Now with Aurora store out of the picture it seems there is no real alternative to using the Google Play store for apps that cant be downloaded directly or via Fdroid.
But how bad is it actually to use Play store? I never used it before on my current phone, its no problem to create a dummy google account and the apps I need is free so no credit card needs to be registered. But what info will they actually get from my device ? Will they pull my phone number and whatnot ?
How bad it is, depends on what your goal is. Privacy wise, google will scrounge at every scrap of data it can get its hands on. So if you stop using Google’s Play store, but you keep using gmail, google maps, stock Android on your Samsung Galaxy phone, install facebook or various other apps that use Google’s firebase analytics, etc, it probably won’t matter all that much.
If you are actively trying to restrict how much information google can access then stopping can be an excellent start to your eventual de-googling.