Google Play Store is a Walled Garden - Here's How to Escape!
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Google Play Store locks users into its controlled ecosystem. Here are the several options available to avoid the Play Store, and why you may want to consider them (yes, before your favorite app is mistakenly removed as well) This video is targeted towards individuals looking to deGoogle.
Play Store is just one part of the bigger problem: Google Play Services aka GMS. Unfortunately most proprietary apps cannot run without this, but here comes the solution: microG: "A free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries."
More info: https://microg.org/
Our community:
!microg@discuss.tchncs.deOr for Mainland Chinese devices, their carrier or manufacturer equivalents of GMS aka China Unicom "WO" services and Huawei/Xiaomi/Meizu services respectively (or whatever they are natively called there).
I make use of Aurora for 3 apps but all the rest are fdroid
You can just download APKs from the internet...? No app store required
That's grand for the likes of us who can easily install over adb and such but that's no good to those like my 74 year old mother.
But you don't need adb to install APKs on the phone.