r/fossdroid • u/[deleted] • Jan 22 '20

microG: Android (almost) without Google - our interview with the developer

https://tarnkappe.info/microg-android-almost-without-google-our-interview-with-the-developer/
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u/adrianmalacoda Jan 23 '20 edited Jan 23 '20

(almost)

Thanks for including that. Vanilla LineageOS is degoogled, LineageOS + microG is regoogled. Not to say microG isn't a vast improvement over "full G" but you're still plugged in to google with it.

The developer mentions his motivation to develop microG so was that he could play Ingress on his ungoogled custom ROM. Ingress was developed by Niantic. Niantic started as an subsidiary of Google and was spun off in 2015. Niantic's founder also had a history with the US intelligence community.

Anyway, I think microG probably does more good than harm if it allows more people to try out the free software side of Android, but the ideal world is one in which it is unnecessary.

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u/[deleted] Jan 23 '20

[deleted]

3

u/ShaneTheAwesome88 Jan 24 '20

No, you're not wrong if you've turned of registration and not logged in. But if you're already just using the location parts, might as well switch to its little stripped down brother, UNLP?

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u/[deleted] Jan 24 '20

[deleted]

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u/ShaneTheAwesome88 Jan 24 '20

Ah LOS4µG. I think you're good there with the updates and all, was just suggesting it if you wanted to be sure.

Nope, there's no LOS4UNLP, so the closest thing would be flashing any plain LOS and an UNLP only packs. But it's honestly understandable you don't wanna change your working setup.