New Motorola android phone demands Google to get other browser
Hi, I just bought a Motorola android, as my good old Tesco phone was getting very creaky. I loaded my home Wi-Fi, but cannot find a page to type in a url to install a search engine and other internet sites. I’d like Firefox, but Google insists on being the 'Gatekeeper', and I must go through it to install Firefox.
How to type in my urls without permitting Google, and getting its intrusive parenting offering me masses of things I don't want? I'm not an expert - just a survivor who has 'got around' glitches since computers arrived in the Seventies. On my phone I just want telephone calls, texts and WhatsApp. Plus, Firefox to search the Internet.
I am sick of the moronic, toddler-aged toy apps which come pre-loaded on my new phone. I gave up 'Play stores', (Woolworths), when I became adult sixty years ago! Now this phone offers me apps like: "Candy Crush, Sugar Delight". Oh Please! I realise that seven-year-olds and early teens are the target phone markets, (parents resignedly footing the bills), but I'm past it (in every sense).
However, I'm not daft enough to delete Google in a hissy fit. It is so labyrinthine that disabling it can be severely punished for such disobedience.
I'm sure the solution is simple to you. Please tell me how!
Thanks, Clive.
P.S. The phone is obviously monitoring my searches! Quite disconcerting, for in the past hour it now presents me with a list of search engines to choose - but Firefox is not among them. God preserve us oldies from AI!
All Replies (2)
Ɖɔɖɔɖo si wotia
As long as you have the built–in Google services, you can install Firefox by going to firefox.com/download/android and following the button provided there to open the app listing for you to get it.
If the question is how to remove Google services per se, that might involve replacing the operating system the device came with with something more private, however that's out of scope here as you might need to research compatibility options with your current device etc.
Thanks for the very helpful response jbr. I think I have the programs/apps I want now - without getting too deep in Google's offerings. A new phone comes crammed with stuff I don't need, and often don't even understand. I realise they are all trying to reach a huge audience to sell their wares, and many people run their whole lives via their phones - banking, email, payments. But it's overwhelming, and hides the limited stuff I really want. As for the kids' games ...... I'm too old!
Some 'contributors' /apps make it opaque, or impossible, to delete them. I suppose you cannot expect to get the ice-cream without the cone. All the Best,
Clive.