With some exceptions -some of them forced – Android phones come pre-installed with a good number of Google applications and services. Luckily, it is possible to use an Android mobile without anything from Google, although the process requires several steps.
If for whatever reason you prefer that your Android mobile does not have anything from Google, here we will tell you the steps you must follow, starting from any terminal that you already have at home and that comes with these pre-installed services.
0. Before you start…
Before you embark on the quest to remove Google from your mobile, remember that deleting all Google applications and services from an Android mobile will make it not work properly. Some apps will not work or have errors, you may lose notifications and have trouble doing basic things like getting your location.
While everything we are going to tell you below is reversible, going back will involve resetting the phone to the factory, reinstalling its firmware, or manually undoing all uninstalls and disables in a process that will take quite some time.
1. Secure your data
Before starting to remove Google from your mobile, it is highly recommended that you stop to think about whether you have something stored in Google that you want to keep. The fact that you remove Google from your mobile does not mean that you are going to delete your account data, but there are elements that you will want to keep on your mobile, such as contacts.
If your mobile has the contacts stored in Google, then it is highly recommended that you make a backup or export them so that you can import them again later. In the Google Contacts application, this is done from Settings> Export, which will create a VCF file.
Later, you will be able to use this VCF file to recover the contacts, which will be saved in the phone memory or in the SIM, depending on your preference, instead of doing it in the Google account. If you weren’t using Google contacts, you can skip this step.
2. Log out of your account
If you want to remove Google from your mobile, the most important step is to remove any Google account that is registered on the phone. To do this, you must go to the Android settings, enter the Accounts section, touch the account you want to delete and finally click Remove account.
This will greatly prevent many Google services from working and, above all, the data from being associated with your Google account, although there will still be active Google services and many pre-installed applications from home.
3. Disable all applications
Deleting the Google account is the first step, but there will still be many Google applications on the mobile. These are divided into two groups: those that have been installed later and those that came with the mobile.
Applications that were later installed from Google Play or any other source can be uninstalled without further ado, while pre-installed applications can only be disabled. To do so, long tap on the app until a floating menu opens. In it, tap on App Data and then tap Disable.
Almost all pre-installed Google apps can be disabled, although there are some like Contacts, Phone, or Messages that may not show you the option to disable them. It is still possible to do it, although it is more complicated.
4. Use ADB to uninstall the rest of apps
For applications that resist being disabled, you will need to connect the mobile to a PC using ADB. This method will serve to uninstall applications from the system, including Google Services.
Once you have configured the connection through ADB, you will need to know the name of the package you want to uninstall. To see the list of all the applications that are installed on the mobile at that moment, you can use the command adb shell pm list packages
.
In the list you will see that the mobile has an infinity of Google applications (those that begin with “com.google”). If you really want no trace of Google left on your mobile, you must religiously write down the name of each one to be able to uninstall them. The name of each package appears just after the package text :
To uninstall these applications must use another ADB command : pm uninstall -k --user 0 nombre_del_paquete
. For example, if you want to remove the pre-installed Google Messaging app, package name com.google.android.apps.messaging, you should type pm uninstall -k –user 0 com.google.android.apps.messaging. If everything went well, you will be shown the text Success.
I will not lie to you, the process will be long, as there are many Google applications. Perhaps the most important is com.google.android.gms, which are Google Services. If you uninstall Google services, you can consider your mobile Google-proof. You will notice it because in the Android accounts section, the option to add a Google account will not appear.
With this, you remove Google from your mobile, although you do not replace it with any alternative. This will mean that some applications will stop working when you need Google Services and other mobile functions will not be available until you find applications that cover their function.
Following the example above, if you uninstall the Google Messaging application, you will not be able to see the SMS messages on your mobile until you install another SMS application. This is precisely the biggest problem of removing Google from Android: finding alternatives to its applications that also work without Google Services.
This will be easier on mobiles with a personalization layer that includes your own applications and services, such as Samsung, Xiaomi or Huawei pre-veto mobiles. These mobiles generally come with duplicate applications, the home version and the Google version, so if you remove the Google one, you will still be left with the personalization layer.
Alternative: install a ROM without Google
Removing all Google from an Android mobile that brings all the pre-installed services is a long process and leaves the system a little unstable. A better alternative is to install a ROM that does not bring Google services such as LineageOS, Replicant or many others.
Installing a ROM without Google is generally better than removing the pre-installed Google from an Android mobile
Installing a ROM is also a complex and complicated process, with many moving parts like bootloaders, recovery mode, kernels, and companionship, but if you have any experience on the matter, the XDA forums are a good starting point to find out which ROMs are available for your mobile.
The advantage of using a ROM without Google instead of removing Google from a mobile that already brings it is that you will generally have fewer errors and all the basic applications to use the system, sometimes with alternatives to Google services pre-installed, such as MicroG.