I hope this is not considered a low-effort post, but I wanted to ask if using stock Android without signing in to your Google account/ using Play Store is worth it. It should be more private, right? I’m planning on buying the cheapest Samsung phone there is (probably the A14). I currently have a stock Android Oneplus phone. I bought it before I had my “privacy epiphany”. I knew that you shouldn’t use Huawei phones as those “definitely” were spying on you; I read that Oneplus phones are safe because they use Western hardware, but they can still gather your data via the software, right? But I digress.

The reason I’m planning on buying a cheap (Samsung) phone is because I realized I don’t need a fancy phone (for me “fancy” is a 400 local currency mid-ranger). I considered getting a dumb phone as they are definitely private, but the utter lack of features is depressing. The main reason is I can’t give up the camera. So I’m willing to go with the cheapest smartphone, because it’s still miles better than the best dumb phone.

As I understand it, most cheap phones are not supported by GrapheneOS and besides I’m worried I might brick the phone. I’m willing to use APKs (from official sources and I only need a few apps). To return to my question, is stock Android without a Google account/ Play Store better than using an account/ Play Store?

EDIT: Thanks all for the useful replies. I’m still not sure what I’ll end up doing or what my current financial situation will allow me to do, but I’m pretty sure I’ll be moving away from Google anyway. Thanks again!

  • @[email protected]
    3•1 year ago

    I’m currently using DivestOS on a OnePlus 5T. Divest specifically avoids as much Google as possible, and after carefully selecting alternative services and apps, my phone does everything I need it to do.

    No way to use MicroG or Sandboxed Play Services on DivestOS though, so that’s only a possibility if you don’t need any apps that are dependant on these.

    OnePlus devices are well supported by both Divest and Lineage, so there’s that.

    Though Lineage is not a whole lot more private than other vanilla Android systems, it doesn’t do much to improve in this aspect. Which is why Divest exists, I guess. It’s a fork from Lineage.