I have been thinking of getting away from the Google ecosystem (while still staying on Adroid) and microg has come onto my radar. I understand that it’s a service that tricks other apps into thinking Google Play Services is installed on the phone, thus allowing the app to work on a phone that does not have Play Services.
How do I find out which apps these are, exactly?
From what I have read, not all apps from the Play Store require Play Services, and exactly none of the apps from F-Droid require Play Services… is that correct?
The goal of this question is to figure out if I need LineageOS with microG or just LineageOS. I have moved off Google services already but still use some mainstream apps like WhatsApp, Snapchat, and TikTok.
TIA
Yes, but the other way. You can enable features, then that feature is available to all apps, then you will see a list of apps which requested that feature and when.
From what I have read, not all apps from the Play Store require Play Services, and exactly none of the apps from F-Droid require Play Services… is that correct?
Yes, that’s true. Banking apps can be tricky, and there is a list of problem apps on github, it can be outdated: https://github.com/microg/GmsCore/wiki/Problem-Apps
A bit more maintained list is here: https://community.e.foundation/t/list-apps-that-work-or-do-not-work-with-microg/21151
The app of my bank works fine, but I gave up on revolut as it needed some new workaround every week.
I’m using microg for years, I met with only a handful of apps which had problem with it.
We have a mostly dead microg community on lemmy, I’m the mod over there: !microg@discuss.tchncs.de
Thanks!
it implements a subset of play store features, notably a client for GCM/FCM so push notifications work. you can see which ones are subscribed in microG settings.
no idea how the three apps you mentioned work with that stack. maybe it’s time to look for alternatives, not just for this stack’s sake.
a subset of play store features, notably a client for GCM/FCM so push notifications work
So are push notifications then reliant on Google? Wondering not just for de-Googleings sake but for privacy too.
yeah of course. if you go the non-microG lineageOS way, every app has to implement its own checking for messages, that’s a significant drain on battery. there are non-google push alternatives, like UnifiedPush, but the app has to be written to specifically support it - element x, conversations and clones, Molly (Signal fork), KDE Plasma, etc. have it. but if you want an app from the play store, they predominantly can’t handle push on their own, you hafta open them manually and check for e.g. messages.
also, the notifications you receive via FCM aren’t readable by google, it’s just a signal for your app to wake up, then the app’s handler goes to its server, fetches the message and then locally forms and displays the notification.
Ok, thanks for explaining it.