do so without being judged, but perhaps that is being too idealistic and beyond the reach of this crowd.

When someone is looking for help and you can't answer their question, don't respond. It's that simple!

The answer as I have researched it is "yes". It is possible to install applications without a Google account. You will have to search in other places, ( I don't recommend here), for the step by step instructions but the general idea is this:

There is an SDK, (Software Developers Kit), that can be downloaded to a PC. Once installed on the PC and the cell phone connected to the PC via a USB cable, android apps, (files with an .apk extenstion), can then be transfered to the cell phone and installed.

Once certain applications are installed, then any .apk file can be installed and used. Do an internet search for Android SDK kit and/or application installation and you should get plenty of hits for the thing you are looking for

 

[Miss Marti]

I'm not that important. I think Google has better things to do with their time than delve into my personal life or my emails. My SMS, on the other hand, can sometimes be an interesting read

Anyway, in the whole scheme of things, any email service you sign up for, anything you use email for, anytime you order something online...Some company, somewhere is collecting that info in a database that can be breached.

Unless she lives off-grid, without cable, without electricity, without other utilities, she's in a database somewhere...and her info is probably less secure in those databases than in Google's...as Google expects to be hacked. The typical electric company probably doesn't think about that, and is less prepared for a hacking incident.

So unless the OP's gf has state or government secrets, she's not any more important to Google than anyone else posting on this forum and should relax. And unless she has NO friends or only has friends who all scorn twitter, facebook, myspace, linked in, then her privacy has been breached by them in some fashion.

Being paranoid about privacy in this day and age doesn't make one smart. It just makes one paranoid and self-important.

The only thing to do is to guard the privacy you can control...Don't share passwords or pins with ANYONE. Don't sign up for 'free' stuff on websites. Shred mail or receipts that has your signature or account info. That will do more to protect your privacy from do-badders than worrying about your being the ONE person amongst the MILLIONS of Google Users that Google decides to focus on and whose privacy they choose to invade.

I'd love to hear your updated opinion. How ya feeling in 2019?

 

[Milo Willamson]

- I don't want a goggle account whatsoever;
- the core functionality of an Android device IS NOT the cloud;
- the core functionality of an Android device IS all the 100K (or so) Android apps and what they have to offer;
- there are alternatives to Gmail, Gmaps, Gsearch, Gstreet, Gearth, Gwhatever. Some of them are worse, some of them are better (for people that never tried turn by turn GPS navigation, try one, please);
- if I want to use Google products on my device, then I don't mind having a Google account;
- why should I have a Google account just for being able to browse the internet through Opera, let's say ? Or download an app from the MarketPlace?

Although I find Android a well designed and enjoyable experience, I think it is massively spoiled by Google and its goals to store/index/cross-reference/get back to you with crappy ads.
One day you won't be able to start your car unless you wear red socks and blue suits. What's the big deal, you'll ask? Dunno. Let's think about it for a while.

roid&roid - your words should be marked for history - "I understand very well that someone would prefer not to have a google account. Any database as large as google's is going to be misused at some time."

Hate to the the bear eating honey over salmon, but I prefer to have a google account when syncing up to my phone, it is much safer instead of dealing with this non sense that everyone is directing over you and it is much simple to have just a pw that you can alternate and change over, whenever you feel like it, besides you can clear everything much eaiser. Do not be super paranoid either, relax besides if you do not feel like havin' one - that is your own call though - but have one vs. dealing with truckloads of constant moutians of coding this or that, strining in wrong coding vs. having to swing on by your local dealership and moaning on them.

Please for the love, have a google account to connect your phone, and then you can change your password and "accidently forget it" .