Last updated: May 10, 2026
A list of the ways Google is making the web worse and your phone less yours.
See also: keepandroidopen.org · privacyguides.org · killedbygoogle.com
Android used to be genuinely open. It's not anymore.
Their 'escape hatch' is a trap door CRITICAL
Google claims power users can still sideload apps. In practice: tap the build number seven times, dismiss scare screens, enter your PIN, restart, wait 24 hours, dismiss more warnings, then confirm you understand "the risks". Nine steps. A mandatory 24-hour cooling-off period. On a device you own. This flow runs through Google Play Services, not the OS, so Google can change or kill it at any time with no update required.
Apps can refuse to run on your own device CRITICAL
Google's Play Integrity API lets apps check whether your phone is "certified" by Google. Running GrapheneOS or CalyxOS? Banking apps, streaming apps, and even some government apps may simply refuse to open. Google decides what counts as a legitimate device, not you.
They want to lock the bootloader HIGH
Google has been pushing phone makers to ship devices with locked bootloaders and make unlocking harder or impossible. You can't run your own software on hardware you paid for.
Google has made themselves impossible to avoid, even on non-Google things.
reCAPTCHA requires Google Play Services CRITICAL
The "I'm not a robot" widget used on millions of websites quietly requires Google Play Services on Android. No Play Services? Expect an infinite CAPTCHA loop or an outright block. A web standard held hostage by Google's proprietary software.
Push notifications go through Google HIGH
Most Android apps send push notifications through Google's Firebase. That puts Google's servers between every app and every notification on your phone, your bank, your doctor's app, your chat.
They know more about you than anyone else on earth, and they profit from it.
Every product feeds the same profile CRITICAL
Search, YouTube, Maps, Gmail, Chrome, Android, Drive, all tied to one identity. There is no meaningful separation between Google products when it comes to your data.
They tracked your location even when you said not to CRITICAL
In 2018 the Associated Press found Google kept storing location data even after users turned off Location History. Google paid $391.5 million to settle with US states over it. The settings are designed to mislead.
Chrome profiles you for ads, and no other browser does this HIGH
Chrome's replacement for tracking cookies, the Topics API, doesn't stop ad profiling. It moves it into the browser itself. Google invented this, built it into Chrome, and other browsers like Firefox and Safari rejected it. The tool you browse with becomes Google's ad infrastructure.
Android is technically open source. The parts that matter aren't.
Android without Google is a skeleton HIGH
The Android Open Source Project is real, but Google ships Pixel builds months before releasing the source. The Play Store, Assistant, Maps, and Wallet are all proprietary. The open part is just the part nobody's making money from.
They build ecosystems, then abandon them MEDIUM
Google Reader, Stadia, Inbox, Allo, Daydream, Google+. The pattern: build a product, attract users and developers, shut it down.
Places to learn more, and things you can actually use.
A campaign pushing back against Google's Android lockdown. More detailed than the .com.
A privacy-focused Android you actually control. No Google, unless you want it.
F-Droid ❤
An app store for free and open-source Android apps. No Play Services needed.
Community-maintained recommendations for browsers, email, VPNs, and more.
Shows you exactly which trackers are hiding inside any Android app.