On Thursday, November 3, 2022 10:08:15 P.M. CDT J. King wrote:

> If you're not worried about violating Google's terms of service you can use

> Aurora Store (available from F-Droid) to download and install software from

> Google Play without a Google account associated to you.

Unfortunately the last time I tried the Aurora Store and it didn't work on my phone. Maybe it''s time for another go.

> Obviously there's no excusing their user-hostile behaviour, but there is in

> fact that other option. Whether your banking software would actually work

> is a separate question, though, as they are, as a class, notorious for

> requiring SafetyNet and other proprietary Google dross.

Interesting information.

One thing I have is a copy of Android x86 installed on a computer. It's Android compiled for Intel hardware, with the additional improvement that it's not locked down.

Looking at it now, that's another potential way to get stuff from Play: download it using that system and transfer the APK to the phone. Yes, I still need a Google account, but it's tied only to that system and not to my phone, and spends most of its life powered off.

Brian