e Foundation announces official support of microG development !!!
Read more at:
https://e.foundation/e-foundation-announces-official-support-of-microg-development/
Regain your privacy! Adopt /e/ the unGoogled mobile OS and online services
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Nice! 
Should have more g00-- reliant apps working more smoothly now
āEuropean Unionā ā¦ nice touch 
.
Does a similar statement exist or is it planned concerning LineageOS?
Like ā¦ Contribution of /e/ developers to the LineageOS base of /e/? Donations? Infrastructure?
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I was thinking exactly the same thing when I read your post.
Officially supporting the two open source projects on which /e/ is based would be very neat!
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First a collaboration with Fairphone, now officially supporting microG ? /e/ is definitely moving in the best direction to offer us a GAFAM-free ecosystem ! 
THANK YOU !!!
By the way, any news regarding the renaming of /e/ ? Everytime I try to explain what it is to someone new, the first thing I have to do is point out the spelling and explaining how to call itā¦
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The most āsecureā device rated by Google itself (same can be said about Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi, etcā¦) has to come with stock rom and google services.
The privacy rating in this case is an absolute 0
Even though āsecurityā concerns cant be dismissed so easily, they cant overcome either privacy concerns. For me at least.
But hey, if you want the most āsecureā (whatever that means) device, feel free to stay with stock rom.
Because it originates in the European Union. Itās a place in this context 
.
Since you seem to be in the UK you might not bother in the not so far future, but the e foundation is set up under French law, so complying with EU regulations should come with that, if not for France paying fines for not adopting EU regulations within due time. Some countries take the liberty to do that here and there.
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The only contrinution toward LineageOS Iām aware of is working sources for the FP3 (device tree and kernel).
I donāt know if I should feel happy or sad about this news. The ultimate would be Microg is not needed anymore. Using Microg causes data to go through Google servers. We must not underestimate Google, they have a lot of skilled people working for them. They are capable of creating smart algorithms linking all sorts of data. Maybe the Microg developer can write a document about what data exactly is exchanged.
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Imagine a stairs to go to Privacy World. Without MicroG, you have one missing step and have to jump from something with GApps to something without GApps. The majority of people just arenāt ready to do this and will continue to use GApps because it can be very useful, especially for notifications.
Letās people migrate to Privacy World at their rythm by filling the gap and adding the missing step to the stairs with a privacy ROM but with MicroG. This way it reduces tracking to the bare minimum for a needed usage.
And MicroG could be also useful to bypass SafetyNet (which is broken for a year). Yes apps that need SafetyNet (some banking apps, Snapchat) arenāt good apps but sometimes they are just needed and again, it will always be much better than a stock ROM and will forge a privacy mind.
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Hi @GaelDuval,
This is really great to hear!
But, is it okay to say āimplementationā of another companyās work? To me that suggests copyright infringement! 
MicroG isnāt actually implementing Googleās library but implementing something else which has an API compatible with Googleās library. Those are completely different things arenāt they?
Iām sure you and the MicroG team are happy with the wording, but given how trigger-happy tech companies can be with IP disputes that wording makes me nervous.
Cheers 
I have doubts about MicroG.
I know it is used to somehow bridge those apps that use Googleās services, but without directly use Google (though going through it servers, sure).
My doubt is more about if only apps from/built for Google Store are which use Googleās services. For example, does apps from F-Droid use Googleās services?
And for instance, where and how can those GAFAM-free apps be found?
I donāt think so.
Mainly on F-Droid.
And donāt forget that MicroG can be disabled very easily so nobody is forced to use it 
Oh! Thatās really good news! Iāve been using F-droid apps from a year ago and now, using /e/OS, I only use preinstalled and F-Droid apps, except TWRP official app, downloaded via Aurora Store
Iām nearer from ungooglation than I thought!
Indeed if you use only /e/OS and apps from F-Droid (or from the /e/ Apps installer in āOpen source onlyā mode) then you are more than ungoogled, you are completely free 
(at least for your smartphone, I donāt know about your laptop).
Wow, how good! I didnāt think it would be so good
(And yes, I use GNU/Linux and as free as I can apps)
Other tiny doubt I have about Maps (Magic Earth): I read ME is proprietary but free of chargeā¦ is it?
Oh yes indeed you are 99% free since Magic Earth isnāt open source but is without tracker and with a very good privacy policy. Magic Earth might become open source in the future, as far as I know discussions are in progress between the e Foundation and Magic Earth but I canāt be sure.
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GrapheneOS is based on AOSP like any other Android variant out there, and the main work on AOSP is done by Google.
Of course, GrapheneOS seems to make good additions and changes to AOSP.
But I guess people using real non-Android OSes like Ubuntu Touch, PureOS or Sailfish OS on their devices will not be happy with your definition of being ātruly Google freeā .
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You seem to deliberately misinterpret what I wrote, or alternatively you donāt seem to fully realise that you are running an Android variant on your phone. Which is it?
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Perhaps Iām overly pedantic on this, and perhaps this causes a misunderstanding here, but my point is (hopefully more clear this way):
GrapheneOS is Android-based.
I donāt dispute the efforts that go into additions and changes in GrapheneOS to improve it compared to the Android base. And I donāt dispute that a phone running GrapheneOS may have zero encounters and exchanges with any Google services in practice.
Still, running an Android-based OS means using something based on Googleās work and stewardship, much more than people running e.g. the mentioned non-Android OSes do.
So a claim to be ātruly Google free" or ā100% Google freeā while running an Android-based OS in my opinion is misleading when there are OSes with clearly less Google involvement around.
(I realise this went off-topic, but perhaps the respective posts could be moved to a new topic?)
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