If anyone could point me to some information or guide about this I’d really appreciate that.

I think the official com.android.gsm and friends need to be uninstalled first. I’ve tried that with adb, console reports “success”, Google Play Services is no longer listed in Settings > Apps.

But… if I try to install MicroG via Fdroid or Droid-ify it goes through the install process, there’s no error, but MicroG Core is not shown as “installed”. If I try to install the apk with adb it says the currently installed version is newer than the one I’m trying to install?

microg.org seems to just assume you know how to install.

I read something about signature spoofing but I thought that was only for older devices.

Any insights / suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Edit: I think this is the answer: https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-degoogle-any-device-and-install-microg.4058743/

  • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
    1·
    9 months ago

    Well, it was a carrier branded ROM. I’ve flashed rooted stock A13, so not really “factory” but I take your point in that it still has google services.

    I’ve seen commenters in xda forums taking about this approach like it’s no big thing.

      • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
        1·
        9 months ago

        Sure, look I don’t know enough about this to contradict you but I’m not sure “GS are part of the ROM” is the whole story. The components in question like com.google.android.gms are just components, it’s just that a lot of other components rely on them. If you remove them it’s going to cause problems, but as I understand it the purpose of the microG suite is to mitigate those problems?

        I’m not sure I really have a specific goal. It’s a second / unused device so I’m just playing around with it really. I’ve always wanted to try Lineage but it’s not directly supported and I think there’s problems with the Camera amongst other things. I was reading on xda-forums someone said they rooted, installed stock android, then lsposed, and microG, and found the end result to be very pleasing, so I was just kinda following along with that to see where I end up.

        I think in summary I’m interested to see what sort of experience is possible without any (minimal?) google services or apps.

        I’ve updated the post since your first comment, I found a guide that I’m going to work through. I’ll let you know.

          • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.deOPEnglish
            11·
            9 months ago

            When a ROM is compiled, the compiler follows the build file, which means it’ll build in dependencies related to the files bing compiled. So simply remove/replace has a high risk of not working, since dependencies are unique to each file/component.

            There’s not really anything special here. This is how any software is built. Components have published APIs with which they interact with other components. The whole point of microG is that it emulates the same api as com.google.android.gms. I’m not expecting a 100% flawless implementation.

            This is a bit messy - rooting is done to a running OS, and unrelated to flashing a stock ROM. Stock Roms, as far as I’ve seen typically have Google Services baked in. Just clarifying.

            This just isn’t true, at least not in my case. I obtained a stock android ROM from samsung’s update server using bifrost. I then patched that ROM using Magisk and only then flashed it. So it’s patch then flash.

            Running without Google Services makes a fast phone and a battery that lasts noticeably longer. You could try simply freezing the Google Services files with something like 3C Toolbox (once rooted, of course). I think 3C can actually uninstall the files, but that’s a good path to boot loop (ask me how I know 😁 ).

            Even just freezing the files will often cause repetitive error notifications.

            This doesn’t really seem sensible? Of course just freezing google services will cause errors. MicroG is designed to emulate google services and mitigate those errors.