Assuming you’ve just gotten /e/ up and running on your device, here are some instructions to sync your existing data (contacts, calendar events, email, etc.).
From an /e/ account
Go to system settings > Users & accounts (“Accounts” if you’re on Android Nougat) > Add account > /e/.
Enter your /e/ email address and password. Then, click “Login”.
Your account has been added to /e/!
Now, your /e/ contacts, calendar events, mail, notes and tasks will automatically show up in the respective apps.
Note: It may take a couple of minutes for your contacts to show up in the Contacts app.
From a Google account
Go to system settings > Users & accounts (“Accounts” if you’re on Android Nougat) > Add account > Google.
You will be redirected to a Google sign-in web-page on your default browser. Here, enter your Gmail ID and password.
If you have two-factor-authentication enabled for your account, you may need to complete some additional on-screen instructions before proceeding.
You will be asked for your approval to let “Account Manager” access your Google contacts, calendar and mail. Click “Allow”.
Your account has been added to /e/!
Now, your Google contacts, calendar events and mail will automatically show up in the respective apps.
Note: It may take a couple of minutes for your contacts to show up in the Contacts app.
Now that all your contacts are just a few taps away, go ahead and tell them about /e/!
If I sync my contacts/mail/calendar from google account using this lattest way, does it mean that if one day I erase my google account I will also lose that data in /e/?
Hi @nihar1024 i’m referring to deleting the Google account. If I import my Google data manually, not syncing (using .vcf file for contacts, .ics for calendar…), I understand that the data is already in /e/ and that I can delete the original data from Google and then delete my Google account. But if I sync the data using your 2. method, what would happen if I delete my Google account? And if I delete the data? thanks
@graz taking a .vcf backup and storing it somewhere safe is always a good plan. That way you at least have something to revert to.
Hi @nihar1024 how does option 2 work. Does the /e/ mail client take a copy of the address from the Gmail account and save it locally or does it always point to the gmail address book. If it is just pointing to it then if the user deletes the gmail account then he will loose all the addresses on /e/ as well right? How does it work?
If you delete your Google account:
All the apps (contacts, calendar, etc.) won’t be able to access your account and will show you a notification saying “error syncing” or similar. But should not delete your data locally.
If you delete your Google account data:
All the apps (contacts, calendar, etc.) will just sync the deletion and will delete your data locally too.
Please note that I haven’t tested this behaviour personally, so as @Manoj mentioned, please do take a backup of all your important data before deleting your account/data.
Actually a simple test can be made : you change your google account password (so the phone won’t be able to reach your google account as if it had been deleted), and if everything is alright you can delete it.
Impressed by myself
All right, alternative solution : remove the Google Account of the phone. If something you want to keep is deleted, you just have to add your google account again et resync. If everything just stay there, you can delete your google account.
why is it necessary to give account access to the “Account Manager” app (by eelo.apps@gmail.com)? Why can’t the phone sync account info directly? Isn’t this a security risk – the eelo.apps account having account access of all /e/ users’ Google accounts?
In the Add Account settings, there is also an option to add a Google account (maybe through microg?) which has a more typical and direct setup (without giving account access to another party), but doesn’t seem to work for syncing (allows me to use Hangouts, but doesn’t sync Calendar, Contacts…).
Hi! The Google account "eelo.apps@gmail.com" does not have access to users’ account data. The confidential “token” which is required to access users’ account data is stored locally on the device and is only accessible to Account Manager.
The "eelo.apps@gmail.com" account is only a developer email address for Google to identify the developer of an app.
however it still isn’t clear to me – why doesn’t the user authenticate to Google directly when configuring Google accounts? this seems to be possible with the other Add Google account option (blue background G) in the User & Account settings. what is the purpose / need for giving authentication token to the Account Manager app?
Through the browser, the user does authenticate to Google directly. However, if the app that is requesting access to the data is a third party app, Google will warn the user that the app will have access to their data.
Why Account Manager is required: To sync users’ contacts and calendar events, a “sync adapter” app is required. microG doesn’t currently have a sync adapter. So, we had to build our own. Account Manager is forked from an open-source sync adapter called DAVx5.
I am in the process of setting up /e/ on a OnePlus One phone. Let me warn you I am a complete newbie when it comes to /e/ and I did struggle getting my contacts to show up on the phone. Following advice on another post I added my Google account to my phone and copied my info into my /e/ account then imported my contacts to the phone which worked ok.
So now what I want to do is to remove my Google account from the phone. I still need my Google account at the moment so I don’t want to delete or close it I just want to remove it from my phone. I hate Google with a passion and dread the thought of it stealing my data from this phone. I am slowly but surely migrating away from it so how do I go about just removing it from my phone?
okay thanks for the further details. I would prefer doing this manually, so that I can use app-specific passwords and not have a third-party app with access to my account (think for instance in the context of using /e/ devices in a work environment).
the “manual” way of setting up the syncing seems to be:
manually setting up Mail / K-9 Mail (with app-specific password)
Excuse the really late reply but I don’t think it’s a microG bug. Remember we’re using a webview based on Bromite webview IIRC. As part of its privacy features the device and chromium webview version are masked, if you will. Supposed to make it harder to fingerprint (though some argue that reporting Chromium version as v71 would make it somewhat easier given that v74/v75 is current and widely used).
Even my standard Google-based ROMs using Bromite webview has Google thinking my LG phone is Samsung or my Motorola is a FIG-LX3, whatever that is. As long as a setup wizard or account manager uses webview to get device information, via the useragent, then that behavior is normal. Not a bug.
