AOSP - Google App Alternatives #1

In this post I'm going to present some apps that replace google apps, and what you can do to make some apps work that requires google services.

Google Alternatives

"where do I download apps now when I don't have Google Play?"

One way is to download the .apk directly from the Internet, but that way is obviously very inconvenient. The one application you might need to download though, is the F-Droid store. It has a lot of alternative apps and also notifies any so called "anti-features" are included in the app. 

Link: https://f-droid.org/

When you have the F-droid store installed, you can download and install Aurora Store within F-Droid. With Aurora you can access the Google Play store anonymously, and download any apps you need. (It should go without saying, but don't download the google apps).

OsmAnd+ = Open Street Maps

For GPS I recommend OpenStreetMap. You can download it from the F-Droid appstore, it is called OsmAnd+. It might not be as impressive as google maps, but for navigation, it get's the job done. You also have to download regional maps in advance. The free version has a limit of only 5 regions downloaded at the same time, but you can buy the plus version and start downloading more, and get more features. 

Open Street map is also available on the Internet: https://www.openstreetmap.org/

Deepl Translate

For translation I suggest Deepl, available in Aurora store. It includes translations between most of the major languages, and now also Norwegian. Remember when using these kind of services, that the information you type, might be saved in some database. Google does that without a doubt.

"Where do I watch videos?"

You can't have Youtube, sorry. But I have noticed that most of the content creators, at least the ones I view, also uploads to an alternative platform like Rumble or Odysee. And if they don't, you should write to them and encourage them to do so.

Fix apps that requires Google services

Most applications will work anyway, even if you get the "This app requires Google services to run" message. It is just notifications that won't work.

MicroG

MicroG will trick the App into thinking it has connection to Google, by providing stub functions or masking the identity of the phone.

Rob Braxman on MicroG: https://odysee.com/@RobBraxmanTech:6/microg:f

Installing MicroG can be a bit tricky, depending on the phone. It's not just downloading it from the F-droid store. I will make a post on how to install MicroG in the future. On the Volla phone, you can enable it in system settings.

Note: In my experience, no additional apps have started to work for me. The "This app requires Google services to run" message still appears, but notifications have started to work. I'm actually getting so annoyed by all the additional notifications, that I'm considering turning it off again.

Banking Apps vs. Status

I have heard that many banking apps won't work without Google play. I know of one Norwegian bank transfer app that won't work, but the Swedish equivalent does. Unfortunately, MicroG won't be enough to fix them, as they are too integrated with the Google Services. I suggest you get Status and start convincing your friends to transfer crypto currency to each other instead. The benefit of that is that you can transfer currency from anywhere to anyone, across the world, pseudo-anonymously. (almost as good as cash!) I don't know of any FIAT banking app that can do that.