It is a great device though. Requiring a Google account to initially setup the device is one of my two only complaints, the other being the lack of a HDMI 2.1 interface.
I run a shield for Plex and have never logged into my google account on it. I’ve disabled play store and most google services. Also I keep the android on the stock version.
So it’s possible to run it without signing up. Thats good news. All the reviews seem to say it’s a requirement for the initial set up
Are there any special steps to get your set up? I imagine you need to side load your apps because the play store won’t work, but is there anything else?
I side load Plex from the direct download links in the forum (Plex pass is required for this I think but there are def other ways to get the apk). I do not run the shield as a sever as I have a dedicated box for that.
Nothing special about the setup at all, I just prefer a minimalist approach to software so I disabled everything on the shield that wasn’t necessary to run Plex.
I’m not sure about using it without a Google account, but you can definitely minimize their involvement. I installed flauncher, then disabled the default “leanback” launcher. Plex is installed from the play store but I side loaded an ad-blocking YouTube app. On a normal day I don’t see anything from or about google on my screen. I’m not sophisticated or, to be honest, concerned enough to know if there’s tracking or other telemetry going on. I mostly just want to avoid ads and moronic suggestions from them.
It looks like there’s a Lineage OS build for the shield, so if you want to eradicate google, there’s an option. It loses a fair bit of what makes the shield great though, since some of the audio and video playback stuff on the shield is proprietary to Nvidia.
SmartTubeNext (STN) is the Android TV equivalent of Revanced.
I did end up making a Google account just to get mine set up and for syncing subscriptions between STN and Revanced on my phone. I don’t use it for anything else.
As others have said, replacing the launcher with something like Sideload Channel Launcher 4 is a good option.
Other useful apps are Button Mapper (for killing the netflix remote button and for mapping the home button to your new launcher) and Send Files To TV to easily sideload apps without a ton of setup.
I suppose I could use someone else’s account for initial set up. I’ve had a look and it seems nextdns allows different profiles per device, so I’ll just block as many google domains as I can that way
Newpipe is my Android based YouTube player. I don’t have a Shield, but there are ways to run Android without a Google account. With a phone it’s honestly not worth it because you’re constantly messing around with side loading and stuff, but it may be doable with a TV box.
That said, I have an ancient NUC and run Fedora. It was a bit of a pain, but it’s been years and years and it’s still doing the job, and I’m told that it’s gotten easier with the later releases.
The creator of the Simple apps sold them to an advertising company, which has since added trackers into the apps. The fossify project is forking all of them to keep them tracker free and to continue development.
If the phone app doesn’t have call recording, I’m not interested. SimpleMobileTools were nice, I’m glad that they’re still continuing on in spirit through a fork, but there are plenty of FOSS apps to choose from - pick the ones you like most.
Saying that though I understand the appeal of having a set of apps that look the same.
I would first approach this problem by first trying to convert as many apps that you have into a Foss alternative ( you could use this site to find the alternatives: alternativeto.net).
Then if I was comfortable enough I would later on try flashing a custom rom like lineageOS (I would recommend doing this with a second phone if you have one, like a older phone to get used to the OS since it is a bit different and if something happens you have the original phone as a backup).
Then I guess the final step would be to isolate your work apps that aren’t Foss like WhatsApp into a separate environment with an app like shelter.
Edit: Also try to not rely on google services as much as possible by using alternatives like protonmail/tutamail for email and other search engines like startpage, duckduckgo and searX (or searXNG, I do prefer more this one) (searX/XNG instances being the best search engines out there)
I have been using them and Gallery was a bit buggy at the beginning, so that is the only one I have not switched yet but otherwise, they are all working as expected. I expect to fully switch shortly.
Why just Google? Search has gone into the gutter across the board. Certain search constraints like excluding keywords or sites no longer work. Amazon doesn’t even care what you type in - they just show you what they want you to buy.
What hasn’t gotten worse with Google? I have been slowly leaving Google and now it’s just YouTube and Google maps. Youtube I am not overly worried about as I can still block all the commercials.
If you don’t mind paying to use a search engine, Kagi is actually pretty good. Not as good as Google was 20 years ago, but significantly better than any other search engine I can find today.
degoogle
Hot
This magazine is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.