How best to use Google Play?

Xplet1veDeleted

Just curious how folks here are using google play/play store when certain apps require it - are people signing in with their actual accounts within sandboxed profiles and accepting a certain amount of privacy sacrifice for convenience, or are more people setting up anonymous dummy accounts and signing in that way? Any opinions on best practices?

mmobder

Xplet1veDeleted
though apps may complain they require GPlay, from my experience they can be split into several groups: whining ones so I just ignore their whining, ones that need it to be enabled only once upon 1st run, those that require it be just enabled (no network) and those that requires GPS to be enabled and have access to certain online resources (in my case it's only maps-related apps).
None of them required any types of accounts, so I just ensure I delete AdvID and enable network only if absolutely necessary.

Disclaimer: I don't allow/expect any push notifications from apps except for ones that are using unifiedpush.

Rostam

I ended up using my existing Google account for Sandboxed Google Play on a 2nd profile. The 2nd Profile contains only the apps which absolutely require Play Services. They do not get permissions for sensors or location. Time spent on 2nd profile is strictly limited.

Do you compromise your privacy this way? Technically, yes, but it may be negligible. I don't use Google for anything except for this Google Play profile. Technically, Google knows that some random user from a deceptive IP uses those 5-6 apps for 10 minutes a day. They don't know the device's identity either, since IMEI tracking is blocked on Graphene by default. This is almost entirely useless for profiling purposes. In my Google activity protocol the sessions are listed as random Linux devices logging in. I am using a Pixel 6 Pro in reality.