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I have some Android Froyo device not blessed by Google, so it doesn't have Google Play/Market or any of GAPPS by default and device maker won't make any firmware updates.

Is it even possible now to make Google Play/Market work with Android Froyo?

What is the minimal set of .apk, framework and lib files should I put in pertinent folders to enable Google Play on my Froyo device?

I don't want to put all of gapps from goo.im:

  • I want to conserve some space on device (small built-in SD CARD),
  • I think that some of them may be malicious (Virustotal detects EnhancedGoogleSearchProvider.apk as Android/GoManag.A)
  • I believe that there is some resonable minimum that works anyway
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    Do you have root? A custom recovery? If so, just flashing the gapps package from goo.im/gapps should do it.
    – Chinmay Kanchi
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 22:32
  • @ChinmayKanchi virustotal says that gapps from goo.im contain malicious Android/GoManag.A : goo.gl/5ysFP | goo.gl/APSzg
    – Alex Bolotov
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 22:56
  • That should not be possible unless goo.im has been compromised. Goo.im is the recommended source for Google Apps for Android, even the CyanogenMod team recommends it. Personally, I would guess that it's a false positive, but how much to trust the word of a random guy on the internet is up to you ;).
    – Chinmay Kanchi
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 23:04
  • PS: What you want is one of the Froyo versions, depending on your device's resolution (white background in the version information column). VirusTotal says those files are clean. Also, I scanned the "passion" files you've linked to. They're clean too, according to VirusTotal. Did you scan the URL or did you download, then scan?
    – Chinmay Kanchi
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 23:07
  • I downloaded and then scanned archives from goo.im
    – Alex Bolotov
    Commented Nov 20, 2012 at 23:39

2 Answers 2

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Check the "Barebones" page on the CyanogenMod wiki.

It lists which apks are required for what. So instead of listing minimum apk list, you can just select the required apps for Play. By the way Google Play, Market or Vending are the same things. At a minimum you will will need Vending.apk and MarketUpdater.apk, and possibly GoogleServicesFramework.apk

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  • Nice to see there's something to back up my above reasoning. Looking at the article, it seems that maps will also be needed on Froyo or you'll be locked out of apps with country restrictions.
    – Compro01
    Commented Nov 21, 2012 at 14:38
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In addition to Chinmay Kanchi's comment, if you don't have a custom recovery to flash it, it's also possible to extract the .APKs from the gapps package (in /system/app) and install them on their own to get the store running. I did this on my Archos 32 (which also runs froyo) and it worked flawlessly without any root needed.

Unfortunately, I did this almost 2 years ago and I do not remember which exact APKs were needed for just the market nor what order I needed to install them in. Vending.apk is the store itself. I think I might have needed to install GoogleServicesFramework.apk before that. MarketUpdater.apk might also be needed, but I think installed after vending. I bumbled through the process via trial and error, so doing things in the wrong order shouldn't harm anything (I remember that the install would just error out on a wrong-order attempt) and you can just try again.

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  • While the GServices are needed for sure, the MarketUpdater is only needed if you want the Market/Playstore app itself to be kept up-to-date AFAIK. To my knowledge, that's the service checking for updates of the Playstore app itself, and applying them in the background without user interaction -- nothing else.
    – Izzy
    Commented Mar 23, 2013 at 10:18

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