this post was submitted on 18 Feb 2025
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DeGoogle Yourself

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DeGoogle my Android (lemmy.ml)
submitted 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) by FarAway@lemmy.ml to c/degoogle@lemmy.ml
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Hello. I have been trying to DeGoogle for about one month, migrating from Google to other services. But the biggest obstacle is Android, which is deeply embedded with Google services and, of course, trackers. It's really, really hard to replace it with alternatives. There are no alternatives I know that are compatible with my phone. Maybe I will have to buy a new phone, or look for even more alternatives, or code my own operating system (OS) (but I can't code!). I don't know whether I can De- this Android. Hmmm...

Is there any good way to De- this Android? If I can't, is there any way to improve privacy and minimize the ability and impact of Google on this "failed to DeGoogle" phone? Thanks for any advice.

I'm using Redmi Note 13.

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[–] paradox2011@lemmy.ml 20 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Try these two apps out. They'll help you remove deeply integrated stuff. If you don't need the Google Play store you can outright firewall it from internet access.

  1. Universal Android Debloater. It'll guide you through removing whatever extra stuff the manufacturer put on that you don't want. It's great.
  2. Netguard. This will let you see all the apps and services that are making calls out, and what they are calling. Then you can simply block what you want and deny access to the internet for any proprietary app.
[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

+1 for the Universal Android Debloater, but you linked to an unmaintained version

Here's the most up-to-date fork: https://github.com/Universal-Debloater-Alliance/universal-android-debloater-next-generation

[–] paradox2011@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Interesting, I hadn't noticed the OG app had been abandoned. Thanks for the correction!

[–] Andromxda@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I hadn’t noticed the OG app had been abandoned

Last Git commit was on April 10th 2023, so it's safe to say that the repo is unmaintained

The history of UAD goes back even further. The development started on GitLab (https://gitlab.com/W1nst0n/universal-android-debloater), but that repo was abandoned on October 7th 2021.

[–] paradox2011@lemmy.ml 2 points 3 days ago

FOSS is a two sided coin: it's awesome that anyone with an interest can continue a project when the original maintainers disperse, but man you have to watch your software carefully for the most actively maintained forks. Thats happened to me on a bunch of apps: Breezy Weather, Paperless-ngx, Cromite, Ironfox, Simple Calendar and on and on 😂. It takes time, but it's worth it.