Tech note: Android LineageOS 15.1 without Google
My experience from 2018 running LineageOS 15.1 on a Sony Xperia Z1 without Google services.
Gesture Input
AOSP doesn’t include gesture input by default, but it can be added manually:
- Download the appropriate Google Apps package.
- Extract it, and from the Optional folder, open
swypelibs-lib-arm.tar.lz
to find the filelibjni_latinimegoogle.so
. - Use
adb
to transfer this file to your phone:adb push /path/to/libjni_latinimegoogle.so /system/lib
. - Reboot the phone to complete setup.
Apps
You can download apps from APKMirror. To install them, use:
adb install -r app-name.apk
Google-less Setup Alternative
Alternatively, you can install Open GApps but skip signing in to your Google account on the device. Apps can still be installed manually from APKMirror.