move detailed Google services info to FAQ

1 files changed, 50 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/static/faq.html b/static/faq.html
index a56f78ab..feee9414 100644
--- a/static/faq.html
+++ b/static/faq.html
@@ -114,6 +114,7 @@
                             <li><a href="#file-transfer">How do I transfer files to another device?</a></li>
                         </ul>
                     </li>
+                    <li><a href="#google-services">Will GrapheneOS include support for Google services?</a></li>
                     <li><a href="#features">What features does GrapheneOS implement?</a></li>
                     <li><a href="#anti-theft">Does GrapheneOS provide Factory Reset Protection?</a></li>
                     <li><a href="#bundled-apps">Why aren't my favorite apps bundled with GrapheneOS?</a></li>
@@ -1145,6 +1146,55 @@
                 </article>
             </section>
 
+            <article id="google-services">
+                <h2><a href="#google-services">Will GrapheneOS include support for Google services?</a></h2>
+
+                <p>GrapheneOS will never include either Google Play services or another
+                implementation of Google services like microG. Those are not included in the
+                Android Open Source Project and are not required for baseline Android
+                compatibility. Apps designed to run on Android rather than only Android with
+                bundled Google apps and services already work on GrapheneOS, so a huge number of
+                both open and closed source apps are already available for it.</p>
+
+                <p>AOSP APIs not tied to Google but that are typically provided via Play services
+                will continue to be implemented using open source providers like the Seedvault
+                backup app. Text-to-speech, speech-to-text, geocoding, accessibility services,
+                etc. are examples of other open Android APIs where we need to develop/bundle an
+                implementation based on existing open source projects. GrapheneOS is not going to
+                be implementing these via a Google service compatibility layer because these APIs
+                are in no way inherently tied to Google services.</p>
+
+                <p>We're developing a minimal Play services compatibility layer as a regular app
+                without any special privileges. The app will provide a stub implementation of the
+                entire Play services API pretending the servers are down and the functionality is
+                unavailable. It will always be disabled by default since apps will detect Play
+                services is available and will try to use it rather than alternatives. As an
+                example, Signal would try to use a non-functional FCM implementation rather than
+                their own server push implementation. The intention is that users will only enable
+                this in profiles dedicated to running apps with an unnecessary hard dependency on
+                Play services. We'll likely prevent enabling it in the owner profile to help users
+                avoid those kinds of pitfalls.</p>
+
+                <p>Our Play services app won't have any special privileges or whitelisting in the
+                OS like Play services or microG. There will be no support for bypassing arbitrary
+                signature checks like the microG signature spoofing patch since it substantially
+                compromises the OS security model and breaks other security features like verified
+                boot. Instead, our app will be signed with a GrapheneOS Play services key and the
+                only OS support for the app will be presenting the GrapheneOS Play services key as
+                the Google Play services key.</p>
+
+                <p>Ideally, Google themselves would support installing the official Play services
+                as a regular Android app, rather than taking the monopolistic approach of forcing
+                it to be bundled into the OS in a deeply integrated way with special privileged
+                permissions and capabilities unavailable to other service providers competing with
+                them. Even though we would never include it in GrapheneOS, it would be great if
+                users did have the option to install Play services as a regular app in specific
+                profiles. It's unfortunate that the approach taken to it is so deeply integrated
+                and anti-competitive. GrapheneOS users can still choose to use Google services if
+                they choose, but largely only via a browser. A few of their apps like Google Maps
+                do work with reduced functionality without Play services but most won't.</p>
+            </article>
+
             <article id="features">
                 <h2><a href="#features">What features does GrapheneOS implement?</a></h2>