[Q] Best Way To Ditch My Main Google Account? - General Questions and Answers

Basically...
When I made my first Google Account 7 years ago.. I didn't exactly think about making a serious username. Lets do some math here.. I'm currently 18, so 7 years ago would make me 11 when I came up with my google gmail username..
Yea..
Problem is, I've stuck with it, still to this day, because there's so many contacts, purchases, music, data, storage, etc.. bundled into my account. 7 years of everything and anything google attached to a Gmail address that isn't formal enough for what I would like.
Since google does not currently offer simple Gmail address changes, the only solution for me would be to create an entirely new google account. (correct?) But I'll have to move everything over, atleast as best I can.. can't really move purchases over I don't think.
Anyways.. I'm looking for opinions on the best way to go about this. Has anyone done something like this before? Say anything! Thanks

It's called Google Takeout.
http://lifehacker.com/5934343/how-can-i-migrate-my-google-data-from-one-account-to-another

Related

[Q] Prevent cloud storage of contacts and calendar?

I just got a SNS as my first smart phone, I went through all the privacy and account settings I could find and disabled all sync options.
So imagine my amazed horror when I found that all my contacts and calendar entries (and wtf else) are being sent to mr google for access through google dot com/contacts etc
I also found you cant delete a primary gmail account once it's in there - so I cant find any way to stop this behaviour.
Is it possible to keep your contacts and calendar etc only stored local to the phone?
If not possible with stock 2.3 is there a mod like CM7 that doesnt use the google services?
Cheers!
I don't see how it's a bad thing. You never ever have worry about losing your contacts once they sync up with the mothership.
I don't you can access things like the market without a Google account either.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
@troopstar
Yes, it is possible to use the Nexus without a Google account in its stock and root state.
Stock and root you can tap the sign-in and navigate to the skip the Google sign-in, but as stated by Zardos66 you don't get to use the Google apps. Like the market, Gmail, Google voice and talk etc without some walk around.
You can sign-in and go back to the accounts & sync and uncheck the boxes and still use the phone and just save all contacts to phone only. This way you can still have access to the Google services if you choose to do so.
If you're so worried about your data being compromised or giving in to Google. Then why did you get a Google phone in the first place if you want to cripple the so-called "Google Experience" with a "Paranoid Experience?" Get a Windows Phone or iPhone.
Like seriously, you just defeated the whole purpose of a phone powered by Android. Google Apps are there to simplify your life. It just wants a warm hug back.
If you really want to cripple your phone and not have any Google services on then flash CM7 and dont flash the gapps.
zephiK said:
If you're so worried about your data being compromised or giving in to Google. Then why did you get a Google phone in the first place if you want to cripple the so-called "Google Experience" with a "Paranoid Experience?"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The question wasn't about "Google Experience" - the topic starter didn't want to get rid of Gapps, like GMail or Google Market. He just wanted to avoid syncing calendar and contacts to Google servers. What's wrong with that? I am getting my Nexus S in a week and I am worried about this issue too. I just don't want to sync online this kind of sensible data - I am perfectly comfortable with my offline contacts' and calendar copies on my PC and external HDD. I am backing up my cell phones from the year 2005 (always had SE, so I used MyPhoneExplorer) and I have never lost any contact, calendar entry or SMS. Hell, I have all my incoming and outgoing SMSes from 2005. I must admit that Google syncing is good for careless people who wipe their phones now and then and in doing so find themselves with no contacts, no calendar events and not even a saved backup to restore everything from. But it's not my case, do you see my point? I don't need Google to "babysit" me and offer his help in syncing my data to his servers - I back up my data very well on my own.
By the way, the "Google Experience" part in your post and your call for changing the Android phone for Winphone or iPhone was a very unpleasant and rude exaggeration. Basically, what you said was equal to saying, for example, that if you want to go the "French way" (or to have the "French experience", paraphrasing you words) you must eat frogs at the restaurant, and if you are of a different opinion and fail to do so - you are a loser. Personally, I hate frogs, but I will always go for a good french wine, so does it make my "French experience" less "french" than anybody elses? In other words, there is no need to be calling people "***holes" if their "Google Experience" doesn't match your own. It's an experience, and it differs from people to people. There is even a saying about that: "Experience may vary".
Getting back on topic, i.e. speaking of backing up in offline mode, I was wondering if you guys could gently help me by pointing at a good program that syncs Contacts and Calendar events to Microsoft Outlook 2007 (without uploading anything to Gmail). I know that the newest version of MyPhoneExplorer has the Android support, but does it work for Nexus S? If not, what other programs can do that? From what I've read so far, this issue is very crippled for Android (unlike many other OSes), but that was several months ago. Has anything changed in a positive way since then?
arbalet42 said:
The question wasn't about "Google Experience" - the topic starter didn't want to get rid of Gapps, like GMail or Google Market. He just wanted to avoid syncing calendar and contacts to Google servers. What's wrong with that? I am getting my Nexus S in a week and I am worried about this issue too. I just don't want to sync online this kind of sensible data - I am perfectly comfortable with my offline contacts' and calendar copies on my PC and external HDD. I am backing up my cell phones from the year 2005 (always had SE, so I used MyPhoneExplorer) and I have never lost any contact, calendar entry or SMS. Hell, I have all my incoming and outgoing SMSes from 2005. I must admit that Google syncing is good for careless people who wipe their phones now and then and in doing so find themselves with no contacts, no calendar events and not even a saved backup to restore everything from. But it's not my case, do you see my point? I don't need Google to "babysit" me and offer his help in syncing my data to his servers - I back up my data very well on my own.
By the way, the "Google Experience" part in your post and your call for changing the Android phone for Winphone or iPhone was a very unpleasant and rude exaggeration. Basically, what you said was equal to saying, for example, that if you want to go the "French way" (or to have the "French experience", paraphrasing you words) you must eat frogs at the restaurant, and if you are of a different opinion and fail to do so - you are a loser. Personally, I hate frogs, but I will always go for a good french wine, so does it make my "French experience" less "french" than anybody elses? In other words, there is no need to be calling people "***holes" if their "Google Experience" doesn't match your own. It's an experience, and it differs from people to people. There is even a saying about that: "Experience may vary".
Getting back on topic, i.e. speaking of backing up in offline mode, I was wondering if you guys could gently help me by pointing at a good program that syncs Contacts and Calendar events to Microsoft Outlook 2007 (without uploading anything to Gmail). I know that the newest version of MyPhoneExplorer has the Android support, but does it work for Nexus S? If not, what other programs can do that? From what I've read so far, this issue is very crippled for Android (unlike many other OSes), but that was several months ago. Has anything changed in a positive way since then?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Whoa. Didn't have to write a essay to me. Not even going to bother reading it because ur phone history and i can really care less.
If you read the ops last sentence in regards to cm7 without Google services. So was my post relevant? Yes.
If Microsoft wanted to they can create a Microsoft experience on Android with a manufacturer packaging MS apps like Bing, Bing maps, live mail etc.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Frankly, get used to cloud sync most os manufacturers are moving to it.
Microsoft even abandoned desktop sync for info management / backup (except for pictures and music) in Windows Phone 7. Microsoft makes the majority of their money from desktop software (like outlook) so when they say direct desktop sync is dead it really is.
atlp99 said:
Frankly, get used to cloud sync most os manufacturers are moving to it.
Microsoft even abandoned desktop sync for info management / backup (except for pictures and music) in Windows Phone 7. Microsoft makes the majority of their money from desktop software (like outlook) so when they say direct desktop sync is dead it really is.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I dont get why people don't trust these companies. Like really, if they were to compromise your data or it get compromised. It would devastate the company, it would damage their reputation in the business world. Leading to investors panicing and selling etc etc.
This isn't a business lecture so I wouldn't even go in depth. Long story short, it would look bad on their part and all the trust they would of gained would be lost by consumers and investors.
Well... don't wanna sound like a jackass or something, but to be plain simple: who gives a f#@% about your personal data? I mean aside yourself. It's simply not useful for anyone else, and I seriously doubt there's an evil dude siting in a chair in a dark room at montain view, laughing maniacly cause you just synced your phone book into google servers.
For them it's just statistics, no personal info is relevant. If the guy wanna keep all his data offline cause he don't think is safe enough to leave it in a server (gmail accounts being resetd)... Than I think is a lot more likely his phone get stolen and his house burn to the ground in the same day than google losing it somehow.
But it's free world and everyone can do whatever they want, so if I'm not mistaken all you have to do is skip the login at the beginning (like when you wipe your phone) and add the account manually and uncheck all kind of sync. And just to be sure don't put a sin card on the phone or activate the internet before u set it up.
And ofc delete all info in gmail contacts.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
The funniest thing would be to learn that the OP uses Facebook...
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Nutsonfire said:
The funniest thing would be to learn that the OP uses Facebook...
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You'll be sad to hear that I havent ever used Facebook
I'm surprised by the hostility of some of the responses here. I like to think I'm pro-choice / freedom to tinker - let me choose to sync to the cloud and get the so called great experience, or choose to keep things local.
Mr Google already knows my porn surfing habbits and who I email via gmail, adding my phone contacts list gives pretty much a 100% view of my 'social network'.
I'm an Aussie, and while I guess my government here could get a bunch of warrants to piece this picture together - I have faith that this isnt gonna happen as I'm not a criminal or terrorist.
While I love you yanks (what we call Americans), I dont understand your legal system, and dont like the idea of all my info being mined courtesy of Google and the Patriot Act.
Call me paranoid if you like, but deny me this choice and I call you a wanker.
I thought a premise of an open source OS like Android was the ability to customise, not be locked into stuff like this?
gratti said:
Well... don't wanna sound like a jackass or something, but to be plain simple: who gives a f#@% about your personal data? I mean aside yourself. It's simply not useful for anyone else, and I seriously doubt there's an evil dude siting in a chair in a dark room at montain view, laughing maniacly cause you just synced your phone book into google servers.
For them it's just statistics, no personal info is relevant. If the guy wanna keep all his data offline cause he don't think is safe enough to leave it in a server (gmail accounts being resetd)... Than I think is a lot more likely his phone get stolen and his house burn to the ground in the same day than google losing it somehow.
But it's free world and everyone can do whatever they want, so if I'm not mistaken all you have to do is skip the login at the beginning (like when you wipe your phone) and add the account manually and uncheck all kind of sync. And just to be sure don't put a sin card on the phone or activate the internet before u set it up.
And ofc delete all info in gmail contacts.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did skip the initial login, however I had to add an account later to use the Market.
My contacts list is not being synced with new ones I add, but I think it did a one-time sync when I added the account as all those in the phone at the time are there.
I guess I'll have to use a packet sniffer to see if new ones are being sent to google anyway (if not displayed).
Thanks for the tip about just deleting them - I'll do that and hope no future 'oops' does a reverse sync and delete them all off the phone.
zephiK said:
Whoa. Didn't have to write a essay to me. Not even going to bother reading it because ur phone history and i can really care less.
If you read the ops last sentence in regards to cm7 without Google services. So was my post relevant? Yes.
If Microsoft wanted to they can create a Microsoft experience on Android with a manufacturer packaging MS apps like Bing, Bing maps, live mail etc.
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Touchdown works great with exchange. And there is no need to use Google with it. Hope that helps.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
gratti said:
Well... don't wanna sound like a jackass or something, but to be plain simple: who gives a f#@% about your personal data? I mean aside yourself. It's simply not useful for anyone else, and I seriously doubt there's an evil dude siting in a chair in a dark room at montain view, laughing maniacly cause you just synced your phone book into google servers.
For them it's just statistics, no personal info is relevant. If the guy wanna keep all his data offline cause he don't think is safe enough to leave it in a server (gmail accounts being resetd)... Than I think is a lot more likely his phone get stolen and his house burn to the ground in the same day than google losing it somehow.
But it's free world and everyone can do whatever they want, so if I'm not mistaken all you have to do is skip the login at the beginning (like when you wipe your phone) and add the account manually and uncheck all kind of sync. And just to be sure don't put a sin card on the phone or activate the internet before u set it up.
And ofc delete all info in gmail contacts.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't read your whole post but I'm gonna answer that first statement about evils dudes and your personal data
Your right there not going to hack your data but they will sell it to other people. In turn sell it for thousands of dollars to people looking for a marketing crowd. I'm not saying Google does this but the risk does exist. Personally I trust Google with my data but I can definitely understand if people don't trust them. Android is about an open experience which means if someone doesn't want tosync to Google theta shouldn't have too.
Am I wrong in saying this?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and Sync
As suggested though, why get a cloud phone when you don't want to use it?
thommcg said:
Menu -> Settings -> Accounts and Sync
As suggested though, why get a cloud phone when you don't want to use it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Fair question.
I was expecting the latest greatest android phone, from the guys doing the android dev, and with excellent intergration to google services if I wanted to use em.
I had nfi, and it wasnt on anything in the box, that all my contacts are synced to 'the cloud'.
Sure as an option that's cool but it appears to be a lot more tightly coupled, and thats my concern.
troopstar said:
Fair question.
I was expecting the latest greatest android phone, from the guys doing the android dev, and with excellent intergration to google services if I wanted to use em.
I had nfi, and it wasnt on anything in the box, that all my contacts are synced to 'the cloud'.
Sure as an option that's cool but it appears to be a lot more tightly coupled, and thats my concern.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its not.
Go into sync the gmail then untick where it says contacts or gmail or whatever else. Viola, no more syncing of contacts with your phone. Just by default it is ticked because most people want their contacts synced I would assume but its very easy to stop it. Just follow the insturction above.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
dsellers2 said:
I didn't read your whole post but I'm gonna answer that first statement about evils dudes and your personal data
Your right there not going to hack your data but they will sell it to other people. In turn sell it for thousands of dollars to people looking for a marketing crowd. I'm not saying Google does this but the risk does exist. Personally I trust Google with my data but I can definitely understand if people don't trust them. Android is about an open experience which means if someone doesn't want tosync to Google theta shouldn't have too.
Am I wrong in saying this?
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should had read until the second paragraph. Like I said before for them it's just statistics. Like, you sync your phone book and X% of your contacts are off state or international. That info is sent, so next time you log into gmail you gonna see an offer about long distance calls. Like I said, statistics.
They are not selling your info, they are selling the statistics they collect about their userbase. And thx to that you don't pay a dime for the best mail service around, and for that matter all google services.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
troopstar said:
Fair question.
I was expecting the latest greatest android phone, from the guys doing the android dev, and with excellent intergration to google services if I wanted to use em.
I had nfi, and it wasnt on anything in the box, that all my contacts are synced to 'the cloud'.
Sure as an option that's cool but it appears to be a lot more tightly coupled, and thats my concern.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you checked about sync options inside gmail? I would not be surprised if the contacts were getting pulled from the phone, so next time you would send a mail from browser you would had your contacts ready. That's google like.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

[Q] How Do I Get My Apps Back???

Hi,
When I first got my phone a month ago and not knowing what I was doing, when prompted to log into a Gmail account, I set things up with my tertiary/third-most-used account. Little did I know the consequences. When I decided I wanted to now set the phone up with my primary account, I discovered that the only way to do so was with a hard reset!
Well, after going through that process and now wanting to download and install several dozen Market apps that I previously had installed (several of which I'd paid for), I logged into Market, only to find a message saying "No downloads from Android Market."
I assume that Market doesn't recognize my new Gmail address as belonging to the same person as the one I was using previously (even after I added it). Is there a way that I can associate the two accounts for Market so that I can get my apps back?
Thanks!
This might be a dumb question and a little too late, but is there a reason you NEED the phone set up with your most used account? If I'm not mistaken, it ought to be painfully easy to set the phone up with a second google account for things like gmail and calendar and such. You might even be able to get contact sync from a second google account, with apps and such just syncing from the old account that you already used for that purpose.
I'd have at least given that a try before doing a full wipe, but you might have reasons I haven't thought of yet.
Not a dumb question at all. In fact, I'm the one feeling pretty dumb right now, for jumping the gun like I did. I did have a couple of other reasons, but I'm beginning to see that it wasn't as
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
(Well, that wasn't ready to go....)
...worth the cost. The other problem now is that I'm deluged by mail from my primary Gmail account. It also goes to my ISP account, where I can read it much more efficiently.
I can see another hard reset in my near future. :-(
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App
I can tell you from experience (I've flashed a few roms...) that a hard reset isn't nearly as hard when you're syncing to the google account that has all your contacts and apps attached to it...
Silas, you lost me. What do you mean that it isn't as hard? Because you don't lose as much data? Are you talking about doing a hard reset without switching accounts like I did?
Would I be better to reset again (not a big deal at this point) and go back to the way it was, or not? Would I get my apps back (I hope)?
FWIW, I use my Gmail accounts only to collect and back up my email accounts, and for quick searches. I thought I might start using Google Calendar, though, and thought it might be better to use the one in my main Gmail account. Possibly I could sync the same calendar to both accounts,though -- could I?
And finally, is there any way at all to get my paid apps back with my current setup?
Thanks, everyone.
Sent from my Inspire using XDA App
This might help you. Go into gmail and click the account address in the upper right corner. At the bottom is an option for adding an account. You should be able to let you apps back after adding that other account back. Hope it helps. If not, at least I tried.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
Well, I thought I had replied a couple of hours ago, and here's my message, still waiting to post. Sigh....
Thank you, ZeroRilix. Unfortunately, no dice.
When I did that, there were already three accounts there. After hard resetting and setting up my primary Gmail account, I had also set up my other two Gmail account in Accounts & sync in Settings. However, when I viewed them as you suggested, it said that neither of them had been synced. So I made sure that Contacts, Calendar, and Mail were synced for all three accounts. When I went into Market and viewed My Apps, all I saw were still the few I had downloaded since the hard reset.
Thanks, though....
No prob. Everything you've already tried should've worked. I might suggest contacting Android Market and letting them know what's going on. I have included the link to the appropriate form to fill out. Sorry your still having issues, and maybe they can help you further. If you get the issue resolved, post back here so users who might run into this same issue cam fix it. Good luck!
http://market.android.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=market_phone
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
ZeroRilix said:
http://market.android.com/support/bin/request.py?contact_type=market_phone
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I thought for sure I'd replied to this, but I can't see my response anywhere. Don't know why I'm having such trouble posting.
Thanks very much for this. I sent a support request yesterday and will let you know what they say. Unfortunately, it's Saturday, and I assume nobody's there to answer. Why do things always go wrong on the weekend?
Hi,
Here's my latest update. Not wanting to wait till Monday or later for a reply from Market Support, I decided to try posting my question to the Android forum at androidforums.com. I got a couple of helpful responses and I'm back in business. Here's the thread for anyone interested:
http://androidforums.com/android-applications/335710-how-can-i-recover-my-market-apps.html OR
goo.gl/FhiLP
The short version is that I started over the way I had initially and all my apps downloaded automatically!
Thanks again for the help.

[Q] Carbon Rom - free from Google?

I have a barely used Tmobile Exhibit sitting around and saw Carbon has a ROM for it thanks to Meticulous ... I know Carbon is based on AOSP and my question is does Carbon remove Google dependency from the phone? I watched a tube vid where a guy installed carbon and upon first reboot, it went through the normal Android setup steps like sync with a gmail acct so me thinks the answer is no but I want a definitive answer before I give up.
I ask because after breaking my WM phone, all we have are Android phones BUT I hate the idea that Google is so integrated into things that I consider personal and mine. NOOOOO I don't want to sync my contacts, passwords, usage info, etc on Google servers thank you. I have my own servers I can do that for if I wanted ... thanks!
master-richie said:
I have a barely used Tmobile Exhibit sitting around and saw Carbon has a ROM for it thanks to Meticulous ... I know Carbon is based on AOSP and my question is does Carbon remove Google dependency from the phone? I watched a tube vid where a guy installed carbon and upon first reboot, it went through the normal Android setup steps like sync with a gmail acct so me thinks the answer is no but I want a definitive answer before I give up.
I ask because after breaking my WM phone, all we have are Android phones BUT I hate the idea that Google is so integrated into things that I consider personal and mine. NOOOOO I don't want to sync my contacts, passwords, usage info, etc on Google servers thank you. I have my own servers I can do that for if I wanted ... thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
When first stetting up the device, you can skip the logins and account syncs. The ROM also most likely comes without the "Gapps" (Google Apps), which would include things like Maps, Play Store, Gmail, etc, and you're free to choose what you may want to install. If you do choose to login when first setting up, it'll give you a list of things to (un)check for account syncing.

How does Google decide who to suggest for people to follow on Play Store?

It is starting to feel creepy.
How does the "People" section in the Play store make suggestions for people to follow?
I had another google account that I closed and it clearly was getting them from my contacts. It creeped me out a bit as I'm ridiculously cautious as to any type of web presence for work. I deleted that account, created a new one and have never put any contacts on my phone nor on the google servers. I use a third party contact app from Verizon that is in the cloud now. I have no Google+ account and don't even use gmail on that account, it is tied to a private email address.
Today I notice it is suggesting people I know from 20 years ago. People I went to high school with that I haven't spoken to in years. Not just one or two, but like ten. What are the odds??? I am assuming it is geographically based but would like to hear more. It's just odd to me. Thankfully it's no longer suggesting business associates, etc. because it no longer has access to that info on my new account.
Also, since I have no Google+ account and don't ever plan on creating one, does this mean that I do not show up to them or would I still show up? (Also, I do keep in contact with one of the 20 people I actually knew, and they use iPhone, not Android. So obviously it wasn't because they linked us from her contacts.)

Migrate old Google account to a new one

I recently decided to change my old Google account to a new one. What's the easiest way to migrate everything over to the new Google account? I'm hoping to transfer Gmail, Calendar, YouTube, Drive, Tasks, Photos and my Play Store purchases (among others but these are my main concern).
Can I do this with Google Takeout?
Does anyone offer a software program to accomplish this?
I sincerely appreciate any help you can offer.
Did you try searching Google?
I did, but there is nothing very complete. Seems like you have to piecemeal everything together. Nothing that does it all for you? Software you can purchase?

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