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I have bought an Android phone. My first And phone ever. It's Nexus 4. I Had SonyEricsson K800i before and i was satisfied with it. I got new phone only because my company gave me money for it (it was a reward) and i tougth it would be fun to have something "just like K800 with capabilites to offer better 3D games".

Now, i'm kind of disappointed because, contrary to my old phone, it turns out that i must have some sort of online account in order to use my phone properly. What do i mean? Well, first of all i have all my contacts on my SIM card and i don't want to change that, but in order to show those contacts on my phone, i have to "sync" them / add them (or whatever) with some online service like FB or gmail.

Tell me, if i just want to use my phone only for games, casual browsing the web (i don't even have wireless at my home), sms and calls - how do i avoid syncing ANYTHING with ANYTHING online?

I don't have Twitter, Picasa nor Instagram, i'm barely using FB (once in 10 days i check for new messages when i'm on my home PC), i have a "fake" gmail account (opened just so i can use "Google Play" from my office and register at sites i need for one time visit only. For true emails i'm using only my mailbox that i got from my ISP 15 years ago), i don't want to merge and "bundle" any of my contacts from the phone with any social network but with Android i have a problem "isolating" my phone from any online activities.

Please, tell me, how to make my Nexus 4 (with Android 4.3) use ONLY my SIM contacts, save new contacts to the SIM card only and not asking me to tie any contact with any online service? :) Also, i don't want even to see "gmail" contacts (if any) in my contacts list because contact with only mail address is useless to me (i'm never sending an email from my phone).

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You could try to install SIM Contacts. I've not seen how to make it your default app for managing contacts, but I suppose you could drag the app icon to your homescreen or to the dock, so you can just access it quickly from there.

With the SIM Contacts app, you can add, edit (long-press on a contact and a menu will appear), or delete SIM contacts. You can also choose to copy them on your phone.

UPDATE #1: From Izzy:

Also, if you don't want anything to be synced to Google, make sure to turn off all sync options in Settings → Accounts & Sync. By default, that's all enabled.

As long as you add new contacts as SIM contacts, they will not be synched to Google. Only contacts added as Google contacts will be synched.

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  • Ok, do you know any similar app that can become default? :)
    – BoPe
    Aug 4 '13 at 13:22
  • @BoPe Not sure if making any Contacts app as default app is useful. In my case, I switch between the stock Contacts app and GO Contacts Ex. But on my dock, I put GO Contacts Ex, instead of the Stock contacts app.
    – geffchang
    Aug 4 '13 at 13:27
  • @BoPe Why don't you try SIM Contacts for a while and see if you like it. I'm not sure what will happen if somebody calls you, and you want to add that number to your phone. I'm not sure if it will open the SIM Contacts app. You might want to check on that.
    – geffchang
    Aug 4 '13 at 13:29
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    Also, if you don't want anything to be synced to Google, make sure to turn off all sync options in Settings → Accounts & Sync. By default, that's all enabled.
    – Izzy ♦
    Aug 4 '13 at 14:46
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    Good thing, thanks! Even though SIM contacts are not synced, there are so many other things which are. In the calendar, e.g., one can make the "local" one the default (to prevent it from being synced). But there are plenty things which get automatically synced, the user unaware. (I hope some day this will be changed to opt-in instead of opt-out, "privacy first" being the concern).
    – Izzy ♦
    Aug 4 '13 at 16:33
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I've used MyPhoneExplorer in the past with my Sony Ericcson phone and it worked just great as a file manager to sync my phone with my laptop and to back up my contacts, notes, tasks, appointments, sms messages, alarms, photos, videos etc. Now the same developer has a new free app called MyLocalAccount (available on Google Play). I've been using it for a couple of weeks now and it works well enough so far (on my Nexus 4 with Android 4.3 update). You can add contacts and make changes (add, edit, delete). Also installed MyPhoneExplorer Client on my phone and am able to use it to back up my contacts et al.

Also turn off Auto-Sync options if you don't want your data sync'ed with your Google account.

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