{"slug": "microg", "name": "microG", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 6, "warners": 1, "score": 1.171, "rising": 1.0, "first": "2026-05-21", "latest": "2026-10-21", "why": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS.  It works really well, and I recommend it.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 3, "compare": 0, "warn": 2}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS.  It works really well, and I recommend it.", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["microG"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 802695904, "item_id": 50168494, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50168494", "by": "hgfygkh", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS.  It works really well, and I recommend it.", "excerpt": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS. It works really well, and I recommend it. It is a Murena phone from here: https://murena.com/", "context": "uses a Murena phone", "use_case": "main phone OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 802709969, "item_id": 50169373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50169373", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "microG on /e/ downloads and runs Google Play executables with highly privileged access by default", "excerpt": "The founder and leader of /e/ and Murena has repeatedly claimed highly private and secure devices primarily benefit criminals and pedophiles. He has also falsely claimed that GrapheneOS is mainly used by criminals. /e/ and Murena heavily mislead users about what they provide. In reality, they lag incredibly far behind on standard privacy/security patches and protections. They set a fake Android security patch level d", "context": "", "use_case": "Google services replacement on /e/", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}, {"id": 771510721, "item_id": 48219420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48219420", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "privileged microG which loads Google binary blobs into that privileged process (for SafetyNet)", "excerpt": "No, microG is definitely not talking to Google all the time, NetGuard would warn me if it did. https://www.kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/ When I tested /e/OS a few months back, I found the same. (which is easily done, as opposed to stopping Google Services in GrapheneOS) This is incorrect. By default, GrapheneOS does not even have Google Play Services, it", "context": "", "use_case": "Play Services replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone"}]}], "who": [{"by": "hgfygkh", "context": "uses a Murena phone", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50168494", "date": "2026-10-20"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["google services compatibility", "google play compatibility", "google services replacement on /e/", "main phone os", "replacement for play services", "google services replacement"], "compared": [{"slug": "grapheneos", "name": "GrapheneOS", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "e-os", "name": "/e/OS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "lineageos", "name": "LineageOS", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50162177", "title": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49937718", "title": "GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49477600", "title": "\u201cIt works better in the app\u201d", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48158130", "title": "Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"warn": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1, "warn": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 802793360, "item_id": 50174585, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50174585", "by": "ForHackernews", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "it's an alternative to the GApps you suggest people install into your sandbox", "excerpt": "This is pointless, we're going in circles and you're just restating your views in a way that's unresponsive to my point. 1) a user having root inside a VM is not the same thing as having root and I suspect you well know that. 2) No one is claiming microG is an alternative to your sandbox - it's an alternative to the GApps you suggest people install into your sandbox. Again, you clearly know this.", "context": "", "use_case": "Google services compatibility", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}, {"id": 802791361, "item_id": 50174460, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50174460", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-10-21", "stance": "compare", "quote": "microG is not an open source alternative to what we've built and are in the process of expanding ourselves.", "excerpt": "Users having that access is not the same as the OS using that access for more than the bare minimum components and even giving it to apps based on a request prompt. Users need beyond that level of access to install GrapheneOS. It does not mean we think a production device should run a bunch of the OS as root and make it available to applications. GrapheneOS already has hardware-based virtualization where users have a", "context": "", "use_case": "Google Play compatibility", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}, {"id": 802709969, "item_id": 50169373, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50169373", "by": "grapheneos", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "warn", "quote": "microG on /e/ downloads and runs Google Play executables with highly privileged access by default", "excerpt": "The founder and leader of /e/ and Murena has repeatedly claimed highly private and secure devices primarily benefit criminals and pedophiles. He has also falsely claimed that GrapheneOS is mainly used by criminals. /e/ and Murena heavily mislead users about what they provide. In reality, they lag incredibly far behind on standard privacy/security patches and protections. They set a fake Android security patch level d", "context": "", "use_case": "Google services replacement on /e/", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}, {"id": 802695904, "item_id": 50168494, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50168494", "by": "hgfygkh", "date": "2026-10-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS.  It works really well, and I recommend it.", "excerpt": "My main device uses MicroG with LineageOS. It works really well, and I recommend it. It is a Murena phone from here: https://murena.com/", "context": "uses a Murena phone", "use_case": "main phone OS", "switched_from": "", "story": "MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space"}, {"id": 799020577, "item_id": 49938786, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49938786", "by": "palata", "date": "2026-10-02", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "but even then, there is microG", "excerpt": "I read a lot of comments like this, saying \"we should have an alternative\". And I agree that it would be really cool, BUT: AOSP and the Android SDK are open source. GrapheneOS is exactly an alternative to Google Android. Sure, Google could shut down the Play Store (but alternative stores exist), or destroy the Play Services (but even then, there is microG). I am happy that Google is still contributing to Android beca", "context": "", "use_case": "replacement for Play Services", "switched_from": "", "story": "GrapheneOS has fixed the Android 17 QPR1 kernel performance regression"}, {"id": 791661089, "item_id": 49478818, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49478818", "by": "nazgulsenpai", "date": "2026-08-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use LineageOS with MicroG", "excerpt": "I use LineageOS with MicroG and decided probably 5 years ago to just use PWAs instead of apps for any online service and grab whatever other utilities I might need from Obtanium or F-Droid. Also the experience on my Thinkphone is the exact same as it was on my Pixel XL 2. I know not everyone can do this, and some PWAs are downright terrible if they work at all, but for my usecase it has been great.", "context": "", "use_case": "Google services replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "\u201cIt works better in the app\u201d"}, {"id": 771510721, "item_id": 48219420, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48219420", "by": "microtonal", "date": "2026-05-21", "stance": "warn", "quote": "privileged microG which loads Google binary blobs into that privileged process (for SafetyNet)", "excerpt": "No, microG is definitely not talking to Google all the time, NetGuard would warn me if it did. https://www.kuketz-blog.de/e-datenschutzfreundlich-bedeutet-nicht-zwangslaeufig-sicher-custom-roms-teil6/ When I tested /e/OS a few months back, I found the same. (which is easily done, as opposed to stopping Google Services in GrapheneOS) This is incorrect. By default, GrapheneOS does not even have Google Play Services, it", "context": "", "use_case": "Play Services replacement", "switched_from": "", "story": "Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone"}]}