MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space

8 comments

• mshish 2 minutes ago
  It's too bad you have to rely on signature spoofing to be able to use this as an alternative (but obviously I understand why). The spoofing looks narrowly scoped on LineageOS, but in general I imagine it creates some risk.
• maelito 15 minutes ago
  I have never understood why people using MicroG can use apps like SNCF-Connect, while I cannot.

  SNCF-connect is the largest online marchant in France. Since june, I cannot click the "pay" button anymore. It coincides with the new feature of Pay with Google.

  So : is it because MicroG allows calls to Google services on e/OS devices, while my LineageOS refuses ? Or because MicroG implemented a try catch around this call, without any call to Google's servers ?

  [-]
  • Maken 7 minutes ago
    I think that's because /e/os also distributes App Lounge [1], which can connect to Google Store and handle payments (most of the time).

    [1] https://doc.e.foundation/os/apps/app-lounge/
  • ForHackernews 6 minutes ago
    Some Play Services calls are stubbed out as no-ops and others are reimplemented either with fully free replacements (e.g. navigation) or else by calling proprietary Google remote endpoints (e.g. firebase)
• jamesnorden 1 hour ago
  Why do the most recent commits all say "Merge commit from fork" without any description of what the changes do or what the fork is?
  [-]
  • forgotpwd16 1 hour ago
    Lazy merge commits. The descriptions of the changes are in the commits from the merged branches.
• ramon156 40 minutes ago
  I dont get why some apps depend on Google Play functionality. Why can't I download Telegram on /e/OS
  [-]
  • microtonal 28 minutes ago
    This about Play Services and not the Play Store. Play Services are a bunch of extra APIs/services that Google does not make available as part of AOSP. The non-nefarious reason is to make it possible to fix bugs and roll out features faster because the OEMs are terrible at rolling out new Android versions. The possible nefarious reason is to make more of Android closed-source.

    At any rate, microG is a reimplementation of Play Services.

    You can directly download the Telegram APK from: https://telegram.org/android

    (Or using the app store that is part of /e/OS and serves as a front for both the Play Store and F-Droid.)

    [-]
    • realusername 17 minutes ago
      They could also have it decoupled from the OS with an open-source version, these are two different subjects.

      The real reason to me is that they want to avoid Android forks outside of their control.

      [-]
      • microtonal 6 minutes ago
        Yes, which is why I also mentioned the more nefarious reading of it. Making a large API surface use closed-source code gives them control.
  • cowlevel 12 minutes ago
    Telegram is a Russian spy app, it needs remote attestation you are not a bot.
  • raffael_de 37 minutes ago
    you can't download telegram from telegram.org?
• orphea 2 hours ago
  I guess this is submitted because of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50154624 ?
• xx__yy 2 hours ago
  I use it on LineageOS, works a charm
• philipallstar 3 hours ago
  Is it too late to rename to "MindTheGapp"?
  [-]
  • theandrewbailey 2 hours ago
    Considering that MindTheGapps is a distribution of the real Google Apps packages, yes, it's too late.

    https://mindthegapps.com/

    [-]
    • mzajc 50 minutes ago
      Note that MindTheGapps is distributed at https://github.com/MindTheGapps/. The dot-com domain looks like unaffiliated SEO squatting and could change download links to malware anytime.
• p0w3n3d 52 minutes ago
  Go home! Goober!...

  I mean Google!