I'm a single undead gal trying to make it in the big city. I have to start somewhere and they're evil here. They don't judge. They've got necro-tempered glass. No burning up. A great medical plan, and who needs dental more than us?

Harmony ,'Conviction (1)'


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megan walker - Sep 10, 2025 6:01:02 pm PDT #25503 of 25505
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

Android users: Since I can no longer update the OS and more and more apps can't be updated/installed I finally decided to give up my beloved iPhone SE. Since I actually still want a headphone jack, I went with the Samsung Galaxy A15, which Verizon had a deal on. But then I realized I actually had to use a Google account to set it up. I try to avoid using Google except when clients require me too, but I guess it's too late.

Anyway, my question is, can I use one of my throwaway Google accounts for set up and downloading apps but then not for anything else? Like, I assume phone contacts will maybe be attached to that, but can you turn off syncing? Would anybody calling or texting see this address? I don't use the cloud with the iPhone so I rarely use my apple id and I'll be continuing to use Fastmail as my primary email. I'm just wondering which of my accounts to choose based on how much is going to be attached to it.


dcp - Sep 10, 2025 6:49:46 pm PDT #25504 of 25505
The more I learn, the more I realize how little I know.

can I use one of my throwaway Google accounts for set up and downloading apps but then not for anything else?

Yes, I think so.

Like, I assume phone contacts will maybe be attached to that,
I don't know if there is a way to import contacts from your Apple account to the Google account. There probably is.

but can you turn off syncing?
Yes.

Would anybody calling or texting see this address?
No, not the .gmail.com address, just the phone number.

continuing to use Fastmail as my primary email.
Should not be a problem. Looks like there is a Fastmail app in the Google store.

I can use my phone to send from my yahoo.com email and my outlook.com email if I want to. They are all different apps, with different launch icons.


megan walker - Sep 10, 2025 7:17:54 pm PDT #25505 of 25505
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist

Thanks, dcp! Figured it made sense to check while I'm waiting for this thing to charge. But I see now that it seems fairly simple to change the attached account if I want to later.

I don't know if there is a way to import contacts from your Apple account to the Google account.

Yeah, I'm sure there is but I'm happy to have a fresh start. Last time I even changed numbers! (Besides photos, which I backup to my laptop, I really didn't use my iPhone for very much beyond calling/texting, Duolingo, and syncing my Fitbit, which, now that Google bought them and is going to force everyone to have a Google account to even do that, I suppose it's just as well I have this thing.)


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