Using Android without Google account

Question

I don't like the idea that my personal information are gathered and by some company that make profit out of processing and selling it (or even when it has a possibility to do so). And yes, that's the reason I don't use Facebook and gmail (after reading their TOC).

I wonder if it's possible to use the Android smartphone without Google account at all in a long time?

So far I know that:

I don't use gmail/google+/chrome, so I don't bother about it.
I cannot download application from Google Play without Google account, but I can download most of them as .apk and install manually.

Did I miss something? Or it's possible to live with Android without Google account?

p.s. Does Google still collect any data about me, even when I just use Android, without Google account and without gmail/google+/youtube?

Related question: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/65981/can-you-fully-remove-google-system-apps-from-android-including-the-play-store-up — wbogacz, Dec 12 '14 at 21:24
Sure it is possible, and does a great job. Using it this way for months already :) Extensive information can be found e.g. in my blog (6 articles altogether). Not a single Google service installed (and of course no Fakebook). Even the location service replaced :) — Izzy, Dec 12 '14 at 22:08
Enjoy! Parts 1-5 give the details, part 6 is my "self-experiment" (all the experiences when I tried to follow my own advices ;) But the results are great, I only miss the SE notifications (which require Google Cloud Messaging, and thus the Google Play Services). Everything else works perfectly – including "offline location" using cell IDs. I even can access Play Store, and use the apps I've bought :) — Izzy, Dec 12 '14 at 22:16

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 12 '14 at 21:29

Of course you can, in fact, the only reason a lot of people connect their Google account is to use play store and get apps easily.

I suggest you to install F-Droid: it is the best source for open source Android apps, where you can find a "copy" of all g-apps.

For the last part, technically, if you answered No to all google's attempt to get you accept their therms and conditions, they can't. But keep in mind that a lot of applications are based on Google API, so, they would use things like Google Play Services to get some jobs done. (I'm not sure, but I believe they pass all information directly to the app without saving anything on their databases about you if you did not accept TOC)

If you really want to avoid Google, I suggest the use of a custom ROM

A custom ROM is an alternative OS for your device, built by the android community and under open source licences. Most of them are far better than the android version devices are sold with. The best ROMs are cyanogenmod and paranoidandroid and all their derivates — maxpesa, Dec 12 '14 at 21:37

Using Android without Google account

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