De-Googleing Android
Base OS and essental applications
When I first attempted to De-Google my Android, I did it with a second hand phone. I wanted to be able to experiment without hindering my ability to use 2FA auth for work. I would recommend this, because it's not always going to be the case that things go smoothly. There are always things that don't work, and the first time you do it you may end up having to reflash your phone a few times so you don't want to be depending on it. I was unable to find any guides, and there were no images from Graphine or the other de-Googeled variants.
Installing the OS
My first attempt I used LineageOS and MicroG, I couldn't get Cloud messages to work and I couldn't get some banking apps working. I tried to figure it out but couldn't understand
MicroG requires a patch called "signature spoofing", the MicroG project produces their own patched MicroG patched LineageOS images. Without this it doesn't work properly.
Installing Apps
There are 2 stores that you'll need, FDroid and Aurora Store. You will probably need both because there are some applications that just can't be installed without Aurora. For example I use my phone for PagerDuty so I require Aurora Store to install that.
But there is one caveat, Aurora will try to remove parts of MicroG if you don't disable it. The MicroG application that emulates Google Play Services will show up in your store when an upgrade occurs. There is away to avoid accidentally trying to upgrade it or delete it, which is what I did. Within the Aurora Store sidebar, there is an option called blacklist you should turn this on for:
- microG Services Core
- microG Services Framework Proxy
Magisk
Magisk is used with another extension called Zygisk it's available under the Magisk settings. It's used to hide from applications that the phone is rooted. This is required if you want to run any banking apps. I don't use many, but some apps just brick themselves if they detect that you are using your device in a way they don't like.
Mission accomplished?
Not, it's not. Before you decide to port all you stuff, you should experiment with all the applications you need and make sure all your manditory apps work. It is a total waste, migrating if you can't use it as a daily driver. The main apps to test are:
- Banking
- 2FA
In my case, I have been forced to use a MitID dongle, because the app blocks rooted phones.
Success
There you have it, those are the major tools and steps that are needed to support de-Googleing. I had been running rooted android phones for years, had i know about the MicroG Lineage fork, it would have saved me days.