DeGoogle Yourself

I have an old gmail address that catches things I haven’t migrated away yet. Nothing has chrome installed in my house. The phone still has YouTube but I don’t use it much anymore. There’s more ads than content anymore so there’s no reason to go there. Still on iPhone but willing to switch to a Linux phone when they release something with packet radios and reticulum support. Considered a pixel with graphene last upgrade cycle but Googles actions at the time pointed to the death of third party roms so fuck it.

I’ve almost completely moved everything away from google. If you ever used sink it there is YouTube version in the works. And I’ve started using this

https://github.com/abhishekY495/localtube-manager

I am still in the claws of Google. I use shitty Android (which is better than Apple). I use a Gmail account (and a self-run mail account). I use Chromium, but plan to pick a more lightweight, libre browser. I also plan to buy a Ubuntu Touch capable phone. [Edit: I use Duckduckgo.]

I don't feel too bad about being dependent of Google because I'm optimistic to replace it step by step.

I also had the idea of a federated search engine, but I have other stuff with higher priority.

I'm not 100% degoogled, but if Google deactivated my account tomorrow, it wouldn't be a big deal. I've migrated everything important away from Gmail. Gmail is basically just my spam box now.

I also have Chrome installed on my PC for testing purposes. It is my browser of last resort, only used on occasion when I suspect my normal browsers' ad/tracker blockers are breaking some site.

Google Maps is hard to get away from because nothing else has all its key features, and a lot of alternatives also use Google's data so they're not really more private. For example, I don't know of any good public transit apps that work in my city and are degoogled (though to be fair, it's been a few years since I reviewed the options).

I have two gmail accounts which i need for now but i check them with Thunderbird. I have to have Google play store and services on my phone because my banking app will not work without them, both stripped of permissions and no background data. I use Aurora store and F-Droid for everything else. All search engines at home and work changed to DDG or Ecosia. Organic Maps is ok , i read in this thread Comaps is good so i'm gonna try that. Firefox everywhere with either Brave, Ecosia or Chromium browser as backup.

Oh we’re way past “it’s complicated”. I skipped “on a break” and were now cleaning out the appartement.

All that’s left is double/tripple checking that mailbox for any loose ends and it’s bye bye!!!

What does the profile switching look like on Graphene? I see people talk about it but haven't seen it touched on as far as day to day usage. I just bought a pixel and am curious to try it out.

I'm addicted to YouTube and I can't seem to find a comparable entertainment app. :(

Google Maps is the one thing left for me… have tried moving but find other gps apps meh in comparison. I use MacOS for work with office 365. My personal computer is Linux, I use proton for my email. Librewolf browsing. DuckDuckGo for searching. If you count it, I suppose I do use Brave on my work computer, chromium base is needed for some websites I use a lot for work. My cell phone is an iPhone (thanks work)

Still depend somewhat, but aside from Google Meets, which I can use without account if I'm not hosting, I reasonably only need to log into it in devices and VMs that are usually turned off. So the least bad option, I think.

Stuck with Google Workspace at work. Fortunately, it's tolerant of me not being reachable 24/7, so it's all confined to the browser on a work laptop. I like to think that I'm free from Google's services in my personal life, though I still haven't been able to give up YouTube yet. At least I'm never signed in.

Also, one personal Google account created ages ago. I've completely gutted it and haven't logged into it in recent memory, but idk, I can't be bothered to delete it either.

Knowing that Google isn't peeking over my shoulder on my GrapheneOS phone is very freeing. I wouldn't ever be comfortable using a regular Android phone again.

I don't use anything Google at all anymore, with the exception of YouTube videos (via non-Google apps like PipePipe). That and my phone being a Pixel - running GrapheneOS, no GooglePlay Services running ever. If an app doesnt work without them I simply don't use it, and just use the web browser. Email, photos, GPS, calendars etc all have viable replacement options.

It feels free and great. I never look back.

I'm as distanced as I can be for now but have one more big cord to cut - Google Fi. It's just by far the most affordable carrier for our use here, and frankly every alternative sucks ass just as much anyway, but I'd still like to move to something else sooner rather than later.

Otherwise, my gmail accounts are still active but rarely used, both forwarding to Tuta. Been using GrapheneOS for over a year now, Aurora and the Play Store are last resorts for app installs. I only use youtube through a self-hosted Invidious instance. Photos has been long replaced with Immich, Drive long emptied and replaced with OpenCloud. For navigation, Magic Earth's been the most reliable, not FOSS but so be it, CoMaps is good for browsing/exploring but kind of terrible for driving.

Currently backing up my phone to switch to GrapheneOS. That'll leave my email which I haven't figured out how I want to replace it yet. Step one should be downloading all saved emails though

Maps + location, calendar, contacts, google docs, google drive, all have been moved to self-hosted and private services I run myself.

All that's left is email, and that is actually quite difficult to ditch. I have a protonmail account whose philosophy I don't agree with, and a tuta account, which has nasty delivery problems.

So I actually don't really know how I'm going to solve this.

Any reduction in the data going to big tech is a good thing. Don't worry, You'll get there.

I have Sandboxed Google Services on my GOS for push notifications for Signal and Protonmail.

I use Freetube to watch Youtube videos.

I update a few apps through Aurora Store.

Otherwise, I'm Google free.

Some apps replaced with Fossify, some with Proton. I use TomTom for roadtrips and Google maps for looking up opening hours. Futo instead of Gboard for obvious reasons. Google wallet as backup for Curve Pay, because you cannot just get an open source NFC wallet (from my personal research). Still using Google notes

I'm getting there more day by day. I've moved over to using my own dns and email service, that was a big one, but kept my gmail for leftover items and now it's mostly for spam. All of my oauth I've rolled off Google, and now use a password manager and separate emails. Phone is still the largest annoyance, but I just ordered a fairphone this week! (After google pushed a huge update which killed my battery, seriously sitting at home my battery died at 7pm last night, after barely using it. That didn't happen even a month ago). So it's a process.

For Gmail -- I use Thunderbird for both Android and Desktop (linux) to access my Gmail. I'm sure they are still reading my emails on the server side, but at least the phone app isn't tracking me 🤣

Until someone comes up with private Immich managed hosting that has shared albums and doesn't cost a fortune, I have to stick with Google photos. Other than that, google Maps (nothing compares, sorry) and an old gmail address I don't want to delete just in case someone needs to reach me, that's all I use.

I find it really hard to leave. I finally left Gmail, but I have many pictures in Photos (I have been postponing a migration to Immich for years), regularly use Maps and have a few documents left to copy in Paperless from Drive. Oh yeah, and almost every video creator I follow have yet to use Peertube instead of YouTube.

I have yet to switch to GrapheneOS, I think I'll do that when I buy a new phone once mine cease to receive updates in October.