Tom Ashcraft writes:
Though I've tried, I've yet figure out how to actually get the local-contacts-only thing to work. Perhaps you have something specific in mind that due to lack of skill or experience I've yet to discover.
It's not easy to find. I did it when I first got the phone, but it took a lot of tapping around just now to figure out what I did. On Marshmallow (of course every Android version's prefs are completely different, sigh): Settings -> Accounts -> Google That gives you a bunch of checkboxes where you can turn off syncing. I have them all turned off. Then I use the normal Contacts app on the phone, and my contacts all stay on the phone and aren't synced with Google (I just logged into Google from Linux and verified that they say I have no contacts defined).
My concerns with Google Contacts are:
1) that everything that I could find and try from Google PlayStore, including apps returned when I placed 'F-Droid' in the search fields, all linked back to requiring permissions to access Google Contacts
Most of the apps I use don't require Contacts access. If one does, and shouldn't, I do without that app. There are a few exceptions. For instance, the only way I've found to set wallpaper/lockscreen on my Galaxy S5 to a custom image involves running Samsung's Gallery app, which insists on all sorts of permissions it shouldn't need. So when I want to change wallpaper, I grudgingly give it access, change the wallpaper, then go to Apps Settings and revoke the permissions. It's a pain in the tuchas.
2) that other people who place my phone number in their own Google Contacts (most people who use Android phones) are already building a map of all my personal associations for Google without my knowledge or permission.
Yep. That's a problem and there's nothing we can do about it.
So far, no functional app or strategy I can find *anywhere* (other than memorizing phone numbers) provides a dialer that will work without a Google-associated contacts list.
I use the default dialer on the S5, which uses my local non-synced contacts. Of course Samsung or Google may be collecting my data without asking; I can't do anything about that. Some day I hope to find a phone that can run some open-source OS, work with Verizon, and not cost an arm and a leg. So far most of the open-source phone OSes are based in Europe and don't have to worry about people who live in the boonies where Verizon is the only option. ...Akkana