Software Alternatives & Reviews

Google Play Services VS microG

Compare Google Play Services VS microG and see what are their differences

Google Play Services logo Google Play Services

Proprietary background service and API package for Android devices from Google

microG logo microG

A free-as-in-freedom re-implementation of Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and...
  • Google Play Services Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-05
  • microG Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-16

Google Play Services videos

Google Play Services 5.0

microG videos

MicroG – what it is and where it’s going - SFScon19 / Marvin W

More videos:

  • Review - MicroG G Pen Vaporizer Review
  • Review - microG Pen Vaporizer Review

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Play Services and microG)
Mobile OS
8 8%
92% 92
File Manager
14 14%
86% 86
Tool
26 26%
74% 74
Mobile SDK
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, microG seems to be a lot more popular than Google Play Services. While we know about 116 links to microG, we've tracked only 3 mentions of Google Play Services. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google Play Services mentions (3)

  • Unity/google play integration confusion
    Add the Google Play services dependency for the Play Games SDK to your module's Gradle build file, which is commonly. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • What does “AOSP Android” really mean? Can you use it?
    I meant Google Play Services. https://developers.google.com/android/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • Is APKZARA safe?
    APKZARA does not have complete and concrete information, at the bottom and end of the site, there is a supposed section of social networks, who they are, and privacy policy, but clicking on them, does not take us to anything, and when looking at the descriptions of the apks, as much as they are organized information (and the site is also relatively organized) you can perfectly see that the owners do not know much... Source: about 2 years ago

microG mentions (116)

  • Google Update Reveals AI Will Read All Your Private Messages
    ...will need to be rewritten to avoid Google Play Services. Not true. All that needs to happen is for open source developers to "re-implement Google’s proprietary Android user space apps and libraries". https://microg.org/. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Which MicroG fork and version should I use?
    Which one should I use? Is this MicroG's official website right? (https://microg.org/). Source: 6 months ago
  • Use ChatGPT Android app w/o Google Play Store installed/enabled
    Have a look into https://microg.org/ . Revanced yt uses a fork of GmsCore for its non-root install, though you still have to log in with a google account. Source: 7 months ago
  • Magic Earth: OSM based map and routing with croud sourced traffic data
    Google Play Services implements a lot of increasingly vital features and interfaces on Android. Not having it kills a good number of things people consider important, like push notifications (some apps are designed to still send push notifications like Signal, but it's kind of a hack and does drain the battery). If you're looking for almost the same functionality without google play services, MicroG[1] is an open... - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
  • Google vs. the Open Web
    Try using https://microg.org/ to replace Google Play Services - it's not your average tech-savvy level. - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Play Services and microG, you can also consider the following products

Open GApps - Open GApps is an open-source Google Apps package for rooted devices that is developed by writing...

NanoDroid - [MODULE/SYSTEM] NanoDroid 22.0.20190713 (microG, pseudo-debloat, F-Droid + apps) Magisk

MindTheGapps - A replacement for OpenGapps as a source of the standard Google Android apps.

NikGApps - A Custom Google Apps Package built for users who want to customize the availability of GApps in their Custom ROMS.

BiTGApps - A custom gapps package with minimal install that support custom features such as Battery Optimization for GMS Core and its components.

GrapheneOS - GrapheneOS is an open source privacy and security focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.