I’m not sure about using it without a Google account, but you can definitely minimize their involvement. I installed flauncher, then disabled the default “leanback” launcher. Plex is installed from the play store but I side loaded an ad-blocking YouTube app. On a normal day I don’t see anything from or about google on my screen. I’m not sophisticated or, to be honest, concerned enough to know if there’s tracking or other telemetry going on. I mostly just want to avoid ads and moronic suggestions from them.
this post was submitted on 29 Jan 2024
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DeGoogle Yourself
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Tbh, I'd be happy with side loading both Plex and revanced, but from what I've seen, it won't initialize without a google account
It looks like there’s a Lineage OS build for the shield, so if you want to eradicate google, there’s an option. It loses a fair bit of what makes the shield great though, since some of the audio and video playback stuff on the shield is proprietary to Nvidia.
That's disappointing, but not surprising. Probably no point in shelling out for a shield if it's not as powerful with Lineage
SmartTubeNext (STN) is the Android TV equivalent of Revanced.
I did end up making a Google account just to get mine set up and for syncing subscriptions between STN and Revanced on my phone. I don't use it for anything else.
As others have said, replacing the launcher with something like Sideload Channel Launcher 4 is a good option.
Other useful apps are Button Mapper (for killing the netflix remote button and for mapping the home button to your new launcher) and Send Files To TV to easily sideload apps without a ton of setup.
I suppose I could use someone else's account for initial set up. I've had a look and it seems nextdns allows different profiles per device, so I'll just block as many google domains as I can that way
Good thinking. I retired my Shield Pro 2015 about a year ago, precisely because I was ditching Google entirely. I have yo say, even after 8 years, few to no other streaming devices came even close to the performance of that beast.
SmartTubeNext (STN) is the Android TV equivalent of Revanced.
Not really. STN is not a hacked-up YT app like Revanced, it's an entirely independent FOSS re-creation like NewPipe. A major difference to NewPipe is that it is focused on android TV and uses the (private) YT API just like the official YT app.
That's fair. I was commenting from more of a user experience perspective
I run a shield for Plex and have never logged into my google account on it. I’ve disabled play store and most google services. Also I keep the android on the stock version.
Works flawlessly.
So it's possible to run it without signing up. Thats good news. All the reviews seem to say it's a requirement for the initial set up
Are there any special steps to get your set up? I imagine you need to side load your apps because the play store won't work, but is there anything else?
I side load Plex from the direct download links in the forum (Plex pass is required for this I think but there are def other ways to get the apk). I do not run the shield as a sever as I have a dedicated box for that.
Nothing special about the setup at all, I just prefer a minimalist approach to software so I disabled everything on the shield that wasn’t necessary to run Plex.
E: should be clear this is a shield pro
Run it? Absolutely. Set it up? Unlikely, unless you go the LineageOS route.
I bought a shield pro last year and never once logged in to google during setup or any time after.
See? Unlikely, not impossible. I've never tried. I just chose to remove Google from my life, that thing used Google accounts, gone!
I’ve never used a google account on it. That’s the point.
It is not necessary to be in the google ecosystem to use the shield (pro) to its full capabilities.
I'll dust off mine this weekend. That's great to know.
Newpipe is my Android based YouTube player. I don't have a Shield, but there are ways to run Android without a Google account. With a phone it's honestly not worth it because you're constantly messing around with side loading and stuff, but it may be doable with a TV box.
That said, I have an ancient NUC and run Fedora. It was a bit of a pain, but it's been years and years and it's still doing the job, and I'm told that it's gotten easier with the later releases.
I could not get it set up without a Google account unfortunately. Once it's set up, you can log out of Google and never log in again just fine.
It is a great device though. Requiring a Google account to initially setup the device is one of my two only complaints, the other being the lack of a HDMI 2.1 interface.
If you aren’t connected to the internet when you set it up it should not require you to log in.
I’m not confident it does require login even with an internet connection on the shield pro, but it’s been a while since I set mine up.
You might be right. It's been a long time since I set mine up as well, and it's possible I just didn't figure it out. It's also quite possible there have been updates, making both of us right at some point.