Tanja

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 17:31:55 +0100

You gotta be kidding me.

I decided I'm not taking my new (used) phone, the Nexus 5x with LineageOS and my regular SIM card, to the hospital with me. I bought a prepaid SIM, and I still have the old ASUS, which is not a bad phone. I figured I'll use it without signing in to a Google account and install my apps from F-Droid and Yalp Store. Except, that doesn't work. I reset the phone, disabled as much spyware as I could, downloaded F-Droid, tried to install - nope. I thought, well, maybe I disabled too many apps or screwed something else up, so I did another factory reset. Still nope. I had to sign in to a Google account before it would let me install third-party apps.

#FuckGoogle

FuckGoogle

show all 10 comments

El Dorado

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 22:30:03 +0100

There was a developer setting on my phone that let me install third-party apps without needing Google. It wasn't easy to find.

Tanja

Fri, 15 Mar 2019 23:46:17 +0100

@Mike Macgirvin âš¡ Thanks. I gotta look for that.

Markku Raitisoja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:10:42 +0100

Settings -> about phone and tap several times the build number. That enables dev mode

Tanja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 07:25:29 +0100

@Markku Raitisoja âš¡ I know, I meant looking for this option

. But thanks

Tanja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 11:37:22 +0100

Hmm... not seeing anything here which could be related. You would think that it would be under apps, but it doesn't look like it.

A general question, are the developer options the same on all phones running the same version of Android, or are they vendor specific?

Markku Raitisoja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 12:18:33 +0100

I had it in Security menu and then "Unknown sources" That allows to install APKs outside stores. Do you have that on?

Tanja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 12:32:42 +0100

Is this under the developer options on your phone or the regular options? The regular options have changed under Oreo, you now have to allow this on a per app basis, and I did that. But when I tapped "Install", it always resulted in "App not installed".

Right now it's working, but only because I did another factory reset, set it up with my old Google account, installed F-Droid, and then removed the Google account (and disabled as many Google apps as I could get away with.) It's still working, even after removing the Google account, but I'd prefer a solution where the account doesn't make it on there in the first place.

Markku Raitisoja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:03:40 +0100

I have Huawei Honor 8 with Nougat, so the menus might be different place. The full path to setting is "Settings -> Advanced settings ->Security.
If I remember right, the Yalp store didn't work before I had to make the dummy google account. I was thinking the same, there shouldn't be a need for Google account at any point

Tanja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 13:31:39 +0100

OK, that's what I thought, just the general setting, the one they changed since Oreo.

If I remember right, the Yalp store didn't work before I had to make the dummy google account.

So it's not something new in Oreo, then. I have an ancient Jelly Bean tablet lying around which I'm using as my music player together with Ampache, and sideloading apps without a Google account was never a problem. I guess they changed that somewhere in between.

The worst thing is that you can't even sign up for a new Google account anymore without providing a phone number. This is getting ridiculous, which is why I bought a used Nexus 5x and put LineageOS on there. I just don't want to take the risk of losing that during a five-day hospital stay. (As you might notice, my trust level in people in general is not very high

Markku Raitisoja

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 15:25:23 +0100

My plan is also to have LineageOS in some point. Now I have company phone, so I can't flash this. Maybe I invest to Nexus someday. I wish cood staying in the hospital

Tanja

tanja@h.lazyteddy.eu