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My point is, there's practically nothing Google related in my phone already. I am going through the settings and apps and can't find anything. Is LineageOS special in this regard? I thought this is the common AOSP experience, I had it the same with other ROMs.

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Are you sure about that? Running NetGuard reveals a lot of connections to G where one would not expect them (looking at you, Firefox, too). Also make sure you don't use 8.8.8.8 as DNS.

That said, /e/ is practically LineageOS, except you can buy it preinstalled on new phones.

AOSP by itself still contacts Google --- without any additional apps or services installed. /e/OS has described were/how this occurs.

In case anyone missed it in TFA, here is /e/'s whitepaper on how they substitute and proxy Google services:

https://e.foundation/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/e-state-of-d... (PDF)

There's also an updated description of /e/ here: https://doc.e.foundation/what-s-e

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