My main Android phone is now 99% Google free

26. June 2026

As of today, I run my phone Google free (at least everywhere I can influence).

On the surface it is indeed 100% Google free. But Android is made by Google, therefore some internal services might still phone home. For example I know that GrapheneOS has an option to use their servers for connectivity pings. So I guess some system apps still use Google servers, even when using LineageOS. Therefore the title says 99% and not 100%.

Why no Google

I have many reasons why I don't want any Google or other big tech software on my phone. Mainly due to pricacy reasons, but not only. I guess everybody has to do their research and decide, what software to trust.

I can only say that it was a very liberating feeling, and still is today. Knowing that I own my device and that (nearly) no one can track me makes me feel free and safe.

My daily driver

Three years ago I bought a used Google Pixel 5, because I wanted to try GrapheneOS. I chose this phone, because it was (and still is) on of the smallest Pixel phones. I really don't like the big bricks most modern smart phones have become. Is still works perfectly and I replaced the battery after one year. I didn't expect that already three years passed, when searching for my order confirmation email. This confirms that with some dedication, even used Android phones can last for years

Second Android phone

Before explaining my setup in more detail, I want to clarify, that I still use a second phone. It is an older stock Android phone, with all Google stuff on it. I need still need to use banking and other apps, that don't work on custom roms.

But this has also another big advantage: I can leave my important apps "at home". This second phone never leaves my house and therefore I can't loose it. It also allows me to do whatever I want with my main phone. Flashing new roms, experimenting new features or whatever would need a full wipe of my phone.

GrapheneOS

Good that I wrote about flashing LineageOS in 2023. Otherwise I won't have remembered, that I did not install GrapheneOS immediately.

Note: the last GrapheneOS version on my Pixel 5 was 2024101200. Therefore the following text is related to that version and new versions features could differ.

For over a year I used GrapheneOS on my Pixel 5. It works really well, because of their Sandboxed Google Play Services. This allows that notifications arrive on time and that Google Maps works. This way the original Play Services run in a sandbox, where you decide it's permissions. Normally this services have nearly root access on your device.

Features I miss from GrapheneOS today, are the automated Bluetooth/WiFi turnoff. When disconnected for over 5 minutes, both turn off, to safe battery and reduce the attack surface. I mostly care about the battery life.

Another cool security feature is that the phone can be locked, by using the wrong finger to unlock. When tapped 5 times, the fingerprint sensor is disabled, and the password is needed to unlock. I luckily never needed this feature and hope I will never have to. But this shows how dedicated the GrapheneOS team is regarding security hardening.

I also used contact scopes, that allow to limit what contacts and app can see. Just like it is possible with pictures in the gallery, but for contacts. This way I could limit Whatsapp to access only the few contacts I needed.

Then one day I got the notification that my phone is no longer supported. I continued using it anyways for some time, because I really liked it. Buying a newer supported Pixel was no option, due to the size they have. And my Pixel 5 still works perfectly fine. For this reasons I switched back to LinageOS.

LineageOS without Google Play Services

I really like the LineageOS project, because it is the successor of CynaogenMod. That brings good memories back, from my first days messing around with custom roms. Once I even hard bricked my phone, because I installed a rom from another phone. I learned it the hard way, that phone and version numbers must match :-)

First I wanted to replicate the experience I had with GrapheneOS and the Google Play Services. So I tried microG for some days, but I never got it working correctly. I can't remember exactly what went wrong, but I did not like the constant tweaking.

So I decided to try without any Play Services at all. For that I had to remove microG, and reinstall Whatsapp and Signal. When this apps are opened for the first time, they check if the Play Services exist. If not, they start using Websockets to get notifications, afaik. I have to say that Signal works perfectly and I get notifications instantly. Whatsapp notifications on the other hand sometimes take over 20 minutes to arrive. I suspect that Signal simply has more users and reasons to support websockets better. But in the end I don't mind about this delay. Anyways I want to use my phone less, so this delay helps to achieve that perfectly.

Note: Notifications work best, when allowing background usage in app battery settings. The delays only happen, once the phone enters in "sleep mode", after some minutes of not using it. While actively using the phone, all notifications arrive on time.

Apps

Now I have a very minimalist phone, with just a few apps. The battery life is very good with at least 2 days of use, because I don't use my phone much now. Everything while keeping the charge between 20% and 80%, to reduce battery cycles and consumption.

Since many years I use Unlauncher as may home launcher. It allows only up to 6 apps on the home screen and is text only. The black background with the few text saves also quite some battery with OLED screens.

To get my apps I use F-Droid and the following apps are all from there.

To get Signal into F-Droid, I added The Guardian Project repository. But I just saw that Signal can now auto-update itself, by downloading new versions on it's own. So technically now the apk needs to be downloaded only once from the official website.

The only two proprietary apps I currently use are Whatsapp and Steam. I need the Steam app for 2FA and build confirmation, when releasing updates for my games. Both have their apk hosted on their official websites. I used to get them from the Aurora Store, a FOSS Google Play Store client. But now I simply check periodically, if a new version is online.

Maps

On of the biggest issues most have without Google Play Services is that Google Maps doesn't work. Many use it for navigation and to get real time traffic information. Luckily I don't have car, so I don't need real time traffic information.

Currently I use CoMaps and it works very well. It works offline and is based on OpenStreetMap data and maps. This way (at least in Europe) I get often even more information than with Google Maps. Especially for hiking trails in the mountains and drinking water locations.

For some more complex and long distance bike routing, I also use OSMAnd+ and brouter.de. But only when I make long distance bike tours.

The only thing I sometimes miss from Google Maps are restaurant reviews and updated opening hours. In this rare cases, I simply open Google Maps in my browser using the desktop mode.

About the cloud

"There is no cloud, just other peoples computers", has a really good point. With my setup, the are no other peoples computers, but my Rasperry Pi running at home 24/7. I no longer use any other cloud solution to host my data. A big wakeup call was to see how difficult it was, to remove all my data from Google Drive.

Contacts and Calendar

Without Google apps, I need so save and synchronize my contacts and calendars in another way. Currently I use mailbox.org as my mail provider and that can host that for me. On my phone I use DAVx5 to synchronize everything. This way I can access my contacts and calendar also from other devices.

The next step would be to self-host this, but for now I trust mailbox.org.

Passwords

For passwords and other sensible data, I use KeePass since many years. It is very safe and very local, if you keep it local and don't store it somewhere online.

A KeePass file can also easily be used and shared between devices. On my phone I use KeepassXD and on my linux computers KeepassXC.

Syncthing

Syncthing allows to share directories and it's files between devices, like my Keepass file. So I have one single sync directory, that contains everything I need across devices. It uses peer to peer connections and does not need any cloud service. For this reason I have a always on Rasperry Pi at home. This way I can sync everything, even when outside my home network and with my main computer off.

I won't go too much into detail here, because this would paragraph would explode very fast. But I can say that this works very well, especially if the amount of files is kept to a few MB. For bigger files and backups, I simply use cables good old hard disk backups.

Linux phone I'm coming!

I really think if my Pixel 5 breaks one day or Android closes it's door, I will try a Linux phone. The postmarketOS project is very promising and already has some supported devices. Maybe even my Pixel 5 will be supported one day.

I suspect my main messaging apps Signal and Whatsapp might not work very well yet. I just read that Signal Desktop or Whatsapp Web can be used. But I don't think that notifications will work, and if they do, it surely drains the battery.

I hope one day there will be a Linux phone with good battery life and reliable basic features. I can life without Whatsapp or Signal on me 24/7.

Every feedback is welcome

Feel free to write me an email at info@simondalvai.org and comment on Mastodon.

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