this post was submitted on 15 Jul 2025
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DeGoogle Yourself

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Do i just backup the apk and its data? Or do i need to sail the seven seas?

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[–] swelter_spark@reddthat.com 1 points 21 hours ago

Sometimes you can contact the person/company that made the app with proof of purchase and they can give you a code or download link for a version that doesn't require Google verification.

[–] WhyJiffie@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 day ago

lots of paid apps use license verification. that needs google play services on the phone, and a logged in google account that has the license.

often its possible to patch out license verification. the lucky patcher app can do this automatically in some cases, but I don't recommend it actually because even I'm not confident what is the real official download site of it. it has features for rooted phones, but it can do some things without that too, by just patching the app.

but if the game is multiplayer, chances are that the servers will attempt to verify with google that you have a license, so that may not be possible

[–] merde@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

most games downloaded from boogle play don't work without boogle play (and probably the account with which you bought them. They're gone. :/

some games have alternative (email only or Nintendo) signIns that you can use to carry your data to a nonBoogle platform

[–] somerandomperson@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

So with, say, Minecraft; am i cooked?

[–] pewpew@feddit.it 1 points 1 day ago

You can download it cracked but I believe you can no longer sign in to your MS account to play multiplayer

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Believe it or not but I bought Minecraft on play store years ago and refunded it for some reasons but to this day, I can still download it for free ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[–] lemmyuser68@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 days ago

You can check Fdroid (some paid apps like OSM+ are free there)

[–] irotsoma@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 days ago

If it is a pay once and you own it kind of thing and never requires internet access for anything, then you may be able to back IP the all and use it later. But most games have some online component that requires a periodic login to use. Same goes for a lot if software on desktops, though.

[–] lemmyuser68@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 days ago

I do not think there is a way :/

[–] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 days ago

Hope that there's a modded version that doesn't need play services. They exist for a fairly decent range of games. The less the game relies on an external server, the better the chance it's out there.

For stuff that doesn't have any need to check for play services, or verify anything, you can just copy off the apk file and do what you like with those.

Data is harder. Most games rely on Google backup. The ones that don't, you may not be able to access to back up yourself. I dunno what the current options are, but it used to be that titanium backup on a rooted device could make a full backup to install on a different device. There was one that didn't require root, I think it was called helium? But I never used it.