Post 9lyCA0XJLICJrmhrcm by gaperst@toot.cafe
(DIR) More posts by gaperst@toot.cafe
(DIR) Post #9ltzwbANV5hco3PlCq by gaperst@toot.cafe
2019-08-14T22:12:18Z
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@switchingsocial I might be interested in installing LineageOS on my phone, to use Android without Google, but I also heard some people saying "this is so hard to install LineageOS" ; what's so complicated about it ? Is it like, installing Arch on a computer or something ?
(DIR) Post #9ltzwmgKgcncWLRw2a by amolith@masto.nixnet.xyz
2019-08-14T23:32:34Z
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@gaperst Not at all. They have docs on their website that provide copy/paste commands for each supported device. I always recommend running LOS even if it's someone that doesn't know anything about Android. Sometimes I will install it for them but they can do it themselves in 95% of the situations.@switchingsocial
(DIR) Post #9ltzx1LGBFr7zKhomG by flab@freesoftwareextremist.com
2019-08-15T06:44:15.922207Z
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@amolith @switchingsocial @gaperst it definitely merits some reading. I wound up in some murky, dark water because I didn't research a purchase ahead of time.I wanted to get a used phone to run LOS on, and I bought an LG V20. Turns out I had to do all kinds of preliminary work with an LG OEM utility and firmware blobs to *downgrade* my phone's firmware in order to apply an exploit that allowed me to unlock the bootloader properly. I needed to find a Windows machine (who keeps *that* around anymore?!) and build some things from a Github source repo, etc. etc. It was a process that I doubt a lot of people could have seen through to completion, much less even attempt.Of course, I did get all this done, eventually, but my point is that I had NO idea what I was walking into when I bought the phone. I had merely checked the list of compatible phones and picked something compatible and cheap and I got bit for it. Well, not bit, just taken on an adventure!
(DIR) Post #9lvkZzHOCjslAQIwts by gaperst@toot.cafe
2019-08-15T08:10:38Z
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@flab @switchingsocial @amolith @ninja Yeah, I found a lot of tutorials on the internet for the hard part of unlocking the bootloader, so I thought this should be doable ; is the risk to break something high, though ? Have you ever encountered any problem doing it ? How long is the process overall ?
(DIR) Post #9lvkZzdirhkMHgkmi8 by gaperst@toot.cafe
2019-08-15T08:13:13Z
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@flab @switchingsocial @amolith @ninja Another question : have you ever had to get some specific apps from the Play Store, getting their APK or something ? I might need some apps, like for instance the one of public transports of my city, that I can't find anywhere else than the Google Play Store
(DIR) Post #9lvka00PVLtXQ3Mu4e by ninja@pl.nudie.social
2019-08-15T08:21:52.575206Z
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@gaperst @flab @switchingsocial @amolith The risk of bricking largely depends on model of your phone - how well supported the unlock process is. Be familiar with the process and pay attention where things could go wrongYou can still install google play apps. However, some apps will not launch without gapps. I use the mobile web site instead of the app, when I encounter one such apps
(DIR) Post #9lvka0G0ZMN6CQfMO0 by flab@freesoftwareextremist.com
2019-08-16T03:01:39.826319Z
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@ninja @gaperst @amolith @switchingsocial >The risk of bricking largely depends on model of your phone - how well supported the unlock process is.Yes, this. This is where I failed to do my homework.>You can still install google play apps. I use a free software app called Aurora Store for this. It allows you to download, and more importantly, update, play store only apps, for those non-free things you can't live without.>However, some apps will not launch without gapps.I've only found a couple of apps that straight-up won't run without real Gapps Services, and both were Nintendo apps.My credit union app, MLB At Bat app, plex, Unifi, Pandora, and Signal all run flawlessly without Gapps.It should be noted that I have MicroG installed, which is required to 'spoof' the presence of Gapps. This is enough to fool most things into working, even if some features may be lacking (push notifications, most prominently).
(DIR) Post #9ly5Ua6S7GcyHt0U9A by gaperst@toot.cafe
2019-08-16T09:36:23Z
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@flab Thank you for such a complete answer ! I didn't know about Aurora Store, and that sounds awesome.There is something else I didn't know, do apps actually require Google Services to send push notifications ?
(DIR) Post #9ly5UaQeu8n5IYScds by flab@freesoftwareextremist.com
2019-08-17T06:05:27.625320Z
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@gaperst You're very welcome. I'm always happy to help people get off the Google teat, and I know it isn't easy, nor is it straightforward in a lot of cases.Without Google services, apps have to run all the time in order to receive immediate (or close to it) notifications. Most messenger apps I've used (Telegram, signal) will run in the background with a minimal battery impact. This can certainly add up if you multiply it by N number of apps, and your mileage may vary by how much you use them, etc.Other than messengers, I don't run anything where I care about timeliness of notifications, so this setup works for my needs.I'm a bit of a notification-hater, in the sense that I want any notification I get to be meaningful and important. A phone to me is primarily a communicator; if someone isn't trying to contact me in some way, I don't need to know about it until I go to check it manually.
(DIR) Post #9lyCA0XJLICJrmhrcm by gaperst@toot.cafe
2019-08-17T07:19:18Z
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@flab I think we are the same on this part :) My phone's on silent mode most of the time.Thank you again !
(DIR) Post #9lyCAvmAWix1ON62CG by flab@freesoftwareextremist.com
2019-08-17T07:20:21.548679Z
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@gaperst Anytime. Feel free to ask me about anything else with Lineage OS or de-Google'd Android in general.