So the new market does not play well with market access or market enabler.
And you can't live without the new market.
I found a trick for this maybe it's too much of a headache but if you want to use new market then what you have to do is
1. Install market access.
2. Go emulate say for example t mobile.
3. Go to settings/applications/manage/ and then uninstall the updates for market if any. .
4. So now you have the old market. Now open the market.
5. Then wait for some time. Since it is connected to t-mobile it will update to new market.
6. Now you can download all the apps you want with market.
The thing is it only works till restart. Then you have to repeat all the steps again.
Big hassle I know but if you absolutely have to use the new market then this is one way. Cheers.
Tried and tested on stock roms.
P. S. Simply use old market with market access and freeze market updater using titanium backup to avoid all the hassle and use US APPS.
I've been using market access and I have not had any issues whatsoever, even when I was updated to 3.1.5
Don't know about others but i have this issue, when i use market access it shows the currency sign in dollars but the applications do not show. For example if I search for vopium after a restart then it does not show in the new market unless i do the above procedure again.
Already installed apps show up just fine. Its the apps that are not installed that don't show up.
Please try for pandora or netflix.
I have heard some other people complaining about this so i put it up.
Edit: Also if you do the above procedure then it goes to US market page with movies, apps, games and books etc, after restart it goes off to Apps directly.
I'll try to make it as simple as I can.
Here is what I want:
CyanogenMod with root privileges
Full control over which app, service or system component can access my data and the Internet.
(at the moment for instance I can't alter the "network access" privileges of my apps)
Safe to use speech recognition software
Safe to use, sophisticated navigation software
My questions:
Is that even achievable without a ton of work?
Is there a simple way to flash CyanogenMod without pre-installed bloatware? (e.g. Google apps, Skype, Cortana, ...)
Which tools should I use to make sure that apps can only access what I want them to?
Is there speech recognition software for Android that doesn't require Internet access?
Is there a navigation app that is capable of using the offline maps of Google Maps without requiring an Internet connection?
(e.g. Google Maps makes itself useless if you don't update from their servers every 30 days)
From your experience, do apps refuse to work when you deny certain privileges?
ferivon said:
I'll try to make it as simple as I can.
Here is what I want:
CyanogenMod with root privileges
Full control over which app, service or system component can access my data and the Internet.
(at the moment for instance I can't alter the "network access" privileges of my apps)
Safe to use speech recognition software
Safe to use, sophisticated navigation software
My questions:
Is that even achievable without a ton of work?
Is there a simple way to flash CyanogenMod without pre-installed bloatware? (e.g. Google apps, Skype, Cortana, ...)
Which tools should I use to make sure that apps can only access what I want them to?
Is there speech recognition software for Android that doesn't require Internet access?
Is there a navigation app that is capable of using the offline maps of Google Maps without requiring an Internet connection?
(e.g. Google Maps makes itself useless if you don't update from their servers every 30 days)
From your experience, do apps refuse to work when you deny certain privileges?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude- You should start developing your own rom in this case.
But consfused here and at this point i think you dont know.
CyanogenMod & Cyanogen OS
Assuming- when you said, cortana etc etc--- i think you are on cyanogen OS.. Which is the original OS for 1+1.
1- To achieve, you need to work.
2- Some optimized COS builds in XDA one android dev section- try a search. but not latest 13.1.2-ZNH2KAS3P0. Root using SuperSU. and use system app uninstaller to remove apps you dont need. Some debloater zips also lurking around in XDA. If you install CyanogenMod, then no need of gapps flashing if you dont use google account.
3. you can stop background data for the apps you dont want. Settings in most roms.
4. Speech recognition can be used offline after u download all languages of your choice. Not 100% and dont use it.
5. Try Maps.me. i didnt know google map needed to be force updated every 30 days unless some one restructures the entire landscape and routes.
6. Certain apps refuse to work if you dont grant permission. yes. its like telling some 1 without hands to eat from hand,.
:good:
Thank you so much for your reply. I indeed did not know that there is a difference between Cyanogen OS and CyanogenMod. But if I understood you correctly, CyanogenMod comes without gapps. (I hope it also comes without Google Play Services?)
The offline speech recognition you linked to seems to be from Google. I bet it will require Google Play Services and an Internet connection after some time, just like Google Maps does and I'm really afraid of that.
I might give Maps.me a try, but I think Google Maps still has by far the best most detailed and correct maps especially when it comes to POIs.
I would consider using official Google Maps, if there was a 100% safe way to wipe all the data the app collects before I allow it to update the maps. Alternatively, maybe I could download the apps from a second device and just copy the map data over to my main device every once in a while.
An even more crazy approach might be to spoof the time/date data for Google Maps so that it thinks the 30 days haven't been reached yet.
But I would still be very concerned about Google Play Services. Would microG be sufficient for my purposes to replace Google Play Services?
edit:
Okay, I have a rooted CyanogenMod without gapps now on my OPO.
edit2:
I have Xposed with modules "Xprivacy" and "Per App Hacking" installed now.
Xprivacy is an app permission manager and "Per App Hacking" can be used to spoof the system time an app will see. Hopefully I'll be able to fool Google Maps with it.
edit3:
I have microG installed now. Hopefully this will be enough to run Google Maps.
I really need to make sure I understand Xprivacy before that though.
My recommendations:
1. I recommend full device encryption with long and secure boot password and easy to use pin lock screen password. Here's more info: http://forum.xda-developers.com/general/security/guide-separate-passwords-encrypted-t3048072
2. Get an email address from a provider that respects user privacy i.e. Riseup. https://riseup.net/
This is one the most important things to do if you don't want google / yahoo / microsoft scanning your email for surveillance / marketing purposes.
3. Use apps from F-Droid. It's an app "store" for open source apps.
4. Always use Afwall+ to have control over which apps have access to internet. Even better if you use Afwall with combination of Orbot. This way you can route some apps through tor (need a custom script though). Orwall does the same thing more easily.
5. Instead of closed source Supersu, use open source superuser http://forum.xda-developers.com/android/software-hacking/wip-selinux-capable-superuser-t3216394
6. For maps I recommend openstreetmap. Download Osmand from F-Droid. It has navigation too.
7. For cellbased location provider, use unified location provider found from F-droid. It's connected to microg projects.
8. For encrypted SMS use Silence from F-droid (recipient needs the same app if you use encryption).
9. For encrypted instant messaging use Conversations (XMPP client) from F-DROID. Or Riot (which will soon have strong encryption).
Hey tofu thanks for your answer, I appreciate it!
I'm only really concerned about my phones software spying on me.
About the email thing: I'm running my own email server for that.
But I'm still looking for a way to anonymously creating a google account without providing my phone number.
I'm using F-Droid already and it's great.
I'll never go back to the play store that's for sure.
And for anyone else reading this, please don't touch the amazon app store, it's pure poison.
I'm also using AFWall+ already, but I'm not satisfied at all. The creator doesn't really seem to care about ensuring that no data gets leaked ever. I read a lot of reports that data was being leaked every once in a while, especially during system boots.
This is really scary to me... I'd really like to have a safer firewall.
Blocking Internet/networking permissions directly just causes apps and the system to become extremely unstable. I soft-bricked my phone like 5 times while playing around with it the last few days.
I was not aware supersu was closed source. I'll switch to the open source alternative soon.
I just installed OsmAnd~ and I'm not very satisfied. Navigation was ok, the tts voice was absolutely terrible and I wasn't able to find a single POI, I wouldn't even be surprised if it would fail to find the next McDonald's to my place. Google Maps just seems completely unmatched to me.
And about that: I was actually able to get Google Maps running without Google Play Services installed and I was able to successfully use it offline, spoofing the system time for that app, so that my maps would never become outdated. I notices a few downsides though, for example it only works for car navigation (bicycle mode etc are not available). After completing the installation of all the microG components I wasn't able to get it to work anymore though (I couldn't download the offline maps, because I couldn't enter my google account data anymore...).
But I'll figure out how I did it and go with Google Maps then.
To complete the microG installation I installed unifiedNlp with GSMLocationNlpBackend.
For encrypted messaging I'll probably be forced to stay with WhatsApp, as I can't possibly convince all of my friends to switch. But hey at least WhatsApp claims that your messages are end-to-end encrypted.
But obviously WhatsApp will always know who I know... that problem seems pretty much unfixable to me though...
I have btw also tried to get Google Now (speech recognition) to work offline. But I was unsuccessful. I have read reports of others getting it to work for literal voice to text applications... it won't take voice commands though. So that's not very useful... unless there was a way to define your own voice commands somehow.
But my biggest worry at the moment really is the firewall. I feel like there is nothing that you can really trust to work reliably.
And also the fact that Xprivacy can't restrict file access to certain folders... it's either all or nothing.
The worst of all might actually be IPC though (inter process communication) which a lot of apps require permissions for. And from what I understand any app with that permission could use another app as a sort of proxy to access the Internet.
I'm using a Google-free device with maximum privacy, so maybe I can not answer all your questions but I can give you an idea. First of all - disclaimer: I'm here because my girlfriend has an Oneplus One (OPO), but I do not have one. I use her old Nexus 5 (N5), but you will get the general idea. You already noticed there is a difference between CyanogenOS (COS) and CyanogenMod (CM). It also took me a while to figure out that difference. If you still have a stock Android in your OPO, it should be a COS 13.1 which is based on Android 6.0.1 and comes with alot of bloatware from Google and Microsoft.
1. First step is to find a suitable ROM for your needs. If you are used to COS and have not much experience in chosing custom ROMs, you should give CM a try. Here is the official wiki which includes Download links and installation instructions: https://wiki.cyanogenmod.org/w/Bacon_Info
2. The 2nd step after installing CM is the full device encryption, can be found in Settings > Security. If you do it on a clean phone without any apps and data it only takes a couple of minutes and chances of breaking stuff are low at this step.
3. Now I usually root it (with SuperSU) and install some magic which is called XPOSED framework. It's something which allows you to install modules on your phone on system level, not like an Appstore, but rather like a Tweakstore. There are a lot if chances you break stuff and most of the modules do not work with CM, however, one module to beat them all is the XPRIVACY module. It gives you back full control on everything. You can manage App permissions, you can fake permissions or if apps do not want to run with your set of permissions, you can even feed fake data (like wrong GPS signals, etc.). Read more here. http://repo.xposed.info/module/biz.bokhorst.xprivacy
4. F-Droid, yeah, the one open-source repository for your new apps. I'll install it at this point.
5. Now, that the device is flashed with CM, probably rooted and with a custom recovery, you have to flash a stock recovery again and lock the bootloader. Stock recovery because it does not allow any malicious party (hacker with physical access, police, intelligence services, etc.) to deploy any code to your phone which compromises your privacy. Locked bootloader is important to disallow any malicious party to boot anything they want which also compromises your privacy.
And this is pretty much what you need to get started, a rock solid environment free from Google. Make sure you have a strong PIN, I also use randomized screen locker, so people can not "observe" the way you enter your PIN.
For encrypted calls and SMS there is Signal, but that does not work without Google services and LibreSignal, the Websockets version, was discontinued just recently. For encrypted IM use ChatSecure rather than Conversations. Both are XMPP clients, but Conversations does not allow you to import or export OTR keys, which is very annoying for an Jabber client. For not so sensitive chats, I use telegram.
Finally, not having Google Play and Google Services available, makes the experience a totally different for the android device. Apps like Snapchat which do not require Google, but still do for some unknown reasons checks for Google, wont run. Also, a lot of apps work without Google, but you can't install them without downloading suspicious APKs from dubious websites. Be very carefull from where you download and install software if you can not find what you need in F-Droid.
I hope that helps you for your considerations.
---
Edit, one more final note. I also use OsmAnd and have to say it never let me down on any occasion (except when I forgot to download the maps before going somewhere remote without internet). The geodata quality is excellent in most urban areas, but the interace and usability are a mess. If you find your way around in the interface, the navigation works out pretty well. I sometimes have issues calculating very long routes, but you start to live with that.
Thanks for your input 5chdn! Most of the stuff you mentioned it already on my phone.
I made some progress yesterday and I'd like to share my current configuration:
All the apps I mention in this post are (at the time of writing) available in F-Droid, unless stated otherwise.
Everything I mention in this post is free and open source, unless stated otherwise.
Recovery Image: TWRP
ROM: CyanogenMod
'Apps' that have to be flashed:
SuperUser (this roots your phone which means you can grant root access to apps)
Xposed (provides a lot of important privacy tools)
Apps:
F-Droid (app store that provides free open source apps)
AFWall+ (manage which app can access the Internet)
Autostarts (manage triggers that apps can use to start themselves)
AdAway (can remove ads from apps)
Xposed Modules:
BootManager (manage which apps can start on boot)
Xprivacy (manage/spoof app permissions for privacy)
Safely using Google Maps offline permanently:
Please note: Google Maps is not open source.
Install microG (open source alternative to Google Play Services)
The installation complete installation consists of:
'microG Services Core' (aka 'GsmCore') (app)
At the time of writing this app is NOT available in F-Droid. This app also automatically installs 'µg unifiedNlp (NO GAPPS)' for you.
'microG Services Framework Proxy' (aka 'GsfProxy') (app)
'FakeGapps' (Xposed module)
'FakeStore' (app)
'XposedGmsCoreUnifiedNlp' (Xposed module)
'LocalGsmNlpBackend' (app)
'NominatimNlpBackend' (app)
'µg unifiedNlp (NO GAPPS)' (app) (will be installed automatically!)
Install 'Per App Hacking' (Xposed module)
Use this module to spoof the system time/date that Google Maps sees e.g. to '2016-10-14 10:00' so that offline maps don't become outdated. The feature to spoof the time is called 'time machine'.
I would really like to improve what I got so far and share it with the community.
If you know of anything that could help improve privacy please tell me.
I do not mention things like device encryption, passwords, lock screens etc, as these are a separate issue.
I ran across this "solution" while investigating ways to avoid installing GApps on low-RAM tablets. It is not a perfect solution but if you want to be able to search, browse, etc., and download/install PlayStore apps right on your device, this may serve that purpose.
The app is called the Yalp Store and is available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore/
It runs just fine on the NST/G. Options are accessed via the menu "button". As default configured, it uses a generic shared login to access the PlayStore. You could substitute your own credentials, but I would advise against this as using this app would probably make the big G very angry. Search works fine, apps that are not compatible are listed as such and you can set the app to instantly download/install, just like the real thing. The app keeps track of your on-board apps, and can even be set to check for updates (probably unwise, as updates are likely to break functionality for our old devices).
Does this mean I don't need GApps?
Maybe, but probably not. One of the other things I discovered while pursuing this issue is that an increasing number of PlayStore apps which have nothing to do with Google sync or logins, incorporate a Google Framework Services API. So you may be able to download and install them but they will either refuse to run or else whine constantly about needing said Services to be installed. While GApps on the NST/G is not good for much these days except maybe Google Books sync, its hidden system files--which include the Services--may be needed to run PlayStore apps (like even the NPR app--go figure).
There are a few Xposed modules I tried that appear to be able to circumvent this issue (though not for apps requiring Google sync), but you're not going to get Xposed on the NST/G!
Anyway, there are a lot of other places to get apps (like the F-Droid store itself) but even if you get a "PlayStore" app from one of these sources, it may refuse to run if you don't have the GApps package installed. The Yalp Store app indicates which apps rely on GFS.
Edit: oh, and quickest way to exit the app is Settings > More > Log Out
Edit-Edit: no need for GApps except for Google Books. See https://forum.xda-developers.com/nook-touch/general/gapps-install-tested-confirmed-t3782459
the yalp apk installed but it isn't opening ...
aiamuzz said:
the yalp apk installed but it isn't opening ...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow...something majorly funky going on there with the packages at F-Doid and the GitHub. Version 0.32 is as you describe. Versions 0.31-0.30 install with a lot of Chinese characters in the title bar and then do not run. Version 0.29 from the GitHub gives a package parsing error like it's for the wrong Android version.
Version 0.28 from the GitHub is the newest that functions for me (although the anonymous login is broken). I've attached a copy below and I've made an issue report to the developer via the GitHub.
Edit: here is the response I received to my report of the issue to the developer: "Apparently, new build-tools (specifically aapt2) generate apks which are unusable on old androids.". So....it's not clear whether this will be addressed or not. One of the intents of the simplicity of the Yalp Store was to keep it available to Android systems as old as 2.0. Version 0.28 functions fine except for the anonymous login. If you use your own Google login you should be good, although you might want to open a separate account just for that purpose--to be safe.
update
Just a heads-up on the Yalp Store. The issues with installation, etc., seem to have been resolved with version 0.33 (available via the developer GitHub as of this writing, but not yet on F-Droid).
I had an issue or two at first with search but after exiting and reopening the app everything seemed to work fine. Categories are a little slow, but they do work.
I have the unlocked version, am able to root, but I'd rather not break the warranty till I've used the phone for a bit and found it's ok. Is there a list of apps that are ok to disable, including both google and motorola apps? I don't know that I want to disable every package that contains the word 'motorola', or google... Plus I'm sure there are some that don't contain those words.
From what I've been reading google seems to collect all sorts of data from the phone whether you have set up an account or not. I'm trying to increase privacy on the phone in the meantime. I'm installing other open source apps in the place of the google ones (for maps, calendar, gallery, contacts, video, etc) and disabling the play store. I've noticed that I can disable a number of apps via settings-->apps or by using adb pm uninstall. I'm not sure if using pm uninstall via adb is better? It looks like it just uninstalls the app for the current user, which implies there are other users that can use the app? Is there a user other than me running behind the scenes?
If I remove the google apps can google still sync or read my contacts, calendar, app activities etc even when using different apps?
Sorry if these are dumb questions, I'm trying to understand how this works. It is interesting, but it is very different to try to understand something when you're not a programmer or don't have the tech background. I'm not terribly technical but I would like to understand what goes on. If this is the right place please let me know where to ask. I have been searching for info as well but not found answers.
Hello,
I'm looking for info if is possible to successfully install and run google play and non android tv apps on oculus go.
Thanks in advance.
What has worked for me is Yalp Store.
https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.github.yeriomin.yalpstore/
Yalp Store let's you download free apps from the Play Store. I've tried downloading the Play Store, Play Services, Services Framework and Login Service from Google and seeing if that works, but Framework keeps crash looping and needs to be removed via ADB, might be a login weirdness though. Go is running Android SDK 25/Android 7.1, so keep that in mind when downloading apks.
The problem with system apps and services is that we should only mess with them if we have a way to flash a firmware back on.
I would not risk a brick or mess around for hours through ADB.
The reason is quite simple:
1. The GO is not a licensed Google device, so we would need to use a hacked playstore setup to overcome the nagging unauthorised device crap.
2. The system is based more on the Amazon TV stick, which makes things a bit complicated.
3. The play services and framework need to be modified to work with a VR setup.
A simple TV version will fail as we can't really match the required specifications.
At least not without rsking access to Oculus stuff.
4. The interest for developers or rom cooks is quite limited.
Aurora app store works great on the GO (https://forum.xda-developers.com/android/apps-games/galaxy-playstore-alternative-t3739733) I'd also recommend installing appstarter (https://github.com/sphinx02/AppStarter/releases) and then Oculus TV appstarter launcher (https://github.com/GyroJoe/OculusTVLauncher/releases). Then you can just go to unknown apps in your main app library to launch appstarter in oculus TV (much faster than opening OTV, scrolling down, etc). All your sideloaded app will show here (all apps do, but you can hide non-VR apps to make it less cluttered). Works GREAT!
Hi AspenMan. Thanks for pointing out Aurora app Store and the appstarter.
I am trying to install the FuboTv package and cannot get through without Google Play Services if I install the apk from apkmirror. Trying to get this in Aurora App Store - but I do see FuboTV but there is no way install it. May be its a quick help will point me in right direction. I want to watch my FuboTV on Oculus Go