Events Recap

An ongoing probe against Google by CCI (Competition Commission of India) concluded Google's anti-competitive practices in the Android space. The commission imposed a fine of Rs 1337.76 Crore on the American tech giant on Oct 20, 2022. Along with the fine, the company was served several regulatory conditions on the platter like, not requiring manufacturers to ship uninstallable Google apps out of the box.

In defence, Google has approached the honourable Supreme Court of India to challenge the orders of CCI and the hearing is ongoing since Jan 16, 2023.

Before that on Jan 14, Google claimed that its practices is based on Android security concerns and not alleged monopoly practices and the CCI decision might hike Android device prices in the Indian market.

Google's claims are based on their belief that valid alternatives to their services are either not available or are not popular enough to compete. In this blog, let's look at some of the valid google alternatives that we have the freedom to choose from.

Alternatives to Popular Google Services

Operating Systems

AOSP (Android Open Source Project) is an open-source project maintained by Google that acts as the barebone for manufacturers to build their custom OS experience. Being licenced as open-source, any developer can modify the codebase to their custom needs. That's how we get some of the android operating systems that don't adhere to Google's monopoly practices.

BharOS

Let's start the list with our native Made in India answer to Google's monopoly. BharOS is an indigenous OS built upon AOSP and developed by IIT Madras incubated firm J and K Ops Pvt. Ltd. It was launched on 19th Jan 2023, this OS is truly Indian in character operating in all the regional languages of India.

There is no way to get a hand on Bhar OS at the moment but is planned to be used on many low-cost Indian Manufacturer devices like Micromax and Lava. It won't have the preinstalled Google Apps and will feature an indigenous App store.

Lineage OS

Arguably the most popular AOSP OS not licenced by any manufacturer, Lineage OS is the Face of Custom Roms.

It has the widest range of device support and can be installed on selected phones of different manufacturers like Redmi, One Plus, Pixel, etc.

Paranoid Rom (AOSPA)

Being one of the oldest Rom in the market, AOSPA has come a long way. Years of development have given this ROM an edge over stability and performance.

Like Lineage it too has a wide range of manufacturer support.

Pixel Experience

Love the licenced Android experience of the Google Pixel phones?
Pixel Experience is designed as a replica of Google Pixel Rom and doesn't fall behind on customization and performance. Although it lacks the security level of Pixel's licenced OS which is well integrated with the secure Pixel architecture.

Calyx OS

Developed by the Calyx institute which is run by a Man who sued even the FBI to protect user data. If privacy is your suit then this ROM is the best choice for you. What makes it arguably the best choice for the masses is its balance of the privacy aspect with the convenience of using Android.

Calyx OS can only be installed on Pixel devices, Xiaomi Mi A2 and Fairphone 4.

Graphine OS

Voted as the most secured Android OS by the community and often used by Politicians, Activists and Bureau agents, Graphine OS is the top choice if security is a desperate need. Beware that this hard security comes with an extremely poor user experience and inconvenience of daily usage.

Graphine OS is only supported by Pixel devices, due to its advanced security architecture, it is built to be compatible with Pixel.

App Store

The Playstore is another monopoly of google, forcing people to have a google account to be able to download apps, and banning apps (like PayTM) on the store without proper prior notice.

Fortunately, there are a plethora of alternatives to Playstore.

Indus App Bazaar

An Indian alternative android app store, specially designed for Indians to enhance user experience with localization, simplicity, personalization, and performance optimization.

It is available in 12 different regional languages in addition to English with its own app recommendation algorithm. It also doesn't require an email to log in and use the app. App Bazaar has 100M+ users and 400K+ apps.

F-Droid

It is arguably more secure than the Plastore with its strict FOSS-only regulation and the most preferred one in the privacy and FOSS community.

Although it is only limited to FOSS apps, its best used parallel to other app stores to get proprietary apps that are not available on F-Droid.

Aurora Store 4

The latest released version of Aurora Store, it's a Playsore proxy app that uses a proxy account to connect with Playstore and fetch the latest apps along with all the other data like reviews, ratings and numbers along with additional tracker analytic data.

It doesn't require you to sign in and helps you download apps directly from the Playstore without using an account.

Apk Mirror

Arguably the only safe Apk database on the internet, Apk mirror is an amazing alternative to Playstore providing you with the latest Apk of almost any app you might need.

Map

Google Maps is possibly the hardest one to replace with the only alternative Map that comes close being Apple Maps which is only available for Apple devices.
But serious efforts have been put behind changing this fact and here are some alternatives that might soon be just as good if not better.

Map My India

Possibly the only viable alternative to Google Maps, it's an indigenously developed Map service.

Backed by ISRO, Map My India has the potential to be better than Google Maps in the near future. Map My India also tries to implement a 3D view of buildings in the Map to make itself better.

Other Services

We already covered the less popular alternatives to Google services, let's cover the rest of the alternatives that are already popular enough to give competition.

GPay

• PayTM (Indian)

• PhonePe (Indian)

• MobiKwik (Indian)

• BHIM (Indian)

• SBI Yono (Indian)

• ICICI Pockets (Indian)

• HDFC PayZapp (Indian)

• AxisPay (Indian)

• PayPal

• WhatsappPay

Google Meet

• Jitsi Meet (FOSS)

• Microsoft Teams

• Brave Talks (FOSS)

• Zoho Meeting (Indian)

• Skype

• Discord

Chrome

• Brave (FOSS)

• Firefox (FOSS)

• Bromite (FOSS)

• DuckDuckGo (FOSS)

• Epic Browser (Indian)

• Indian Browser (Indian)

• Yo Browser (Indian)

• JioPages (Indian)

GMail

• Protonmail (FOSS)

• Tutanota (FOSS)

• Rediff Mail (Indian)

• Zoho Mail (Indian)

• StartMail (FOSS)

Google Search

• Brave Search (Privacy Focused)

• DuckDuckGo (Privacy Focused)

• Startpage (Privacy Focused)

• Justdial (Indian)

• Neeva (Premium | (Privacy Focused)

Google Drive

• Mega (FOSS)

• Proton Drive (FOSS)

• Jio Cloud (Indian)

• Zoho WorkDrive (Indian)

• Drop Box

Google Office Suite

• WPS Office

• Only Office (FOSS)

• Zoho Office (Indian)

Google Photos

• Piwigo (FOSS)

• Mega (FOSS)

Google Calendar

• Proton Calendar (FOSS)

• Zoho Calendar (Indian)

• Nextcloud Calender (FOSS)

• TimeBlocks

Google Forms

• Zoho Forms (Indian)

• SurveyHeart (Indian)

• Typeform

• Nextcloud Forms (FOSS)

• LimeSurvey (FOSS)