I am trying to install an App which for some reason will not install in the country I am visiting. The App is a free App, but Google Play has blocked it from downloading into this country. I managed to download the app from the evozi apk-downloader but when I click on it in File Manager it will not install and I get an "App will not install." error.
I would like to try and install the app manually but despite all my searching have not been able to come up with a way to do this. I tried copying the apk file to the system/app directory and rebooted, but that did not work. I then downloaded ZipSigner to sign the apk file and put the created opex file in the system/app folder and rebooted again, but still no results. I've tried some other installers but still unable to get it to install, even when I am offline with my GPS off.
How can I manually install an app to bypass the Google app installer?
charliep8 said:
I am trying to install an App which for some reason will not install in the country I am visiting. The App is a free App, but Google Play has blocked it from downloading into this country. I managed to download the app from the evozi apk-downloader but when I click on it in File Manager it will not install and I get an "App will not install." error.
I would like to try and install the app manually but despite all my searching have not been able to come up with a way to do this. I tried copying the apk file to the system/app directory and rebooted, but that did not work. I then downloaded ZipSigner to sign the apk file and put the created opex file in the system/app folder and rebooted again, but still no results. I've tried some other installers but still unable to get it to install, even when I am offline with my GPS off.
How can I manually install an app to bypass the Google app installer?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you enabled allow installation of apps from sources other than Play store if not go settings> Security> tick unkown sources and try it again it will surely help..and use the file browser from the phone and find the apk that you want to install n click on it and install
hit thanks button if helped
The app I want to install is FlightAware - I travel a lot, hence my desire to install this app before I return to the USA. I found that the ShopSavvy apk also has this problem. Both of these are freeware but somehow they won't install on my phone. My Google account was created in the USA with a USA address and has a USA credit card attached to Google Wallet, but with both apps I just get a "App not installed." error.
I already have the Unknown Sources - Allow installation of Apps from unknown sources Checked and the Verify Apps - Disallow or warn before installation of apps that may cause harm - Unchecked.
hmm then you sure those apks work correctly sometimes errors occur when its incorrectly or incompletely tampered.. or else try this go to settings> application manager>google play store and clear data and clear cache and do the same in google play services and try again
hit thanks button if helped
No, that did not work. I am really looking for a more technical solution to explain how to manually install an opp. Is this not possible in Android?
charliep8 said:
I am trying to install an App . . .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am assuming your phone is rooted. If not, then it will be better to root it before going further.
Here is a link you can try:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2231949
The ADB SDK is available here:
http://developer.android.com/sdk/index.html
App not installed fix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJTDwrp-gkQ
Video shows him choosing sim unlock, what does that have to do with apk not installed?
AngelFRANTIX said:
App not installed fix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJTDwrp-gkQ
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This guide can actually apply to any device and ROM
What is microG?
microG is a free reimplementation of GApps, which allows for more privacy and better battery life.
How to get microG on my ROM?
There are three steps:
Get rid of any GApps you already have installed (I don't mean Google Play Music etc, I mean Google Play Services, Google Play Store etc)
Enable signature spoofing
Install microG components & enable them
How to enable signature spoofing
The main component that microG aims at replacing is Google Play Services. In order to do this, it must be able to fake that it's Google Play Services, and it needs signature spoofing to do this.
There are three main ways to enable signature spoofing:
Some custom ROMs already have this as an option, such as crDroid. For a list of such ROMs and how to enable the feature, go here.
There is also an xposed module available here that enables signature spoofing
You can patch the ROM to allow signature spoofing. Either by installing someone else's patch, such as my patch for Asfand's RR 5.8.5, which you can download from here and enable at the bottom of the developer settings, or patch the files yourself using Haystack. You will need a Linux system to patch it yourself. The procedure itself is not complex, it involves downloading a set of scripts, taking 5 or so files out of your ROM, running 3 scripts on them them putting them back into the ROM. By the way: you do not need to operate like in the tutorial here, you can just take the files out of the ROM installation script, patch them, them put them in place of the files in the patch zip I created that I linked above.
How to install microG components
After having enabled signature spoofing, you want to install the various microG components. The classical way is to download the various files and manually place them into the ROM, but you can also use ale5000's unofficial installer and simply flash the zips he provides from your recovery. If you want Google Sync to also work you can flash the Google Sync Add-on he provides, or otherwise use something like DAVDroid for calendar and contact synchronisation.
Once you have installed microG, boot up your phone and open the microG settings app. Open the self-check section. Our goal is to have everything in this section ticked. If all went well, you should have signature spoofing and almost everything checked.
You will need to disable battery optimisations for GSF by tapping on the relevant section, so that it may maintain a stable connection (this is the same as with Google Play Services, just that it uses much less battery as it is not tracking your every move).
You will also need to enable UnifiedNLP in the UnifiedNLP settings (one menu back), configuring both a location and address lookup backend.
If you used the unofficial zip installer you should have Mozilla Location Service and Nominatim available. More information on the available backends can be found here.
Once you have enabled the backends you will also want to enable your phone's location services on High Accuracy or Battery Saving modes, and reboot.
You can now check if everything is ticked in the self-check section of microG settings (you might need to enable your WiFi or data connection and find your current location using some app in order for it to have your last known location checked).
You can the proceed to enable Google device registration to get the Play Store to work correctly and Google Cloud Messaging to get notifications to work correctly. Some apps may also force you to enable Google SafetyNet or they refuse to work.
You will need to reboot now to get everything we enabled to work properly
Extra information:
Currently Google Play Games is not compatible with microG.
Google Hangouts is only compatible through the use of a patched apk
To get Gmail working correctly you need to give it permission to access contacts
For extra privacy you might want to disable all permissions for Google Play Store except for storage
And that's it! You and your battery are now a little bit freer from Google's shackles :highfive:
Thanks bro we need it badly
Awesome thread, thanks bro !
I've added some extra information about apps' compatibility with microG and fixed some bits of the explanation
For Google Hangouts you can also use the official apk and simply disable a service in the app as explained here.
For signature spoofing there is also Tingle that work on all OS.
ale5000 said:
For Google Hangouts you can also use the official apk and simply disable a service in the app as explained here.
For signature spoofing there is also Tingle that work on all OS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I understood correctly the difference is that Tingle patches directly the OS you're running instead of patching the files and then placing them in the ROM/the system you're running.
gvlfm78 said:
If I understood correctly the difference is that Tingle patches directly the OS you're running instead of patching the files and then placing them in the ROM/the system you're running.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is similar to Haystack, but it use a different patching method.
Both patch a file in the ROM.
Tingle do:
- Get file to patch
- Diassemble jar file (this create smali files)
- Patch smali file
- Reassemble jar file
- Put back the modified file in the Android ROM
This guide explains how to deGoogle any android by removing most of google invasive crap. (yes, GPlay services is also removed).Play store, Google app and other crap is also removed from system, so if you want to use them, install them as user app. The installation for play store is different, and it is explained below.
Check my Post on reddit for more up to date info and clear instructions HERE
When we remove Gplay services, many apps and services stop working . Many apps will give error but still work (like maps and telegram and whatsapp). Play store will definitely not work and many apps that use push notification through Gplay services (most of them) will not be able to do so. In my case Uber, ola or any other ride app was also not working and was crashing constantly. Paytm will also not work without play services. And on top of that many apps that use location might not behave properly.
Whoosh! those are a lot of problems for uninstalling play services. So, why would anyone want to do that?
Simply put it, Google is an Advertising company. No it is not a company that sells product, i mean yes it sells products and earns from them BUT more than 60% of their revenue comes from Ads that they serve you. And yes, google is the biggest Ad company in the world with more than 80% of ad share (i may be wrong about the %, feel free to search yourself). So obviously they want ta make money out of your data (by selling it) and to do that what better way than to install spyware on world's largest mobile OS.
Google play services record your every action, tracking every app that you opened and everything you do. That data remains with google and they sell it to 3rd parties (and you agreed to it when you made Google account and setup your android device. Remember Clicking on "I AGREE"?).
Here i will not discuss how invasive it is. A simple Web search with "google play services tracking" will give you much more information. (and please do search it, i beg you) (Pro Tip: reddit has best answers, so explore reddit links from search)
Here is a good one explaining things
And Gplay services Eat a LOT of battery by constantly Running in background. So if you want better battery, remove it
So you have decided to degoogle your phone (and debloat it). What to do about all those errors after removing play services?
Here Comes MicroG. microG is an Open Source replacement for Google Play Services.
"MicroG is a free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries.
The linux-based open-source mobile operating system Android is not only the most popular mobile operating system in the world, it’s also on the way to becoming a proprietary operating system. How is that?
While the core operating system is still released as part of the Android Open Source Project, the majority of core apps are not. It gets worse: More and more libraries and APIs are only available on phones that run various Google apps pre-installed, effectively locking third-party apps to the Google ecosystem. For these reasons Android is described as being a “look but don’t touch” kind of open.
At this point, several popular open-source applications already require some of Google’s proprietary libraries to be installed. Increasing demand in the free software community in addition to severe problems in Google’s proprietary software discovered by the Android modding community, have led to the development of a free software clone of Google’s proprietary core libraries and applications - the microG Project was born.
Although most microG components are far from complete, users are amazed by the results. Free software users got extended application support, privacy-caring users can reduce or monitor data that is sent to Google and especially older phones can expect some battery life improvements."
(So it basically removes all those errors. Great!)
So, Lets start Degoogling!
Warning: bootloader needs to be unlocked, magisk should be there and twrp should be installed.
NOTE: MAKE FULL NANDROID BACKUP OF YOUR DEVICE BEFORE PROCEEDING BY GOING TO TWRP -> BACKUP -> SELECT ALL . store it in PC or somewhere safe
Removing google crap
Flash TWRP and install magisk.
We need Signature spoofing in the ROM. Download SmaliPatcher from here and tick all patches, (We are interested in the "signature spoofing" one but all of them are useful) and follow the instructions on its page to install that module. Now your system supports signature spoofing. (I recommend SmaliPatcher even if your rom supports Signature Spoofing so that no issue arises)
Other ways for signature spoofing are given in MicroG wiki here
(IF YOU ARE ON STOCK ROM)
In case you had the Google Play Services previously installed (which Users having stock ROM have), remove all updates and the packages in /system/priv-app of the Google Services (you can use TWRP file manager or any root explorer to delete below packages, just delete the apk files in respective folders):
GmsCore (PrebuiltGmsCore, PrebuiltGmsCorePi, PrebuiltGmsCorePix)
GoogleBackupTransport
GoogleFeedback
GoogleLoginService
GoogleOneTimeInitializer
GooglePartnerSetup
GoogleServicesFramework
Phonesky
SetupWizard
Velvet.
In case you forgot to remove the GmsCore updates, you can manually remove these using adb uninstall com.google.android.gms.
After that, reboot your android device - all privileged GAPPS should be removed. (a bootloop may be caused, but dont worry, just boot into TWRP and follow below steps.)
IF YOU ARE ON CUSTOM ROM-> after flashing rom zip, do not reboot and follow below (DONT FLASH ANY GAPPS)SIZE]
Make full backup of your device if not made till now
Installing MicroG
Download Latest "MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" from here
Add "system-" to start of package name (thus making it like "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" ) and copy it in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
flash "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip".
OLD METHOD, USE THIS IF ABOVE WONT WORK
Download the following from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
Copy below in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
flash NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip, now an aroma installer is opened. click on next , agree to terms and click next, chose save location "/data/media/0" (you can change this as per your needs but remember this location since here the installer will save 3 files) and click next
now from here onwards you can select yourself according to your needs or follow my tutorial till the end of aroma installer.
you should be on generic settings page, tick 'apps', 'maps apiv1', 'init scrips', 'gnu bash', and 'shell utils'. click next.
in microG page, select "full", next, on f-droid page select "official", next, select all 4 nlpBackends, next, now here select "play store(patrched)" if you want to use Play store (your choice, if you want to degoogle select "Aurora + fake store"), next
now select apps of your choice here, next, on Debloat setup page click next (yeah just skip it), and finally click on create config, next and finish.
Aroma installer Ends now.
Now while in twrp, connect your phone to PC and browse to internal storage (or the location you selected during aroma installer to save files)
the 3 files will be ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps". Copy these to PC and keep them in some place safe. Now open "nanodroid.zip" (that you downloaded earlier) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop these 3 files in it. (they should be in root of the zip where "meta-inf" folder is)
now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it.
now boot into system. if flashing nanodroid causes bootloop, restore from twrp backup that you made (i told you so!).
Configuring MicroG
You need to setup microG , go into microG settings (in app drawer or in settings) and set up everything like:
check results in Self-Check, grant all the missing permissions (by tapping on them)
especially the Battery Optimization item
if Phonesky (= Fake Store or Play Store) lacks signature spoofing permissions head to Settings / Apps / Permissions / Signature Spoofing and grant it
enable Google device registration
enable Google Cloud Messaging (only if you want to receive push messages from your applications)
enable Google SafetyNet, required for applications that utilize SafetyNet, for example Pokémon GO (Currently Broken)
in UnifiedNlp Settings choose all (whichever you've choosen to be installed)
Déjà Vu, Mozilla, Apple, and others (like GSM and WiFi Location Service)
Nominatim as Address lockup backend
after everything is done, reboot
if you installed Play Store open it, setup account and install your apps
Make sure you have all options ticked in self-check of microG settings (except maybe for last one). if not web search it or post it here.
Congratulations, you have successfully removed Gplay services.
ONLY IF YOU HAVE USED OLD METHOD (USING NANODROID)
Updates of nanodroid
Make full backup of your device before update. In case anything happens after update, you can rollback easilySo the nanodroid is updated quite frequently with the apps that come with it. So when you see an updated version of nanodroid on official download page (yeah there are no automatic updates, you have to manually check by going to the download page and download it) download below zips from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip (the updated version)
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (the updated version)
* Now open "NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip " (updated version) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop those 3 files [ ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps".] in it. (just like you did before)
* Now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it through twrp.
You may need to re-configure microG, so just do it again.
Huge thanks to the below members for the tools.
@FriendlyNeighborhoodShane for MinMicroG
@MaR-V-iN for microG (thank you sir!)
@Setialpha for nanodroid
and other ones whom i forgot to add
reserved
reserved 2
reserved just in case
Damn near best tutorial i've ever seen, thank you good sir!! :good::good::good:
i'm not sure i made it work completelly tho..
Coming from stock marshmallow on Galaxy Note 4. I uninstalled google crap first using Titanium backup even tho the phone seemed to get stuck when i was uninstalling the Google Play services, took it almost 1½ hour..). Then manually cleaned some leftovers using file manager in TWRP.
Then just for the heck of it tried to run the Nanodroid patch file but i got an error message that it couldnt deodex one x.jar file (can't remember it's name just now). Tried instead to patch with Smalipatcher but the damn thing couldn't see i have admin privileges no matter what i did and just refused to run alltogether.
Then i tried this way you described. Did everything as the tutorial says, got no error message, everything seemed to run smooth and the apps i chose were installed. (altho TWRP did freeze a couple of times during aroma setup so i had to reset by taking out the battery). Now i know i should set upp the microG settings, but the microG icon and the app is nowhere to be found. The modul named NanoDroid exists and is activ in Magisk, but it's not possible to open it.
Not sure what is happening and how to proceed from here.. Could you give a pointer or two? Would be much appreciated.
What about GoogleLocationHistory???
Is this one needed or does it have to be removed as well?
prkfsz said:
Damn near best tutorial i've ever seen, thank you good sir!! :good::good::good:
i'm not sure i made it work completelly tho..
Coming from stock marshmallow on Galaxy Note 4. I uninstalled google crap first using Titanium backup even tho the phone seemed to get stuck when i was uninstalling the Google Play services, took it almost 1½ hour..). Then manually cleaned some leftovers using file manager in TWRP.
Then just for the heck of it tried to run the Nanodroid patch file but i got an error message that it couldnt deodex one x.jar file (can't remember it's name just now). Tried instead to patch with Smalipatcher but the damn thing couldn't see i have admin privileges no matter what i did and just refused to run alltogether.
Then i tried this way you described. Did everything as the tutorial says, got no error message, everything seemed to run smooth and the apps i chose were installed. (altho TWRP did freeze a couple of times during aroma setup so i had to reset by taking out the battery). Now i know i should set upp the microG settings, but the microG icon and the app is nowhere to be found. The modul named NanoDroid exists and is activ in Magisk, but it's not possible to open it.
Not sure what is happening and how to proceed from here.. Could you give a pointer or two? Would be much appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
updated the guide, see new instructions
Retseem said:
What about GoogleLocationHistory???
Is this one needed or does it have to be removed as well?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
just search in internet what that does and if its useful to you, dont remove it.
Looks good! Almost there?
Thank you for your good work.! All seems well after I follow your steps using a AICP rom. All the checks in microG are green except the play store phonesky, that I can not fix but does not seem to be a problem
Problem:
One test case for me however is the app flightradar24. This app can be installed just fine from the Aurora store. When I start it however it prompts me immediately to install the google play services as they appear not to be installed or up to date. I can also install these from aurora, but haven't done that as it would defy the purpose of of all the previous work.
So my question is:
- Should I expect Flightradar24 to work on a minmicrog system on android 10?
- If so, where is it going wrong?
- Yes I have the microG location services enabled.
PS. Also I tested Gmail. It also complains about absent play services.
Addition: Actually I find that no application the requires Google is working at all. Did I miss something perhaps?
Samsung-frisbee said:
Thank you for your good work.! All seems well after I follow your steps using a AICP rom. All the checks in microG are green except the play store phonesky, that I can not fix but does not seem to be a problem
Problem:
One test case for me however is the app flightradar24. This app can be installed just fine from the Aurora store. When I start it however it prompts me immediately to install the google play services as they appear not to be installed or up to date. I can also install these from aurora, but haven't done that as it would defy the purpose of of all the previous work.
So my question is:
- Should I expect Flightradar24 to work on a minmicrog system on android 10?
- If so, where is it going wrong?
- Yes I have the microG location services enabled.
PS. Also I tested Gmail. It also complains about absent play services.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After further investigation I have not been able to run any apps that depend on Google play services. They all fail on not recognizing GPS.
All checks in microG are OK. I am puzzled
^- signature spoofing must be failing.
thanks for making this.
There's LineageOS with microG baked in: https://lineage.microg.org/
Hritwik said:
This guide explains how to deGoogle any android by removing most of google invasive crap. (yes, GPlay services is also removed). Play store, Google app and other crap is also removed from system, so if you want to use them, install them as user app. The installation for play store is different, and it is explained below.
Check my Post on reddit for more up to date info and clear instructions HERE
When we remove Gplay services, many apps and services stop working . Many apps will give error but still work (like maps and telegram and whatsapp). Play store will definitely not work and many apps that use push notification through Gplay services (most of them) will not be able to do so. In my case Uber, ola or any other ride app was also not working and was crashing constantly. Paytm will also not work without play services. And on top of that many apps that use location might not behave properly.
Whoosh! those are a lot of problems for uninstalling play services. So, why would anyone want to do that?
Simply put it, Google is an Advertising company. No it is not a company that sells product, i mean yes it sells products and earns from them BUT more than 60% of their revenue comes from Ads that they serve you. And yes, google is the biggest Ad company in the world with more than 80% of ad share (i may be wrong about the %, feel free to search yourself). So obviously they want ta make money out of your data (by selling it) and to do that what better way than to install spyware on world's largest mobile OS.
Google play services record your every action, tracking every app that you opened and everything you do. That data remains with google and they sell it to 3rd parties (and you agreed to it when you made Google account and setup your android device. Remember Clicking on "I AGREE"?).
Here i will not discuss how invasive it is. A simple Web search with "google play services tracking" will give you much more information. (and please do search it, i beg you) (Pro Tip: reddit has best answers, so explore reddit links from search)
Here is a good one explaining things
And Gplay services Eat a LOT of battery by constantly Running in background. So if you want better battery, remove it
So you have decided to degoogle your phone (and debloat it). What to do about all those errors after removing play services?
Here Comes MicroG. microG is an Open Source replacement for Google Play Services.
"MicroG is a free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries.
The linux-based open-source mobile operating system Android is not only the most popular mobile operating system in the world, it’s also on the way to becoming a proprietary operating system. How is that?
While the core operating system is still released as part of the Android Open Source Project, the majority of core apps are not. It gets worse: More and more libraries and APIs are only available on phones that run various Google apps pre-installed, effectively locking third-party apps to the Google ecosystem. For these reasons Android is described as being a “look but don’t touch” kind of open.
At this point, several popular open-source applications already require some of Google’s proprietary libraries to be installed. Increasing demand in the free software community in addition to severe problems in Google’s proprietary software discovered by the Android modding community, have led to the development of a free software clone of Google’s proprietary core libraries and applications - the microG Project was born.
Although most microG components are far from complete, users are amazed by the results. Free software users got extended application support, privacy-caring users can reduce or monitor data that is sent to Google and especially older phones can expect some battery life improvements."
(So it basically removes all those errors. Great!)
So, Lets start Degoogling!
Warning: bootloader needs to be unlocked, magisk should be there and twrp should be installed.
NOTE: MAKE FULL NANDROID BACKUP OF YOUR DEVICE BEFORE PROCEEDING BY GOING TO TWRP -> BACKUP -> SELECT ALL . store it in PC or somewhere safe
Removing google crap
Flash TWRP and install magisk.
We need Signature spoofing in the ROM. Download SmaliPatcher from here and tick all patches, (We are interested in the "signature spoofing" one but all of them are useful) and follow the instructions on its page to install that module. Now your system supports signature spoofing. (I recommend SmaliPatcher even if your rom supports Signature Spoofing so that no issue arises)
Other ways for signature spoofing are given in MicroG wiki here
(IF YOU ARE ON STOCK ROM)
In case you had the Google Play Services previously installed (which Users having stock ROM have), remove all updates and the packages in /system/priv-app of the Google Services (you can use TWRP file manager or any root explorer to delete below packages, just delete the apk files in respective folders):
GmsCore (PrebuiltGmsCore, PrebuiltGmsCorePi, PrebuiltGmsCorePix)
GoogleBackupTransport
GoogleFeedback
GoogleLoginService
GoogleOneTimeInitializer
GooglePartnerSetup
GoogleServicesFramework
Phonesky
SetupWizard
Velvet.
In case you forgot to remove the GmsCore updates, you can manually remove these using adb uninstall com.google.android.gms.
After that, reboot your android device - all privileged GAPPS should be removed. (a bootloop may be caused, but dont worry, just boot into TWRP and follow below steps.)
IF YOU ARE ON CUSTOM ROM-> after flashing rom zip, do not reboot and follow below (DONT FLASH ANY GAPPS)SIZE]
Make full backup of your device if not made till now
Installing MicroG
Download Latest "MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" from here
Add "system-" to start of package name (thus making it like "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" ) and copy it in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
flash "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip".
OLD METHOD, USE THIS IF ABOVE WONT WORK
Download the following from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
Copy below in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
flash NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip, now an aroma installer is opened. click on next , agree to terms and click next, chose save location "/data/media/0" (you can change this as per your needs but remember this location since here the installer will save 3 files) and click next
now from here onwards you can select yourself according to your needs or follow my tutorial till the end of aroma installer.
you should be on generic settings page, tick 'apps', 'maps apiv1', 'init scrips', 'gnu bash', and 'shell utils'. click next.
in microG page, select "full", next, on f-droid page select "official", next, select all 4 nlpBackends, next, now here select "play store(patrched)" if you want to use Play store (your choice, if you want to degoogle select "Aurora + fake store"), next
now select apps of your choice here, next, on Debloat setup page click next (yeah just skip it), and finally click on create config, next and finish.
Aroma installer Ends now.
Now while in twrp, connect your phone to PC and browse to internal storage (or the location you selected during aroma installer to save files)
the 3 files will be ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps". Copy these to PC and keep them in some place safe. Now open "nanodroid.zip" (that you downloaded earlier) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop these 3 files in it. (they should be in root of the zip where "meta-inf" folder is)
now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it.
now boot into system. if flashing nanodroid causes bootloop, restore from twrp backup that you made (i told you so!).
Configuring MicroG
You need to setup microG , go into microG settings (in app drawer or in settings) and set up everything like:
check results in Self-Check, grant all the missing permissions (by tapping on them)
especially the Battery Optimization item
if Phonesky (= Fake Store or Play Store) lacks signature spoofing permissions head to Settings / Apps / Permissions / Signature Spoofing and grant it
enable Google device registration
enable Google Cloud Messaging (only if you want to receive push messages from your applications)
enable Google SafetyNet, required for applications that utilize SafetyNet, for example Pokémon GO (Currently Broken)
in UnifiedNlp Settings choose all (whichever you've choosen to be installed)
Déjà Vu, Mozilla, Apple, and others (like GSM and WiFi Location Service)
Nominatim as Address lockup backend
after everything is done, reboot
if you installed Play Store open it, setup account and install your apps
Make sure you have all options ticked in self-check of microG settings (except maybe for last one). if not web search it or post it here.
Congratulations, you have successfully removed Gplay services.
ONLY IF YOU HAVE USED OLD METHOD (USING NANODROID)
Updates of nanodroid
Make full backup of your device before update. In case anything happens after update, you can rollback easilySo the nanodroid is updated quite frequently with the apps that come with it. So when you see an updated version of nanodroid on official download page (yeah there are no automatic updates, you have to manually check by going to the download page and download it) download below zips from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip (the updated version)
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (the updated version)
* Now open "NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip " (updated version) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop those 3 files [ ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps".] in it. (just like you did before)
* Now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it through twrp.
You may need to re-configure microG, so just do it again.
Huge thanks to the below members for the tools.
@FriendlyNeighborhoodShane for MinMicroG
@MaR-V-iN for microG (thank you sir!)
@Setialpha for nanodroid
and other ones whom i forgot to add
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is gold. Haven't tried yet but will be donating to the MicroG project if this works.
Hritwik said:
This guide explains how to deGoogle any android by removing most of google invasive crap. (yes, GPlay services is also removed). Play store, Google app and other crap is also removed from system, so if you want to use them, install them as user app. The installation for play store is different, and it is explained below.
Check my Post on reddit for more up to date info and clear instructions HERE
When we remove Gplay services, many apps and services stop working . Many apps will give error but still work (like maps and telegram and whatsapp). Play store will definitely not work and many apps that use push notification through Gplay services (most of them) will not be able to do so. In my case Uber, ola or any other ride app was also not working and was crashing constantly. Paytm will also not work without play services. And on top of that many apps that use location might not behave properly.
Whoosh! those are a lot of problems for uninstalling play services. So, why would anyone want to do that?
Simply put it, Google is an Advertising company. No it is not a company that sells product, i mean yes it sells products and earns from them BUT more than 60% of their revenue comes from Ads that they serve you. And yes, google is the biggest Ad company in the world with more than 80% of ad share (i may be wrong about the %, feel free to search yourself). So obviously they want ta make money out of your data (by selling it) and to do that what better way than to install spyware on world's largest mobile OS.
Google play services record your every action, tracking every app that you opened and everything you do. That data remains with google and they sell it to 3rd parties (and you agreed to it when you made Google account and setup your android device. Remember Clicking on "I AGREE"?).
Here i will not discuss how invasive it is. A simple Web search with "google play services tracking" will give you much more information. (and please do search it, i beg you) (Pro Tip: reddit has best answers, so explore reddit links from search)
Here is a good one explaining things
And Gplay services Eat a LOT of battery by constantly Running in background. So if you want better battery, remove it
So you have decided to degoogle your phone (and debloat it). What to do about all those errors after removing play services?
Here Comes MicroG. microG is an Open Source replacement for Google Play Services.
"MicroG is a free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries.
The linux-based open-source mobile operating system Android is not only the most popular mobile operating system in the world, it’s also on the way to becoming a proprietary operating system. How is that?
While the core operating system is still released as part of the Android Open Source Project, the majority of core apps are not. It gets worse: More and more libraries and APIs are only available on phones that run various Google apps pre-installed, effectively locking third-party apps to the Google ecosystem. For these reasons Android is described as being a “look but don’t touch” kind of open.
At this point, several popular open-source applications already require some of Google’s proprietary libraries to be installed. Increasing demand in the free software community in addition to severe problems in Google’s proprietary software discovered by the Android modding community, have led to the development of a free software clone of Google’s proprietary core libraries and applications - the microG Project was born.
Although most microG components are far from complete, users are amazed by the results. Free software users got extended application support, privacy-caring users can reduce or monitor data that is sent to Google and especially older phones can expect some battery life improvements."
(So it basically removes all those errors. Great!)
So, Lets start Degoogling!
Warning: bootloader needs to be unlocked, magisk should be there and twrp should be installed.
NOTE: MAKE FULL NANDROID BACKUP OF YOUR DEVICE BEFORE PROCEEDING BY GOING TO TWRP -> BACKUP -> SELECT ALL . store it in PC or somewhere safe
Removing google crap
Flash TWRP and install magisk.
We need Signature spoofing in the ROM. Download SmaliPatcher from here and tick all patches, (We are interested in the "signature spoofing" one but all of them are useful) and follow the instructions on its page to install that module. Now your system supports signature spoofing. (I recommend SmaliPatcher even if your rom supports Signature Spoofing so that no issue arises)
Other ways for signature spoofing are given in MicroG wiki here
(IF YOU ARE ON STOCK ROM)
In case you had the Google Play Services previously installed (which Users having stock ROM have), remove all updates and the packages in /system/priv-app of the Google Services (you can use TWRP file manager or any root explorer to delete below packages, just delete the apk files in respective folders):
GmsCore (PrebuiltGmsCore, PrebuiltGmsCorePi, PrebuiltGmsCorePix)
GoogleBackupTransport
GoogleFeedback
GoogleLoginService
GoogleOneTimeInitializer
GooglePartnerSetup
GoogleServicesFramework
Phonesky
SetupWizard
Velvet.
In case you forgot to remove the GmsCore updates, you can manually remove these using adb uninstall com.google.android.gms.
After that, reboot your android device - all privileged GAPPS should be removed. (a bootloop may be caused, but dont worry, just boot into TWRP and follow below steps.)
IF YOU ARE ON CUSTOM ROM-> after flashing rom zip, do not reboot and follow below (DONT FLASH ANY GAPPS)SIZE]
Make full backup of your device if not made till now
Installing MicroG
Download Latest "MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" from here
Add "system-" to start of package name (thus making it like "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip" ) and copy it in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
flash "system-MinMicroG-Standard-XXX.zip".
OLD METHOD, USE THIS IF ABOVE WONT WORK
Download the following from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
Copy below in sdcard or internal storage of phone. Now boot into TWRP
NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (if it causes brick)
flash NanoDroid-setupwizard.zip, now an aroma installer is opened. click on next , agree to terms and click next, chose save location "/data/media/0" (you can change this as per your needs but remember this location since here the installer will save 3 files) and click next
now from here onwards you can select yourself according to your needs or follow my tutorial till the end of aroma installer.
you should be on generic settings page, tick 'apps', 'maps apiv1', 'init scrips', 'gnu bash', and 'shell utils'. click next.
in microG page, select "full", next, on f-droid page select "official", next, select all 4 nlpBackends, next, now here select "play store(patrched)" if you want to use Play store (your choice, if you want to degoogle select "Aurora + fake store"), next
now select apps of your choice here, next, on Debloat setup page click next (yeah just skip it), and finally click on create config, next and finish.
Aroma installer Ends now.
Now while in twrp, connect your phone to PC and browse to internal storage (or the location you selected during aroma installer to save files)
the 3 files will be ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps". Copy these to PC and keep them in some place safe. Now open "nanodroid.zip" (that you downloaded earlier) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop these 3 files in it. (they should be in root of the zip where "meta-inf" folder is)
now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it.
now boot into system. if flashing nanodroid causes bootloop, restore from twrp backup that you made (i told you so!).
Configuring MicroG
You need to setup microG , go into microG settings (in app drawer or in settings) and set up everything like:
check results in Self-Check, grant all the missing permissions (by tapping on them)
especially the Battery Optimization item
if Phonesky (= Fake Store or Play Store) lacks signature spoofing permissions head to Settings / Apps / Permissions / Signature Spoofing and grant it
enable Google device registration
enable Google Cloud Messaging (only if you want to receive push messages from your applications)
enable Google SafetyNet, required for applications that utilize SafetyNet, for example Pokémon GO (Currently Broken)
in UnifiedNlp Settings choose all (whichever you've choosen to be installed)
Déjà Vu, Mozilla, Apple, and others (like GSM and WiFi Location Service)
Nominatim as Address lockup backend
after everything is done, reboot
if you installed Play Store open it, setup account and install your apps
Make sure you have all options ticked in self-check of microG settings (except maybe for last one). if not web search it or post it here.
Congratulations, you have successfully removed Gplay services.
ONLY IF YOU HAVE USED OLD METHOD (USING NANODROID)
Updates of nanodroid
Make full backup of your device before update. In case anything happens after update, you can rollback easilySo the nanodroid is updated quite frequently with the apps that come with it. So when you see an updated version of nanodroid on official download page (yeah there are no automatic updates, you have to manually check by going to the download page and download it) download below zips from here
full NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip (the updated version)
NanoDroid-uninstaller.zip (the updated version)
* Now open "NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip " (updated version) with winRAR or 7zip and drag and drop those 3 files [ ".nanodroid-overlay", ".nanodroid-setup", ".nanodroid-apps".] in it. (just like you did before)
* Now copy NanoDroid-xx.xx.xx.xxxxxxx.zip to your phone and flash it through twrp.
You may need to re-configure microG, so just do it again.
Huge thanks to the below members for the tools.
@FriendlyNeighborhoodShane for MinMicroG
@MaR-V-iN for microG (thank you sir!)
@Setialpha for nanodroid
and other ones whom i forgot to add
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is gold. Thank you. Will be donating to the MicroG project if they accept donations, worth every penny.
Edited on Dec.10,2021
It works like a charm with Havoc OS (Samsung S8)
Hi,
I just installed MicroG on a Samsung S8 running Android 7 and although the installation went perfect, without any errors, I don't have any icon, thus I cannot get access to settings. I do see the microG Services Framework application installed in Application Manager but I cannot launch it.
I followed the new instructions to the letter.
Please advise!
Thanks!
SafetyNet fails?
will this guide work on the Stock MIUI 12.0.9 for Mi 9T?
I could use some assistance finding some files. I've tried several methods but can't seem to locate the files below. I'm using a rooted and unlocked S20 5G (986U1) Can you help me with a method or app to find these. I'm using Cx for file manager but the search seems limited, or I'm doing it wrong.
• In case you had the Google Play Services previously installed (which Users having stock ROM have), remove all updates and the packages in /system/priv-app of the Google Services (you can use TWRP file manager or any root explorer to delete below packages, just delete the apk files in respective folders):
o GoogleBackupTransport
o GoogleLoginService
o GooglePartnerSetup
o Phonesky
o Velvet.
goobener said:
I could use some assistance finding some files. I've tried several methods but can't seem to locate the files below. I'm using a rooted and unlocked S20 5G (986U1) Can you help me with a method or app to find these. I'm using Cx for file manager but the search seems limited, or I'm doing it wrong.
• In case you had the Google Play Services previously installed (which Users having stock ROM have), remove all updates and the packages in /system/priv-app of the Google Services (you can use TWRP file manager or any root explorer to delete below packages, just delete the apk files in respective folders):
o GoogleBackupTransport
o GoogleLoginService
o GooglePartnerSetup
o Phonesky
o Velvet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Download an all called App Manager from F-Droid
Thank you for this guide!
I have two new devices that I'm not using.
LG K50s and Tablet Lenovo M10
Would like to get them in shape before any use.
There's no Lineage for those or found a linux distro.
Is this the best way yo get rid of all the crap, bloatware, spyware, tracking?
Does it get clean of trackers?
Thank you!