How to remove Google Apps from Android

I’ve become sceptical of how google is using the data I have generated for them over the last decade and despite paying for their storage services I feel more like a product than I do a customer. I’m also wary of how dependent I am becoming on a single platform provider. I feel like every part of my digital life – my photos, my mail, my passwords, and my two-factor codes, were locking me into an ecosystem I have no say in and instead of serving me is actually serving them. I feel like I was a data generator for a company, another source for them to mine.

This is why I decided to de-google my Android phone. In this journey what I found is that I was more locked in to Google than I first realised. It penetrated almost every aspect of my life. They know every site I log in to. They know who my closest friends are, the ones I contacted most, and the people I was acquainted with. They have their trackers on almost every site on the web, knowing when I access sites even though I’m not logged in on them. Building a digital profile of me so they can better target me with ads and for other purposes I may not even be aware of.

Why bother cleaning up your apps and de-googling at all?

It’s a good question, after all none of this is illegal, none of it’s dangerous, and Google’s services mostly just… work. So why spend a weekend uninstalling apps and figuring out what alternatives there are? Why spend time at all getting away from it.

For me it comes down to trust. Do I still fully trust this company with all the data I’m generating for it? Do I trust that company to continue to operate the services I use under the agreements I understand and trust? Google has the right to pull the rug from under my feet anytime they want. As the past shows us Google is not afraid of doing that. They’ve taken away their free photo storage, free email, and free document editing. Now with all these services counting towards drive storage limits if you’re at the limit of the plan you have no choice but to continue opting in and paying up. They essentially strong arm you into paying for their services. I’m not against paying for services. I’m a happily paid up customer to Proton Mail, what I don’t like is having my data held hostage and being forced into it.

Going through this exercise app-by-app also forced me to actually notice how much had crept onto my phone by default. As I scrutinised each app I began to realise how often I’d been duped into installing an app when a perfectly fine alternative existed. Once I started asking “do I actually need this app, or the thing it does?” most of the apps disappeared and the thing it does turned out to work perfectly well in a browser tab, a desktop client, or nowhere at all. As my phone began to free up from apps I was less inclined to reach for it since there was less reason to. I was more intentional with the time I had.

There’s also a simpler, less philosophical reason: it’s genuinely satisfying to peel this stuff back and realise how little of it you actually needed. A leaner phone is a calmer phone. Now, before I install anything I ask myself “Is this app really going to make the difference in my life I think it’s going to make?”

This isn’t really about being anti-Google, or anti-convenience, or some purity test around FOSS. It’s about being the one who decides where your data lives and what your phone depends on to function, instead of that decision being made for you by whatever came pre-installed or being strong armed into it.

Apps with a straightforward F-Droid alternative

Some of this was easy. There’s a healthy ecosystem of open-source apps on F-Droid that do the job just as well, sometimes better, without the Play Store baggage. First thing I did was to swap all the default apps for their FOSS alternatives. Phone, Messages, Camera, Calendar, Clock, and Contacts all have a Fossify alternative.

Maps, I thought, would be a little trickier. Google arguably has the upper hand here. Their maps ecosystem dominating the market. However, it turns out there are plenty of free alternatives. The Open Street Map initiative makes that possible. For that reason I was able to install Organic Maps which I’ve found to be a great alternative to google maps, and even better for finding bike routes.

Drive was also an app I found indispensable. I used Google Drive’s scanner constantly because it was genuinely good at scanning documents. Fair Scan on F-Droid does the job just as well, and now I upload straight to Proton Drive instead.

Not necessarily Google bubt worth mentioning, I replaced Garmin Connect with Gadgetbridge since it supports most Garmin watches, including mine, with solid coverage. I also have a pine time I alternate with my Garmin.

Rebuilding the core Google ecosystem

Replacing the actual Google services was a bigger ask, not just the apps that sit on top of them. To achieve it I signed myself up for Proton’s services. For the most part there’s a drop in replacement for the Google version so switching was a no brainer.

I already used Google Drive for document scanning but it was also the home to my camera roll from my phone. The automatic upload and back up of photos was a crucial feature I depended on. Instead I moved over to Proton Drive and set that up as my automatic photos upload. I then disabled the photos app in Android.

As I mentioned Proton was the stand in replacement for Google so although I’m still reliant on one company I feel much safer in the knowledge that my data is end to end encrypted and remains for my eyes only. Proton Mail replaced GMail and the Password Manager replaced Google passwords. Finally I switched everything over from Authenticator to Proton Authenticator.

Once these were in place, a lot of the smaller decisions got easier, because I had somewhere to actually put things.

Apps I uninstalled and now just use the web version for

This ended up being the biggest category, and honestly the most interesting one. In a lot of cases, uninstalling the app didn’t mean losing functionality. It just meant doing the same thing through a browser tab instead.

YNAB

YNAB didn’t need to be an app at all. I rarely used it for the budget so I uninstalled it and now do everything through the web app. I could switch to a FOSS budgeting app, but YNAB is working well for us and we pay for it, so I don’t feel like I’m the product here.

Banking apps

I uninstalled my banking apps and now handle everything entirely through the browser, with transaction signing done via SMS. I actually went a step further and deauthorised my phone as a means of signing transactions entirely. We’ll see how that plays out.

Garmin Explore

I used this to push maps and routes to my devices. I can easily do that with GPX files and a filesystem instead.

Hallow

Logging into the web app on mobile actually works better than the app did, and the app just appears to be a wrapper on the website anyway. In the end I cancelled this subscription since it would require me to keep a Google account to pay for it.

Ryanair

The only reason I had this app was for flight tickets. Since Ryanair went app only I thought it was the only way you could fly. As a result I would install the app when flying and uninstall it when I was done. Turns out you don’t actually need the app to fly. If you don’t have a smartphone (or don’t want to use their app), you can check in online ahead of time and get a boarding pass at the airport. I’m going to test this properly on an upcoming flight.

Public transport apps

I was using the NFC functionality of my phone as my transit card but a paper card does the same job. I just need to go to the ticket machine instead.

Komoot

The web app covers route planning just fine and I almost never used the app. I also cancelled my subscription here since there are generally good open source alternatives like Organic Maps that also use Open Street Map under the hood.

Library app

I can download books directly from the library’s website, no app required.

Work apps I couldn’t fully escape (but managed to route around)

Some apps on my phone I needed for work, I thought I wouldn’t be able to escape this fact but instead found there are alternative methods.

My work authenticator

I uninstalled it. My Mac and Proton Pass now hold my passkey.

Hummingbird

This is a work app I need to book a hot desk. I can book through the web portal instead, though the experience is noticeably worse than the app.

Some of the friction here isn’t really about me, it’s about how much of this infrastructure is built assuming everyone has a Google-connected smartphone in their pocket. Sometimes you just have to accept a worse experience for the sake of the bigger goal.

Apps I killed off entirely, no replacement needed

Not everything needed a substitute. Some of it was just… unnecessary.

Battle.net Authenticator

I don’t really play any Battle.net games any more. Detached the authenticator and I’m relying on a strong password instead.

Nothing Ear headphone app

I’m not sure it was ever doing much beyond initial setup, which is already done.

Voice Recorder

I disabled it, since wasn’t using it.

Games

itch.io

I download and purchase games on itch.io now. It directly supports developers, and you can download APKs straight from the site without touching the Play Store at all. Although Google killing off side loaded APKs makes that more difficult in the not so distant future.

The takeaway

What surprised me most doing this was that most of it wasn’t hard at all. A big chunk of these “apps” were never necessary in the first place; they were just the default, convenient option that Google (or whoever) wanted you to install. Once you actually go looking, the web version, the desktop client, or the FOSS alternative is usually right there. Working in tech I know first hand how much data companies want to hoover up, and getting you to install an app is one way they can do that. It’s worth questioning every time you install a ‘free’ app, whose really benefitting here?

Of course, this still doesn’t completely get you out of the Google Ecosystem. If you’re running Android that came with your phone it’s almost certainly running Google Mobile Services layer which is baked into the Android image, who knows what kind of tracking that is sending out. If you want to get away from that your best bet is a custom ROM. I compiled a list if you’re interested in moving to something less Google.