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Comment by m12k | Hacker News Reader

As someone who knows quite little about Android (currently in the Apple ecosystem, but considering jumping ship): When you use these privacy-focused Android versions without Google Play, is there a consistent way to get apps from the Play store to run on there? (e.g. download the APK from somewhere and sideload it). I'd really like an OS that doesn't spy on me, but there's e.g. some goverment ID apps, transit apps and so on, that I'd really not like to have to give up.

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There's places like APK mirror or Aurora which will download .apk's from the play store.

The problem with degoogled phones isn't not accessing the google play store, it's not having the confusingly named google play services.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Play_Services

A lot of apps rely on google play services. It mostly depends on how much of google play services an app requires as to whether it'll work on a degoogled phone or not.

CalyxOS includes microG, which solves the compatibility issue for some of Google Play Services' most essential features, including push notifications, better geolocation, and map rendering. microG also keeps Google's in-app ads disabled.

Implementation status: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Implementation-Status

The gp mentioned government id apps specifically. Those along with banking apps are the ones I've heard having the most trouble without actual google play.

There are third-party clients for the Play Store (Aurora store being a good example). Aurora store uses anonymous accounts to download the APKs directly from Google. That being said, just because you can install the application doesn't mean it will actually work without Play Services installed. I've had quite a bit of luck with random applications I've installed (interestingly most Google apps like Gboard, Photos and GCam work fine offline and without Play Services), however YMMV.

That’s a piracy site.

Aurora Store is not a piracy site. It's a FOSS app that gives you access to the official Google Play Store directly.

To add:

Aurora store does NOT let you download paid apps. If you have paid for a app, you can sign into that account in aurora store and download the app you bought. However, the paid app will most likely not work as most apps use a SDK provided by google for verifying purchases in a app. This SDK heavily relies on google play services. And secondly, using a 3rd party store like aurora does violate googles use agreement which means google could ban your account if you sign into it from aurora. I would highly advise to not use a google account you care about with aurora.

Nah, Aurora only works for snagging free apps from the play store via a proxy account- you're thinking of another well-known APK download site starting with an A, one which allows users to create their own 'app stores' (ie. repositories) and is rampant with piracy. I'm sure it comes in handy for kids with more tech--savy-ness (enough to avoid the malware!) than literal cents.

> you're thinking of another well-known APK download site starting with an A

Aptoide. I have seen pirated paid apps on Aptoide, but any app marked as "verified" is not pirated (as in, it's available free of charge elsewhere) and the app's signature on Aptoide matches the app's signature on Google Play. Everything in the main "apps" repository and some apps in other repos are verified.

Aptoide is useful for downloading older versions of Android apps, especially when APKMirror doesn't have an entry for the app.

Fun fact: Aptoide is open source and F-Droid is actually a fork of Aptoide.

- GitHub: https://github.com/Aptoide/aptoide-client-v8

- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptoide

One of the most popular ways is to use the F-Droid repositories, which if you know a little Linux concepts it's like plugging in another software repository to the same package manager. (see f-droid.org) It can be confusing though because F-Droid is both an app, and the name of the primary software repo which is pure FOSS software (no ads, no trackers).

The F-Droid app supports adding more repositories (think like apt/yum/dnf on Linux) easily, so you can source software from anywhere which runs their own repository. One of the most popular "other" repos is Izzy (apt.izzysoft.de/fdroid), and there is an alternate project called "microG" which can allow you to use Google Play store apps (microg.org/fdroid.html). microG is how you will get your Google Play apps onto the device, usually (there are other solutions besides microG out there however).

The CalyxOS install ROM includes F-Droid (app and repos) and offers to install microG for you on your first boot (as well as some other opt-in stuff). Calyx runs their own F-Droid repo which is pre-added to the app so you get updates from them as well (think the built-in apps most smartphones have).

> pure FOSS software (no ads, no trackers)

Nit: something can be FOSS while having ads and/or tracking (telemetry)

Nit rebuttal: I was referring to the F-Droid repository which I thought was clear from context. These elements are scanned for and apps called out (tagged) should they contain something not-free, even connecting to network services like Reddit or Twitter. The are referred to as Anti-Features: https://f-droid.org/en/docs/Anti-Features/

Sorry! I understood you to be saying that the definition of FOSS includes no ads or trackers, and I wanted to make sure no one was misled by that.

Additionally, as you say, the F-droid repository does contain apps with those properties; they're labeled, not excluded.

Trivia: by default (unless it has changed upstream), the F-Droid app defaults to "Include anti-feature apps: Off" in the Settings. The user must go in there and manually opt-in to see all the anti-feature apps on the mobile client.

It doesn't actually hide apps with "anti-features", you can still see them by default. The only thing it does is hide the description and install button of apps with "anti-features" in the search screen. It seems like a half-baked feature.

Just note that there's a tonne of apps on F-Droid that haven't had updates in years

That's true, but the date of the most recent release is clearly shown, and it's easy to avoid the unmaintained ones. Also, F-Droid most likely has newer alternatives for the kind of app you're looking for.

Yep, you have good points. I just thought I'd warn people thinking its going to be all roses.

Either way, I'm happy with my non-Google, Android setup

You are always able to add playstore in. But of course this comes with some cost to privacy.

There's also other app stores like f-Droid. Usually these are populated with the same apps but often there are ones you are going to have a harder time getting.

Does anyone know if there's a way to do a sandboxed playstore? Like you can use it to download the apps and update (assuming this won't be automatic) but that it is contained otherwise?

- Install Shelter from F-Droid

- Install the Aurora store apk inside of Shelter

- Open Aurora store in Shelter's work profile and use like a normal play store and all apps installed within Aurora remain sandboxed

There is also a built-in Work Profile feature now, under Settings -> System -> Multiple Users.

It basically does the same thing under the hood.

There is an app store called Aurora Store that Calyx comes preinstalled with. https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.aurora.store/

I use f-droid for most of my standard apps (note-taking, calendar, etc) - and since I am not using gmail, those suite of apps are useless to me. I use firefox for my browser, and use the client provided by my email provider.

The worst thing is basically not having Google Maps because while fdroid does work, it is not condusive to 'just looking things up real quick'. It's more of a 90's GPS where you pull over, take 5 minutes to look up what you want and navigate there.

The other issue I have is I don't get push notifications from CalyxOS, and I don't know why. Messages are received, but my phone won't show me unless i unlock the screen - and then I get alll the notifications at once. If I don't interact with the notification, it will do it again the next time I use my phone.

otherwise it's been fine. I am using a google pixel 3.

> The worst thing is basically not having Google Maps because while fdroid does work, it is not condusive to 'just looking things up real quick'.

If you're okay with a closed source navigation app, Magic Earth strikes a balance between Google Maps and FOSS apps such as Organic Maps. Magic Earth uses OpenStreetMap data but layers its own address search on top of it to cover addresses and landmarks that are not available on OSM.

https://www.magicearth.com

Google Maps does work on CalyxOS and so does its most fully-featured proprietary competitor, HERE WeGo. But if you only want to use free and open source software, I understand.

> Messages are received, but my phone won't show me unless i unlock the screen - and then I get alll the notifications at once.

Is your device configured to hide notifications when locked? See "Control how notifications show on your lock screen":

https://support.google.com/android/answer/9079661

> Is your device configured to hide notifications when locked? See "Control how notifications show on your lock screen".

Yeah it's a bug with push notifications I think. I don't care - I think it's a great feature because if I don't hear the buzz, I won't look until my brain decides to check my phone, which can be a long time.

I am looking to move towards a Punkt MP-02 for my next device, but the fact that it's not an open source device that I trust... I hesitate.

There are sites like APKPure that mirror the Play store. That particular site also has an app of their own that functions as an app store, which will install from their catalog.

Of course, you're just moving your trust from Google to this other third party, it's up to you if you consider that wise.

Use the Aurora Store app (you can keep this updated via the F-Droid app), it's a client for the Google Play Store so it'll allow you to update those apps through it.

ive been trying that it the last while with an old phone where i didn't bother logging into google when i reset it. i just use tasker on my main phone to extract the apk for the current app and save it into to my syncthing folder and sync it across that way. but there are other apps that will let you extract the apk's as well.

so far only one or two have worked unfortunately but most do

In short yes.

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