I have a stock android phone, is there a way to have a contact list that is not google affiliated?

Paisley

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I have sync turned off of my current one, but just wondering if there is a way to have my own personal stand alone contact list that i can make phone calls from? I got some advertising from google with my sisters google activity on it so i had to take her out of my contacts. I would like to be able to put her and others in my phone without google linking our relationships for advertising, is there a way to have a local phone book that only I have access to? Even BETTER would be a place I could sync it to in a cloud somewhere the way i could with Palm, but palm wasn't using my stuff for advertising cuz they weren't an ad/social media/whatever google is, company. Just want to my own personal contacts and possibly a way to sync them without their being used by the company. But if that last part isn't an option, just a normal phone only option the way all phones were in the past, and the way non-google phones are, would be great.

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UPDATE for anyone looking for the same. Adding it here since the thread got a little derailed:
SOLUTION: Post #45 on this thread
 
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B. Diddy

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Whenever you enter a contact into your phone, there should be a selection at the top that lets you pick which account the contact will go into. One of the accounts should be "Phone account." This account doesn't sync with Google, but you can may be able to sync it with your computer or with a cloud service using either the wireless company's software (like Verizon's Backup Assistant Plus or HTC Sync) or other 3rd party apps.
 

Paisley

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Whenever you enter a contact into your phone, there should be a selection at the top that lets you pick which account the contact will go into. One of the accounts should be "Phone account." This account doesn't sync with Google, but you can may be able to sync it with your computer or with a cloud service using either the wireless company's software (like Verizon's Backup Assistant Plus or HTC Sync) or other 3rd party apps.

Not that i see. When i open "people" and go to add a contact there is right at the top "Google contact", and i can touch it all i want, there is no other option. :(
 

someguy01234

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What you do is:
Open "People" -> Export your contact list to vcf file to back it up. Then delete all contacts on your phone, to do this fully, open Settings -> Apps -> ALL -> select "Contacts Storage" and clear its data.
Open Settings -> Data usage -> "3dots menu" - > Enable Autosync if it's off.
Open Settings -> Under ACCOUNTS, select the blue Google icon, select your Gmail account, uncheck the box for Contacts sync.
Open "People" -> Import your contacts from phone storage. Make sure to import it to Phone contacts, not to Google account.
 

Paisley

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What you do is:
Open "People" -> Export your contact list to vcf file to back it up. Then delete all contacts on your phone, to do this fully, open Settings -> Apps -> ALL -> select "Contacts Storage" and clear its data.
Open Settings -> Data usage -> "3dots menu" - > Enable Autosync if it's off.
Open Settings -> Under ACCOUNTS, select the blue Google icon, select your Gmail account, uncheck the box for Contacts sync.
Open "People" -> Import your contacts from phone storage. Make sure to import it to Phone contacts, not to Google account.

I went ahead and exported my list to vcf. Checked that everything was set to not sync, which it was, deleted contacts, but when i open "People" and choose "import from storage", it gives me 2 options. 1 of my gmail accounts or the other.
 

B. Diddy

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Not that i see. When i open "people" and go to add a contact there is right at the top "Google contact", and i can touch it all i want, there is no other option. :(

Hmm. That's interesting--now that I check my Nexus 5, I see that there is no Phone Account there either. My old Razr Maxx did have that feature--it may be that the Phone Account is added on by either the phone manufacturer or by the wireless provider, and it isn't available on your particular phone.
 

someguy01234

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I went ahead and exported my list to vcf. Checked that everything was set to not sync, which it was, deleted contacts, but when i open "People" and choose "import from storage", it gives me 2 options. 1 of my gmail accounts or the other.
I don't have an N5, maybe its a scheme of Google to make people use their service. Can you try logging out of all Gmail accounts on the phone?
 

Paisley

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Cool, okay. I had to delete both my google accounts from my phone. I wonder if i put one back can will it leave them alone and also allow me to add my contacts to only my phone. Off to try. thanks!!
 

Paisley

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Oh man. So i deleted both my google accounts from my phone. Then i was able to put my contacts onto my phone seperately from Google. I just added one back so i could use the app store, and went to test adding a contact, it said "this will be synced with your google account". GRRRRRR. ??

(i have a moto x, so, mostly stock i should say, but same thing)

I read a few people somewhere talk about getting app market back on their phone instead of google play, would that be an option? how awful if the only way i can keep my own contacts to myself is to remove google play, and now i'm assuming i would lose google drive as well.

yup, looks like i lose google drive as well if i want to keep my own contacts away from Google. wow.
 
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Rukbat

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App Market was the old name of the app that's now called Google Play, so it won't make any difference. And, since Motorola is owned by Google, you have a Google phone - which is forcing you to use Google Cloud for your contacts.

I see two choices, one involving a different phone, the other involving a lot of high-powered explosives. Or a few Xanax. :) IOW, it doesn't seem that you can have a contact not be on Google and still download apps from the Play store, easily. You can put the gmail account in to download apps, then remove it. Or try removing it, then installing an app by going to https://forums.androidcentral.com/e.../https://play.google.com/store&token=-0anN7W5 in a browser on your computer. (I don't know if that one will work.) Or you can get the Amazon Appstore app and get your apps from there.
 

Paisley

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App Market was the old name of the app that's now called Google Play, so it won't make any difference. And, since Motorola is owned by Google, you have a Google phone - which is forcing you to use Google Cloud for your contacts.

I see two choices, one involving a different phone, the other involving a lot of high-powered explosives. Or a few Xanax. :) IOW, it doesn't seem that you can have a contact not be on Google and still download apps from the Play store, easily. You can put the gmail account in to download apps, then remove it. Or try removing it, then installing an app by going to https://forums.androidcentral.com/e.../https://play.google.com/store&token=j1tUbETP in a browser on your computer. (I don't know if that one will work.) Or you can get the Amazon Appstore app and get your apps from there.


This is kinda disturbing. It would be one thing if they were forcing me to use a cloud and not reading my contacts and making relationship connections for advertising purposes but unfortunately they are. I actually wouldn’t mind getting rid of the app store if I could use my drive.

And yeah, once you remove your google account you can’t use play store through a browser to add apps.

And then I got a weird pop up today on my phone after my all my deleted of my google profiles this morning. Wish I could remember what it was, it was unpleasant, like “unauthorized device” or something. Damn. Damn Samsung and their big-*** ugly phones. Man I used to really LIKE google, but this is too much. And it’s not like I can just keep it unsynced, any time there is a change, a reset, that type of thing, they find a way to sync your data because all the defaults are set for them to sync your data to their servers.

Kinda bummed that I have to get rid of my drive, and have a hard time downloading apps if I don’t want to give them my contacts, etc.

Is there no 3rd party thing I can use for contacts? Not that I would ever own an iphone, but does iPhone do this? Do other phones do this? I’ve only had samsungs back in the day, and Palms and Blackberrys, so I’m not sure what other phones do.
 
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Paisley

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Don't they keep contacts in the SIM card?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

They keep them on the SIM, and also send them to google servers. I have everything checked to sync nothing but I've noticed other things still get synced no matter how many times and places i set that as my default. And as long as I have a google account affiliated with my phone, each of my contacts is referred to as a "Google contact".
 

mrsmumbles

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What if you remove a contact from your phone and from Google on your computer? It doesn't resync from somewhere, does it?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
 

Paisley

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What if you remove a contact from your phone and from Google on your computer? It doesn't resync from somewhere, does it?

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2

Nope. I removed one persons contact from computer and phone and it's gone for sure. I can generally keep it from syncing, but not forever, eventually, somehow, there is a connection being made.

Man, I was just thinking, this means if I get rid of my google account on my phone so that my contacts aren’t given to google for relationship connections and advertising, I won’t be able to get phone updates for things like my camera and voiceless controls because they can only be gotten on the google app store. Lol. Wow.
 

mrsmumbles

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Nope. I removed one persons contact from computer and phone and it's gone for sure. I can generally keep it from syncing, but not forever, eventually, somehow, there is a connection being made.

Man, I was just thinking, this means if I get rid of my google account on my phone so that my contacts aren?t given to google for relationship connections and advertising, I won?t be able to get phone updates for things like my camera and voiceless controls because they can only be gotten on the google app store. Lol. Wow.

I wish there were an easier solution. If it's only the phone, I'd keep the account on it and set it not to sync with contacts. But that's not practical for a lot people. :-/

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk 2
 

Paisley

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Something to keep in mind: Google is an advertising company.

And a hardware company, and a software company. I never thought of them making hardware ultimately as an effort for their advertising business, but now that you mention it, yeah, it's clear they're not gathering all things digital just to have a piece of the market for all those things. And now that they're a facebook, microsoft, apple, samsung, all in one, that gives them a whollllle lotta access and info from not only each person, but all their interactions and activity. Man, i liked them, this is too bad. I figured i could just use them for some services, (i signed up for their email years ago, before they bought youtube) and not all since I don't want my FB, and my email, my personal contacts, my social media posts, my hardware and my software, all in one, place, (especially with a company that is so aggressive to link them all) but they plan on making that very difficult. that is too bad. :(. I guess I’ll try as many work-arounds (so I can keep my email, drive and phone), until they make it absolutely impossible. And it looks like that day is quickly approaching. Really disappointed.
 
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George Jenkinson

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What you're experiencing is one of the main reasons I moved away from Google.

I don't mind too much if they do some scanning/reading of my stuff, but when they start treating what is mine as though it belongs to them, it's no longer an equal relationship. The trouble is, their hardware is fantastic as is their software. The non financial price we pay is that our personal info, becomes their business asset.
 

Paisley

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What you're experiencing is one of the main reasons I moved away from Google.

I don't mind too much if they do some scanning/reading of my stuff, but when they start treating what is mine as though it belongs to them, it's no longer an equal relationship. The trouble is, their hardware is fantastic as is their software. The non financial price we pay is that our personal info, becomes their business asset.

Great points. Definitely no longer an equal relationship. And yeah, their hardware and software and innovation are good indeed but the other problem is, they can buy whatever else is good, youtube for example, and then that option is no longer available if you don't want to give google your digital life and personal info. Or they offer you something without strings attached, then once you've utilized that service, they add the strings later. I haven't used the drive that much, but had i uploaded lots of videos, it's a lot of work to transfer them once they decide I can only use it from my phone if my contacts are now "google contacts". I'll leave my dog videos up on youtube, but with that one wrong click when they try for the 20th time to G+ your account and merge your youtube/gmail name, people can now see what my house looks like from the inside with my identity attached cuz my dog videos are taken in my house. It's a problem. A big one. I loaded those videos before the G+ dragnet. And now I’m 1 click away from the public to have a very personal look into my life without anonymity. And they’re selling it as an “upgrade”. Not good. And that of course, is just a tiny sliver of where things are now. . If they hadn’t added my sisters app review to my google app page I would never have known they were connecting our contacts for their advertising. I’m glad I didn’t have the ad setting turned off.

And that thing you mention about acting as if belongs to them, that's exactly how i feel when they name my contacts "google contacts". They're not google's contacts, they're mine. That I added, not from my gmail, but from the persons mouth to my phone with my own hand. It has never been an issue with any other piece of hardware i've ever bought in my life. Not Dell, not Microsoft, not Samsung, not Palm, not blackberry, none of them ever insisted I put it on their servers and named them their contacts.
 
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