There is a microG support group @microgsupport. I have searched for ‘microG’ in telegram and over the microG user group i was able to join theses @microgsupport group.
But you are right, the e.foundation devs should know. Bug have you ever gotten here an answer from the devs ?
I joined @microgsupport but i’m not able to type anything… And no, no answers from dev’s here, which is kinda sad i think…
Just to clarify …The /e/ developers have been asked not to answer queries on the forum. If I remember correctly I was one of those who insisted that they spend their time resolving bugs and not directly answering queries on the forum or telegram channels.
We have a large number of open issues and development work which needs to be addressed. We want the developers to focus on that.
The minute a developer starts answering queries one on one, the whole process will end up like a request program…some users will approach him / her with personal request…‘Can i have a feature like this I can pay’ you and so on !! I am not joking this has actually happened. Not against developers making any extra cash but such personal request would be a disaster for project planning efforts.
The way to put your queries to the developers is to raise issues in Gitlab. As bugs or feature requests. That way they can be prioritized and addressed.
This forum is another place where users can raise their issues and concerns - which they do. Other users can also comment and if the issue is serious or a bug raise it on Gitlab.
On one hand you are absolute right. There is lot to do for the dev’s and resolving the issues should be the first.
On the other hand, there are often questions which couldn’t be answered by unofficial users. And that are questions, not issues. If the users will put their questions on gitlab, it will grow as hell and gitlab will be getting unclear.
Sorry, but for a good support it is needed that the dev’s will get involved to the forum.
Manoj, you could have used your energy to ask a developer and answer here. Not answering gives me a bad feeling, it might suggest it is not investigated…
I have shared the query with the dev team …if I get a response shall share it here.
The response from the development team:
If the user uses Google Cloud Messaging, the notifications are sent through Google’s servers; if the user adds a Google account, there will be a Google login from the user’s IP, but with no identifying data. So in the default setup, notifications are passing through Google’s servers (for apps who use Google Cloud Messaging) though this is anonymous access. However, the content of the push messages could contain identifying data
Also as you are aware if GCM is disabled then push message notifications will not come in.
Just did, had to be real fast, the first time they kicked me out after one minute. Second time I was able to ask “can I read before kicked out?”. So I could read a little. These NoGoolag channels are full of bullshit. I need a real online tutorial, I read books too. I’m kicking out Telegram.
The microG primary developer says it best.
Marvin Wißfeld: “Eventually, I would like to see microG no longer needed, so that app developers no longer automatically use play services and expect users to have a googled device.”
(e project is also mentioned briefly.)
telegram
Good riddance telegram; they also want all your contacts.
https://tarnkappe.info/microg-android-almost-without-google-our-interview-with-the-developer/
I always meant this microG was something essential in /e/, but recently found out it isn’t. It is only about location (what is OFF on my phone) and notifications, push messaging, what is just irritating to me. I’ll see it anyway when using an app. So people who want to use Geo-location would need a replacement for microG.
I don’t us it so this did not break the system, but there is a lot of G00gl in microG, so:
I mentioned in the past that all that is really needed is UnifiedNlp. That is the geolocation portion of microG and is available separately. It only needs location permission and that’s it. I have several ROMs with just UNlp, no microG, and everything is peachy. I don’t need or want push notifications so I don’t miss out on anything. SMS and email do their own thing and that’s all I was ever concerned about.
Now of course using microG without turning on device registration and GCM is almost equivalent.
But as you’ve all seen in many posts in these forums, people are running / want to run apps that do require some form of Google Play Services emulation. That’s just the way it is. There’s no way really that microG can be free of Google contact and yet provide the services that it does. A lot of folks, including me, use it with at least Play Store in most cases (hey, I paid good money for all those Substratum themes and icon packs that otherwise can’t be used).
So yeah, of course microG sends some data to Google. That can’t be helped, if one is going to use GCM or their account (for Play Store or Vanced YouTube f.i).
If /e/ wanted to really be Google free it would have to replace microG with UnifiedNlp. That would narrow the user base to a minority I’d wager. The constant reference to /e/ being used by mom and pop, grandma and grandpa, would be a no go as they would probably want to use apps that definitely (probably?) wouldn’t work in such an environment.
Anyway, microG also has an XDA thread though I don’t think mar-v-in and company participate much, if at all.
If /e/ wanted to really be Google free it would have to replace microG with UnifiedNlp. That would narrow the user base to a minority I’d wager.
I agree. /e is not, and cannot, actually do what they say they are doing, without losing most of their customers. That’s misleading at best.
Hello.
Just a question : what is a phone made for ???
Phoning : OK. SMS : mmmh, OK. Mail ? That’s a bit different but OK.
All that you (me) need more is… more !
So privacy depends first on Contact-app and then you agree or not with terms of use for each app you use… MicroG can’t be a “total-sandbox”.
I’m really expecting /e/-zero !!!
The answer I’ve got from ItsMe and Payconic by e-mail: Android is a platform from Google. The story about what MicroG does in the picture below this reply. This means I don’t need a smartphone and the Belgian authorities and banks will remain a paper tiger to me, they are digital slaves of Google. I’m dumping the smartphone and returning to the old “dumbphone” telephone and SMS only, a Nokia 105 I bought in 2017. I"ll follow /e/ to see if there will be supported tablets, an /e/ version without MicroG (MicroG=Google) and without the phone function, just a tablet, a pure Linux would be best because Android=Google.
When I started this project, I called it an “Odyssey”.
I choose to use this term because I knew that it was not possible to bring a brand new, perfect world to users. We are doing something better, not perfect (yet!).
What we are doing is to unGoogle Android, starting from low level stacks, like connectivity check, NTP, DNS, and then we try to do the best work at all stages, app store, default online services, default search…
You mention Android, but how many Linux systems are using Google default DNS or provide Google search as default? How many apps, even not Android, are using Google’s (and other’s) trackers? How many Linux users use the full fat Chrome browser?
So, yes, we microG is the “best bad solution” for apps. It’s still a dependency to Google services, but it makes Android apps work, have push notifications etc. It also provide some nice features such as the geolocation API that we can plug to something else than Google.
Also, as it doesn’t need a personal Google user account to work, it’s a reasonably correct smoke screen between the user and Google services. It prevents Google to track you personally.
This dependency is still not acceptable for the long run, and I hope we can progressively add more alternatives for apps.
What I have in mind for the long term is:
So, yes, not perfect, but I’m pretty sure that /e/OS is currently the mobile OS that is reducing user’s exposition to the Google ecosystem the most.
It’s an odyssey, and tomorrow will get better.
Thanks @GaelDuval for giving your point of view. I think you do well!
And @pjmbraet you could use /e/ without MiccoG by switching off everything in the “microG” folder in the settings. Would this be good enough for you?
And to add to this, there are many other ways that Google and others can track your activity online. And those efforts are mostly up to the user, not even the manufacturer of the phone or the developers. This is just another piece of the puzzle, so I find it a perfectly acceptable tradeoff.
Hello.
That’s why I asked in my thread (french) about “how-to config” /e/, because most users realy don’t know where they can improve privacy in settings and then by using safely there /e/phone.
I think users need a “full-upgrade” 
No you dont need to log in with a Goolag account at all for microg to function.
yes, If you need it for the apps push notification that are using google push…
