For Freedom's Sake

The Back Story

One of my aims for this year is to get a phone that will work without having a Google account on it. The reason for that is having better privacy controls, and using that device as my main means of communications. Finding out that Google tracks everything I do on my phone is definitely a reason for that. However, is it really possible to not have to log in to a Google account to use an Android phone?

What is Play Services?

Many apps on our phones rely on an underlying service that makes it easier for those apps to leverage several functionality. This service includes the Location feature, Maps, Ads etc. If this underlying service didn't exist, the app developers would have to include all the code in each of their packages to make use of these features instead of just a reference to what Google already ships under the hood. They also provide updates on a periodic basis to bring in the latest features that they have developed.

Why should I care if Play Services exists on my phone?

It's Google, they gather all the data about you, including your application usage patterns, your notifications(probably from applications that don't even belong to the Google suite) etc.

The answer to the question.

It's definitely possible to run an Android device without Google Play Services. There is an alternative application store called f-droid which has applications that are completely free and open source. They usually need just enough permissions to run the application, and also do not expect you to run Google Play Services on your phone to be able to use them. When I finally have the device, I'll make another post about how much or how little I have to use the phone with Google Play Services for my essentials.