Gmail, Google Maps and Google My Maps on /e/

no i love it, easy + highly customisable

Samey same. I use FairEmail on a few ROMs. Not sure what embarrassing means in this context but it’s a fine client. Even have the fork SimpleEmail on another. Too bad updates are few and far between.

Today I installed /e/ os on Gigaset GS290. After that I installed Goggle Maps and it worked fine without login into my G account. But after installation of G Photos and G Drive (with (connection to G account), Google Maps crashes. I shortly could see that it was automatically logged in to my account before it stopped working. I uninstalled it and installed again. I tried implementation from Apps and Aurora Store, but in both cases it crashes again. Why?

Probably because those apps may require the full Google Play Services functions that are not yet implemented in microG. microG is not a 100% replacement so not all Google apps will work or work properly.

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Then I would ask why G maps is then part of the “Apps” Store of the /e/ project if it doesn’t work…Perhaps “Apps” policy should be a little bit more restrictive.

It is the nature of the Google services which microG tries to mimic that they can change. This can break microG compatibility for any given Google-dependent App at any given time, until microG catches up to the changes again, if at all possible.
This means that a Google-dependent App may work with microG at some point in time, and it may not work with microG at another point in time.

/e/'s Apps installer gives you convenient access to cost-free Google Play Store Apps, among other sources of Apps (Open Source Apps from F-Droid, for example).
It can’t possibly track whether a Google-dependent App happens to work with /e/ at the moment or not.

Perhaps users should know a little more about what they are dealing with.
Perhaps /e/ should drop the “you can still run your favourite apps” claim, because /e/ can not guarantee that for every single Google-dependent App for any given point in time, and elaborate on that to help users understand Google dependencies better and to enable them to use Google-dependent Apps aware of the limitations of a Google-free environment like /e/ … or ideally even to make the choice to get rid of their Google dependencies altogether.

Of course that’s a dilemma. “There’s a good chance you can still run your favourite Apps, but … it’s complicated, please read the extra page of text we prepared explaining that.” wouldn’t get as many users :slight_smile: .

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After uninstalling G Photos & G Drive and removing G-Account in the system settings, it is possible to use G Maps without login.

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Hard to say as i haven’t used the app in a long time.
There is an alternative that might work. See this post.

EDIT: I misread your statement as a question. Oops. :blush:

@AnotherElk you are absolutely right. /e/ should drop the “your can still run your favorites apps” and must have the courage to explain that /e/ wants a different world than g00gle. Users can understand that you can’t ask for change and keep everything the same.

:slight_smile: We do not want a different world. There is only one world which fortunately or unfortunately we all need to share.
What we want is to have is a safer world for our users. A world where your data is not compromised or where your personal information is not treated as a product and sold to the highest bidder.
Through the modifications to the ROM code we have removed the chances of the OS leaking information. At the same time if there are users who still want to use popular apps to remain in touch with friends and family we do not prevent that either. It is tough balancing act but one which is at the core of /e/;s philosophy. We want a digitally safer world for our users.

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@Manoj we are a bit off-topic but the question is important.
I do understand and agree with all your message but the fist sentence.
– this world is not a heritage but is mostly our co-creation. This world (considering human being experience) has changed many times because of humans actions.
Yes, we do share this worlds but groups of people or companies are changing it in opposite directions.

– The /e/ manifesto says
“/e/ considers that infrastructure systems such as communication networks, operating systems and basic online services such as email that are widely used all over the world, shouldn’t be designed,owned and operated only by a few private actors, in their own interest, since they arecore public assets and infrastructure
./e/ considers that this unprecedented situation in humanity’s history goes against freedom and can lead to forms of slavery and totalitarianism, at a global scale.”
When I read this, I do believe /e/ want “something” different from what g00gle want! :slightly_smiling_face:

I don’t want to prevent people from remaining in touch with friends and family either. But users who choose /e/ to protect their data and use gmail as main account as well as other g00gle apps are playing a strange game to me.
A lot of us want a digitally safer world for users… but we need understanding and help from users.

May be it is time to tone down the /e/ manifesto or reword it so that users do not get confused. We definitely do not want a different world We at /e/ want our data to be safe so that we can all continue living together in this same world. What Google wants is your data. What w/e/ wants is to prevent them from getting it.
Ultimately it is for you as a user have to decide what you want from your OS. We have a series of questions on a similar nature addressed in our FAQ

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Thank you Manoj to make it clearer for me. Now I am not confused anymore and understand that, as /e/ write “Our mission: make technology that respects user privacy accessible to everyone.” and nothing else. No opinions about anything. /e/ just appreciates the world as it is. I was wrongly thinking that /e/ had ethical views about the world. But you are right, nothing is written about that on /e/ website. Your data is your data, that’s all! It is probably the best and safest position /e/ can have.

I suggest, to avoid confusion for people (like me), that you remove two sentences from your manifesto:

“/e/ considers that this unprecedented situation in humanity’s history goes against freedom and can lead to forms of slavery and totalitarianism, at a global scale”.

“/e/ will always be as much as possible politically-neutral, though it is admitted that /e/ is about humanism, freedom, and progress, not about obscurantism or totalitarianism.”

The manifesto will be 100% clear without theses two sentences.

Thanks for your time!

Hi @Dontworry
Yes you can use g maps without login. Sadly I use it because I frequently drive to remote locations in outback Western Australia and its the most accurate compared to the many others I have tried.
I use an unofficial v0.11 pie build from @itsclarence (thank you). My gmail account is forwarded to my e email.
Good luck.

Hey there,
I am using the Gmail app, which seems to work for @gmail.com addresses but not for Google Suite accounts.
Does anyone know what is missing there? Is this an issue with microg?
Best,

Yeah exactly: the question is “what DO these users want?”
Because it may be at least inconsiderate and at worst directly counter to what we want; it could become very much an us versus them approach and remain so until they stop wanting that. What if, for example, use of /e/ apps with gapps in any way exposes /e/ or its users to liability? (I dont think we have to be completely insular, but I think we have to address the question if ethics are important.)

I’d normally espouse open and diverse community, but only where diversity promotes values with which the community agrees… Even at the expense of other community values if the community agrees. I.e. a conscientiously additive approach by community members even if it’s a somewhat subtractive one in overall effect…

…so what is dotcoma promotimg? Do we agree with it? (To be clear, I think this question remains not holistically/systematically answered thus far…)

Well put Manoj, thank you!

The question is really interesting but is out of the scope of /e/. It is not about ethics or politics here, the focus is on making technology that respects user privacy accessible to everyone.
Once your privacy is guaranteed, you are more comfortable and you can choose who you give your information to. Even if it is to g00gle. So it’s freedom to share one’s data or not.
I realize now that Manoj’s sentence was not precise enough

To be precise : “What Google wants is your data. What w/e/ wants is to prevent anyone from getting it without your knowledge and consent.”

The debate of the whys will not occurr here!

Haha OK, I hear you’d rather not discuss the why, so I’ll back off of the details there, but why do you insist the whys not be discussed here? Where else would be better??

:grinning:I “sort of” insist because I have seen quite a few posts about “/e/ as an ethical mobile OS”. :upside_down_face:
The discussion might take place in another forum dedicated to ethics and techoligy, I guess.

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