I just wanted to share that you can disable google play store on stock Android and not lose that much functionality, if for any reason you use an app that require Google play store or you want to make a play store purchase, you can enable it again.

I personally disabled it and I get my apps from Aurora Store, ApkPure and Droidify.

It decreased my phone battery usage by a lot and I am less dependent on google overall.

27 points

Careful, Google is currently forcing apps to migrate from SafetyNet to PlayProtect!
SafetyNet is used by tons of security theater apps like banking 2FA. It is an API of play services.
PlayProtect is basically the same but you have to talk to it though google play. This is a blatant move by google to make exactly what OP is suggesting impossible, and means that if you do this, you may soon see many apps break that you are forced to use.

permalink
report
reply
6 points

I use a mix of opensource and closed source apps, so I would keep it disabled till something breaks.

But thank you for the heads up.

permalink
report
parent
reply
18 points
*

Apkpure isn he opposite of privacy respecting and resell u pirated apps 💀

permalink
report
reply
9 points

Don’t use Apkpure if you care abt Privacy and Security, stick to things like Aurora and Obtainium and you’re good to go.

permalink
report
reply
5 points
*

If you ever want to know how many apps use gapps on your phone, android apps with the hook have a “google play services avalability” notification channel, ive seen the settings app spam me notifications about its longing for gapps.

Dont let me discourage you though.

permalink
report
reply
4 points

But it’s only for Google Play Services, otherwise the app does not show a notification.

In more simple terms disabling google play store will not trigger a notification.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

My phone reports that the Google play store hasn’t logged any battery usage all day. Is it active for other users?

permalink
report
reply
-2 points
*

Do you really think it says the truth? I think I saw such systems lying in the past so can’t believe them no more.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

While I don’t fully believe it’s zero, it shouldn’t be too active. I have it set to notify me about updates and not auto install and I think it only notifies once a day while it’s still charging. I may have also disabled mobile data.

permalink
report
parent
reply

Privacy

!privacy@lemmy.ml

Create post

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

  • Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn’t great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
  • Don’t promote proprietary software
  • Try to keep things on topic
  • If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
  • Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
  • Be nice :)

Related communities

Chat rooms

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

Community stats

  • 7.1K

    Monthly active users

  • 1.5K

    Posts

  • 19K

    Comments