by Brad Linder
10 Comments on De-Googled Android operating system /e/OS V2 brings Android Auto support, UI and privacy enhancements
The /e/OS Foundation has been offering a de-Googled version of Android since 2018, with an emphasis on privacy and security. Now developers have introduced the biggest update in years.
Among other things, /e/OS 2.0 brings support for Android Auto, an updated launcher app with support for live wallpapers and app notifications on icons, and other user interface and privacy improvements.
Android is quite possibly the world’s most widely-used operating system these days thanks to Google’s decision to make it available free of charge to device makers, while also offering an open source version of Android that can be used by companies and developers that don’t meet the company’s requirements for including Google services like the Play Store, Gmail, and Chrome web browser.
But some folks consider versions of Android without those services to be a feature rather than a bug, because one of the keyreasons Google’s operating system is free is because Google makes money by tracking user data and selling it to advertisers. So we’ve seen a number of projects in recent years to make Google-free Android work better, and /e/OS is one of the most complete solutions.
Among other things, it has its own installer that lets you load the operating system on existing phones, an “App Lounge” app store that displays privacy ratings, privacy features that let you do things like hide your IP address or location, and a privacy-focused set of cloud services including email and storage. You can even buy phones that ship with the operating system pre-installed, including versions of the Fairphone 4, Fairphone 5, Teracube 2, and refurbished Google Pixel 5.
Some of the other updates in /e/OS 2.0 of the operating system include:
- There’s a new “wall of shame” to the privacy homepage to let you quickly identify the apps on your device that are sending the most tracking requests.
- App Lounge now lets you filter apps that have no trackers, Open Source apps, or Progressive Web apps.
- You can use the Camera app to scan QR codes.
- You can now use the Notes app without an account.
Version 2.0 of the operating system is based on LineageOS 20 (which, in turn, is a custom operating system based on Android 13), and also brings a number of bug fixes, security updates, and performance enhancements as well as some device-specific improvements including better call quality on the Fairphone 5 when using the speakerphone function.
You can find more information in the /e/OS 2.0 announcement video, and existing /e/OS users should be able to install the update through the system updates menu in their phone’s settings.
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10 Comments
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Just some small complementary information. For the curious.
“Android is quite possibly the world’s most widely-used operating system these days”
Android has been the world’s most widely used operating system in phones by far since 2012 more or less:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/272698/global-market-share-held-by-mobile-operating-systems-since-2009/
If we’re talking about ALL OSs, then it’s more or less since 2017, with a few times Windows got back on top:
https://gs.statcounter.com/os-market-share#monthly-200901-202404
xD That’s for end consumers of course. It fought with Windows there for a bit, but considering how sh*tty Windows has become, Android just took over.“because one of the key reasons Google’s operating system is free is because Google makes money by tracking user data and selling it to advertisers”
While this might be partially true today, people should know that this wasn’t always the case. Android was open source and “free” from start, when it was first developed, back when it wasn’t owned by Google. Because the original developers wanted an alternative to what was out there, that was all proprietary.
This wasn’t even about iOS just yet… it was about Symbian and Windows Mobile. 😛Google bought Android with a whole other thing in mind regarding profit though.
Here’s a great read for those curious:
https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/08/excerpt-the-history-of-android-as-written-by-a-longtime-android-developer/Summary – carrier money. Originally, Google decided to invest and buy Android because it saw a route for profit in selling services to carriers so they could offer apps to costumers. Thus, the whole carrier lock fracas.
Weird right? Most people don’t know about this side of the story. Android wasn’t made to exploit user data, it was originally made with a pretty good idea… until Google ruined it.
Of course, this is dating back at the origins of smartphones, back then we still didn’t have the insidious and predatory privacy ending parallel economy of mass data harvesting, selling to data brokers and advertisers, and all of this crap we have nowadays.
Anyways, back on topic. I’m not sure if the current de-Googled options can offer me something I can use. I’ve tried going their way in the past, but I either did not have a phone that could take it, or I went through the entire process only to find out key features I need just didn’t work properly.
If I’m not mistaken, /e/OS was one of the custom ROMs that wouldn’t work with my phone… I installed Lineage OS but something just didn’t work right. Speakers I think. I tried several other OSs without success – it’s a problem with my smartphone, not the ROMs themselves I think. They used some speakers with proprietary driver rubbish and it just wouldn’t work with anything. This was a several months process that left me kinda scarred, tbh.
I’d even go for a pre-installed phone, but they are not only very hard to get from where I live, with taxes and all it’d also get too expensive. You’ll always be paying double or more if you go for these things instead of buying something locally from a big brand that has a local subsidiary or official distributor, it’s completely unfair.
I’m also not sure if the limitations of de-Googled phones won’t be too limiting for my use cases… but I still follow news and am interested in the topic because I kinda want to have a de-Googled phone even if it’s just a backup or secondary phone that I’ll try making the main one overtime. 😛
Thanks for sharing Brad!
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yeah devils in details, most people don’t have time for that. I think even rich kids who have it all, like Nvidia babies, don’t even have time for that. (as personal choice )
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The effort’s to be applauded but as far as deEvil-ed Fairphones go, divestOS would make more sense.
The “wall of shame” idea is brilliant.
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I’ve been very pleased with my /e/os powered phone, thanks for the reminder that I need to do the update lol
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Update: New UI looks good and I have nothing in my wall of shame.
I had a feeling that would be the case since I only have about 4 apps downloaded and made sure they were all open source with no trackers before installing them.
As someone else mentioned the Android Auto feature does require you to download Google apps, yes it is counterintuitive and negates the main purpose of this OS, but they have their reasons for allowing people to basically download anything they want. I personally don’t see why anyone would opt for this feature but whatever, I’m going to keep living like it’s the early 2000s.Reply
I doubt having Android Auto enhances privacy.
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Especially since the car and the phone company are going to continue tracking you anyway.
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First steps of setting it up on their site are “install google” and “install google map”. Not sure what’s the point of “degoogled” phone, if you will not get anything that was not a thing on PalmOS and Pocket PC 15 years ago (well, you don’t get performance and app size, though). Huge, very expensive services in the cloud is what makes modern smartphones what they are.
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AFAIK it default comes with MicroG. It’s mimics Google Services but with less private data leaks
https://microg.org/Reply
By default, maybe, but to make Google services, like Maps work you actually need Google services installed, not stubs of MicroG. All routing and map data is coming from Google cloud. But I assume telemetry will be quite crippled on these phones, so that’s something.
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