free-as-in-freedom Google Apps on Fairphone Android

Fairphone FP1U

I have this phone for more than 3,5 years

running on Android v4.2 !

Gapps

I dont have them, I dont even have a google account.
Although fairphone comes with an extra GApps package zip, I haven’t installed them either.

Fake GApps

Unfortunately there are some android apps that need GApps to run. So, without any further ado, here are my notes on how to add support for alternative open sources.

Disclaimer

Device may brick ! Do a full backup and keep it somewhere safe.

Location Service

We start with the easy one, how to add support for location service.
In Fdroid we can find the UnifiedNlp suite of packages that work as a Location provider middleware. On my device, I installed the below apps:

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=UnifiedNlp

UnifiedNlp

Screenshots from my fairphone, after a few reboots

Unified github

Just to make things perfectly clear, you can verify fdroid’s packages against these:

Unified

https://github.com/microg/android_packages_apps_UnifiedNlp/releases

Google Play Store

So notes are referring to Phonesky … I didnt follow them !!!

Instead of phonesky, I installed BlankStore !

Here is the github repo: BlankStore v0.7.5

https://github.com/mar-v-in/BlankStore/releases

microG

Now are going to a more interesting part. We need to install the μG to our phone.

microG F-Droid repo

It’s really easy, just add the fdroid repository and install the below two apps:

https://microg.org/fdroid/repo?fingerprint=9BD06727E62796C0130EB6DAB39B73157451582CBD138E86C468ACC395D14165

• microG Services Core
• microG Services Framework Proxy

microG Services Core

Now the difficult part.

Opening microG self-checked, we are going to see that spoof signature is not passing the test.

Xposed

Now the most difficult and dangerous thing you will need to do with your phone.

We need to install Xposed Installer

For Fairphone FP1U we need:

Package:  de.robv.android.xposed.installer
Version name:  2.7 experimental
Download: de.robv.android.xposed.installer_v33_36570c.apk (770.28 KB)
MD5: 36570c6fac687ffe08107e6a72bd3da7

after that, we have to install the below xposed modules:

• Xposed Installer
• FakeGApps
• XposedGmsCoreUnifiedNlp
• XposedUnifiedNlp

download them and reboot your phone. If you think it may be helpful, cross your fingers.

This is a good time to remind you that you need to have a fresh backup

microG

Now let’s reboot our mobile phone again and try to open μG once more:

If everything seems like the above pictures, then you are done !

Errata 20170211

For android users with v4.2 on it, there are a few errata!

Location Services

You need the legacy network location package from UnifiedNlp

LegacyNetworkLocation.apk

μG - microG

The latest online version -somehow- doesnt work with my phone perfectly.
You can use the build from BRNmod an alternative CyanogenMod

https://files.brnmod.rocks/apps/GmsCore/Latest/

play-services-core-debug.apk                       27-Jan-2017 11:22             4188872