How to use an Android smartphone without a Google account?

Using an Android smartphone without entrusting all your data to Google is not impossible. The operation, which requires a little preparation, also requires that you change your habits.

Because leaving Google’s ecosystem on Android means getting rid of the tools and apps you use every day. Among them, the Play Store where you download and update your applications. But this is not the only element that will have to be abandoned. You will also need to cross out Google Maps, Google Assistant, Google Photos, Gmail, YouTube, etc. and find alternatives.

But to be sure of no longer depending on Google, and in particular on Google Play Services, the most motivated will have to roll up their sleeves to install a modified ROM on their device, cleaned of all Google applications. Handling can be complicated, especially since custom ROMs that can be found online are not compatible with all devices. It will therefore be necessary to do some research and follow the feedback of other users who have wiped the plaster before you.

Without going that far, you can perfectly configure your Android smartphone to do without Google tools as much as possible. Here’s how to do it.

1. Ignore the configuration of the Google account

To get rid of Google on your Android smartphone, start by backing up all your data before resetting your device to its factory settings.

Once the reset is complete, your smartphone will display the start-up wizard. It is during this step that you can start cutting the cord with Google.

When the window prompting you to use your Google Account to sign in appears, tap Skip. Google doesn’t hear it that way. Great lord, the company warns you, or rather, threatens you, not to be able to download an application, nor to save your data, or even worse, not to protect your device. Never mind, you choose to live dangerously by pressing Ignore once again.

But Google is tenacious. The firm will once again give you the pole to use Google Services. Refuse all these proposals. Deactivate all the options offered: the location and the options dedicated to “device maintenance”. Finish by pressing Accept.

And when you finally think you’re done, Google will try a penultimate forcing, by prompting you to add an email account, choose other apps, or even control the information on the lock screen.

Tap No, Thanks. And finally, when you thought you were done, Google urges you to go. Press Not now, otherwise you might unknowingly accept (read the small lines), a user experience program.

2. Disable Google apps

Now that you are on the home page of your smartphone, you will have to get rid of the Google applications, preinstalled on your device. With an official rom installed on your device, you will not be able to completely uninstall the preinstalled apps, but simply deactivate them.

Apps – effectively empty shells that download the full app when you open it – will no longer be available on your configured smartphone and therefore cannot be used. However, they remain physically present on the device, in a sort of hidden subsystem, used to reset the smartphone to its factory settings.

To deactivate Google applications, open Settings, enter the Applications and notifications menu, and choose to Show the X applications present on your smartphone.

For each Google app that you want to disappear, enter the detailed information of the app and tap Deactivate then confirm by tapping Deactivate app.

You can check for yourself that they have disappeared from the application drawer of your smartphone.

3. Find alternatives to the Play Store

The most restrictive element when you want to do without Google on an Android smartphone is undoubtedly that of application management. With the Play Store, you find, download and update your apps very easily. But by abandoning Google, you will also have to dispense with this comfort and accept the risks that this can entail.

You will have to be extra vigilant and choose your installation sources carefully outside the Play Store. Never install applications from a source that you are not sure provides minimal security checks. Many applications, available in the form of APKs, are diverted from their primary use and incorporate malware.

The simplest solution to install applications and update them will undoubtedly be to adopt the Amazon Appstore, Amazon’s Android application store, which functions more or less the same as the Play Store.

But if you are definitely going to quit Google, chances are you don’t want to sell your soul to another web giant.

As an alternative to traditional stores, you can turn to F-Droid, a free and open source application store that has the advantage of managing updates to the applications you install.

Finally, as a last possible solution, download the APK installation files to your device yourself. You will find verified APKs on our website Telecharger.com as well as on the website ofAPKmirror.

For all these solutions, your smartphone blocks for security reasons, the possibility of installing applications from unknown sources.

To allow installation of apps from unknown sources, start installing an app or APK file. In the security alert displayed by Android, tap Settings and choose to Allow this source.

You will have to repeat this operation each time you try to install an application from a new source.

Download Amazon Appstore for Android (apk) (Free)
Download F-Droid for Android (apk) (Free)