hi
so, I tried to uninstall all trash from a test account in my Xperia, including Google Play Services...
so uhh
the Play Store icon is still there
I don't like this
so uhh
I think I uninstalled the only way to install APKs...?
yeah, on a non-Google Android system it should be com.android.packageinstaller, but maybe Google modified the APK installer?
btw the Play Store is actually called com.android.vending
uninstalling that too
this is so forbidden and good it must be lewd
sorry for not CWing
wow lewd
On the left, my regular account, has Google.
On the right, my test account, has no Google.
Now, there's things that are left unanswered for now. Can you uninstall Play Services with an already used account? Can you run adb somehow before the phone boots up for the first time, so you can make sure you have a 100% clean Android session? Can you automate the deletion every time you add an account, particularly with guest accounts? Is there any hidden backdoor I have yet to notice?
This is still amazing though, mind you
can't install microG, guess that if you uninstall Play Services you are opting out of all apps that require it
WhatsApp seems to work without Play Services, I'm not willing to give them a number to try out tho. I do know things such as location should be based on it tho 
Is there any specific Play-only app I should look at?
A cute detail of the Aurora Store is that it tells you whenever apps are GSF (Play Services) dependent or not
Sadly, most Play apps aren't, and most GSF dependent apps will unavoidably crash
Trying to give a try to uninstalling Play Services with my main account, I just realized why it's not possible: it's set as a device owner (the closest thing to root in a non-rooted Android), which cannot be undone unless from inside the app itself - something that I doubt Google wants me to do.
So yeah, only three ways to properly uninstall Play Services:
- find an exploit in the Play Services app,
- find an explot in Android itself, OR
- wipe the device
There's also another challenge: if you uninstall every input method provided by the system, you won't be able to type your password in an encrypted phone unless ADB is enabled.
Yeah, I don't know how to feel about this one.
Actually, that only applies with safe mode, so I think we're safe here
This phone is basically begging to be wiped, I'll do a few more backups and then I'll dab on em spies
Current mood: struggling to find out how to prevent the Play Services from becoming the device owner
Apparently you need to do NFC provisioning to set a device owner... and how do you do that?
So, you have to put the phone in contact with an NFC device (like another phone!) in order to #provision a device owner. However, you still need to be able to somehow install the device owner APK... how can you do that if you don't even have ADB...?
Apparently it can download the device owner/device policy controller/admin app from the Internet. I'm afraid it probably relies on Google Play for that, though.
what the hell, apparently there's even a more unknown QR provisioning mode
Installed a demo app. The moment of truth, let's see if I can uninstall Play Services with this one!
Basically, I just tried to uninstall every Google package except com.google.android.packageinstaller and com.google.android.webview, I think that was it
Firefox, sweet Firefox oh god
I just realized a mistake of mine
there's no camera app in here and I don't know why???
I know where the APKs are but I get INSTALL_PARSE_FAILED_NO_CERTIFICATES
Maybe adb shell cmd package install-existing can do it
Yup! That worked!
It should also work as a way to restore Play Services, funnily enough - so that's pretty flexible!
Just decided to randomly try out Jami (ex-Ring) again since I need an SMS client for Android
oh hey it looks SLICK
Also works way better than before at a first glance, everything synced seamlessly
Apparently though it's a phone app but not an SMS app?
OK, so two things: first, I found a cute FOSS SMS client, it's called QKSMS https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.moez.QKSMS
Second, Jami has a really really good way to manage profiles and devices that keeps it all secure and P2P and nice - just make sure to keep your password safe and it's all 
I really really want to try out Jami with someone right now - I know I won't be using it daily because it lacks stickers, though 
I also noticed their official fedi account is here on mstdn.io
top 10 epic fail gamer moments
Decided to try out Etar as my calendar app.
It's Pretty Darn Goodβ’οΈ
Sign me up pls
@espectalll why don't you stop elongating this thread?
@espectalll why did it change name
@a_breakin_glass yes, it used to be called Ring... and before that, SFLPhone
@espectalll why couldn't it use gtk
@a_breakin_glass what do you mean? it uses GTK 
AHHHHHHHHH I JUST FOUND OUT HOW TO TELL ANDROID WHERE TO DOWNLOAD THE APK FROM
I CAN ACTUALLY MAKE A CUSTOM APP THAT REPLACES GOOGLE PLAY