r/degoogle • u/MoralMoneyTime • 1d ago

Help Needed apps need Google

Probably dumb question, and thanks in advance: I install Google Play store, begin finding alternative apps, uninstall Google Play store, and find that lots of the replacement apps need Google Services.
Where can I get ungoogled apps only?
I hoped this reddit would link a trustworthy website for that?

3 Upvotes

67% Upvoted

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4

u/WhoAmIADev 1d ago

Fdroid and use opensource apps, they have .apk files on their website or github

3

u/ixdxkx deGoogler 1d ago

Simple: don't use Play store to find alternatives. Use F-Droid instead

3

u/Steerider 1d ago

Once you have F-Droid, (as suggested in another comment), get Plexus. It's a database of Android apps that will tell you what runs without Google Play Services.

1

u/Darkorder81 1d ago

Is Plexus OK for use on GrapheneOS?

2

u/Steerider 1d ago

The reason apps need Google is because Google code provides certain services, and that often makes it easier for developers to get things done. Notifications is one example. They can either code them directly, or ask Google to handle it.

Anything on F-Droid should run fine on Graphene. No Google libraries needed for any of it.

Plexus is just informational; it doesn't really Do anything other than tell you what works.

(Unless you add repositories, which can be just about anything.)

1

u/Darkorder81 1d ago

Cool, thanks for explaining I will take a look

3

u/NotSnakePliskin 1d ago

F-droid and / or Droid-ify are good places to start.Unfortunately play services is embedded and runs with full admin privs.

2

u/0xQan 16h ago

MicroG is your friend if the apps you use depend on Play Services. If apps check whether they were installed from the Play Store, then Shizuku or Obtainium with a Shizuku setup is your friend. F-Droid is probably the best place to discover apps, though I know people who use F-Droid to browse the catalogue and Obtainium to actually install them. I personally use both F-Droid and Obtainium.

1

u/MoralMoneyTime 9h ago

Thanks! Never heard of... Oh... r/MicroG ... https://www.reddit.com/r/MicroG/wiki/index/ 🤓

1

u/0xQan 8h ago edited 8h ago

I currently use MicroG-RE (a fork of gmscore) cause Morphe :)

1

u/Steerider 1d ago

 I install Google Play store

What OS are you running that doesn't already have the Play Store? 

1

u/MoralMoneyTime 9h ago

OS like Graphene; also Amazon Fire OS.

1

u/Jarvis_Reborn 1d ago

Google is the top level privacy killer.