Google Play Services
Mobile services framework in Phones & tablets
Sandboxed, it lets people run Google-dependent apps with invasive permissions revoked; critics say it still shares data and is tightly integrated.
Sandboxed, it lets people run Google-dependent apps with invasive permissions revoked; critics say it still shares data and is tightly integrated.
95 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 84
- approval share
- 12%
Recommended in 7 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 0.1 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 7 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Runs Google-dependent apps in a sandbox
“can be used without signing into an account and by default have invasive permissions revoked”
Comment from 17 Jul 2026 in “GrapheneOS recommended for domestic abuse victims” “Then you can install GMS into its own user profile with that GMS-dependent app”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” “I do have sandboxed Google services installed.”
Comment from 1 Nov 2025 on Hacker News - Comment from 21 May 2026 in “Where to buy a non-Apple, non-Google smartphone”
Google parts are modular and optional
“Most google libraries operate independently of google services and do not depend on them to function.”
Comment from 18 Jun 2026 in “GrapheneOS has been ported to Android 17 and official releases are coming soon” “The google move to pull things out of the OS and push them into the play store was welcome”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Data still reaches Google
“If the Tiktok app passes your data to Play Services (say, to support notifications with GCM) then it doesn't make any difference that Play Services is nominally "sandboxed".”
Comment from 17 Feb 2026 in “GrapheneOS – Break Free from Google and Apple” “apps that require Google Play services (like all the most popular and important apps) and not have Google syphone all your contacts details”
Comment from 2 Mar 2026 in “/e/OS is a complete "deGoogled", mobile ecosystem” “The closed source Google Play SDK and libraries are therefore still part of the loop and have access to what the app can access.”
Comment from 20 Oct 2026 in “MicroG: Free-libre re-implementation of Google's proprietary Android user space” - Comment from 22 Nov 2025 in “Android and iPhone users can now share files, starting with the Pixel 10”
Android unusable without it
“effectively building it into the system and totally disregarding the reasoning that people might want to remove or replace Google Play Services”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “On non-rooted Android 17, ADB uninstall of system apps fails” “It's far, far too tightly integrated in a way that it just seems like Android was designed to be unusable without.”
Comment from 6 Aug 2026 in “I'm switching my phone from Android to Linux” “Try disabling Google Play services, or Play Store and watch Fdroid apps break, and the phone malfunction.”
Comment from 6 Mar 2026 in “Open Camera is a FOSS Camera App for Android” Pushes Google account and service use
“As it runs through Google Play Services, it's pretty likely they'll boil the frog and make it even harder in the future.”
Comment from 23 Oct 2026 in “Your Phone Is About to Stop Being Yours: 70 Days Until Lockdown” “the Google Play Services dependencies and other walled-garden initiatives from Google will make this less useful”
Comment from 19 Oct 2026 in “Android apps running native on macOS” “It's Play Services that does not support this combination, likely to shepherd you towards Google acoount usage.”
Comment from 28 Feb 2026 in “Don't use passkeys for encrypting user data” Required for passkeys and ID checks
“They require Google Wallet with the Google Play Services to prove your id on your desktop computer, it's absolute insanity.”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Things I learnt about passkeys when building passkeybot” “Passkeys are extremely difficult to support in apps that don't depend on Play Services client libraries.”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “F-Droid: "Keep Android Open"”
What people said
40 of the 116 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Google services run with system privileges and can collect all kinds of data including location data”
“Not when they make it impossible to use government and banking services without Google play services.”
“As it runs through Google Play Services, it's pretty likely they'll boil the frog and make it even harder in the future.”
“The closed source Google Play SDK and libraries are therefore still part of the loop and have access to what the app can access.”
“the Google Play Services dependencies and other walled-garden initiatives from Google will make this less useful”
“I wish European govs would stop requiring Google Play services in Android phone and provided their own solution”
“pulling more and more parts of the Android experience into their proprietary Google Play Services”
“Letting Google handle push notifications is different from using them as your location provider”
“Google's spyware (Play Services) ceases to work normally and Graphene had to patch it to run as an unprivileged app.”
“Google Play services is nearly entirely for using Google services rather than functionality independent of Google services.”
“Then you can install GMS into its own user profile with that GMS-dependent app”
“The google move to pull things out of the OS and push them into the play store was welcome”
“effectively building it into the system and totally disregarding the reasoning that people might want to remove or replace Google Play Services”
“I did run it for a few months with/without play services.”
“It's far, far too tightly integrated in a way that it just seems like Android was designed to be unusable without.”
“It should be something on-device as part of AOSP, not something that further entrenches Google.”
“functionally the core component of any Android device for the near entirety of typical use-cases”
“can be used without signing into an account and by default have invasive permissions revoked”
“Google Play services make it a bit more difficult because the app might marshall the network request through that”
“Most google libraries operate independently of google services and do not depend on them to function.”
“I will pick sandboxed Play any day.”
“if you use the Play Services on GrapheneOS, you're still locked out”
“Google can change it, tighten it, or kill it at any time, with no OS update required and no consent needed.”
“I've seen some guides for installing Play Services in Waydroid, but personally I'm not interested.”
“Google Play can communicate and thus share data with other apps regardless of the user's settings”
“Try disabling Google Play services, or Play Store and watch Fdroid apps break, and the phone malfunction.”
“apps that require Google Play services (like all the most popular and important apps) and not have Google syphone all your contacts details”
“It's Play Services that does not support this combination, likely to shepherd you towards Google acoount usage.”
“you're dependent on Google Play Services for payments, push notifications, and maps — all closed.”
“Passkeys are extremely difficult to support in apps that don't depend on Play Services client libraries.”
“If the Tiktok app passes your data to Play Services (say, to support notifications with GCM) then it doesn't make any difference that Play Services is nominally "sandboxed".”
“they somehow also always seem to require that you have something like Google play services running”
“Google went out of their way to make it impossible to customize google-services.json at runtime.”
“They require Google Wallet with the Google Play Services to prove your id on your desktop computer, it's absolute insanity.”
“Any app which asks google play services for location will automatically turn on location and Bluetooth.”
“google play services is capable of acting as a transparent proxy so remember you MUST also disables google services framework / play services internet access”
“All of the code for this (including AWDL, at least to an extent) is implemented as part of Play Services, unfortunately.”
“Installing Google Services defeats the point imo as it opens multiple security holes in the fortress.”
“Many banks rely on the google play integrity api sadly”
“I do have sandboxed Google services installed.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.