Right now a lot of us are trying to divest and diversify from having our entire lives on Google both because of the way Google spends its money and the long-standing privacy concerns seeming a bit more scary now.

What services have you switched to and what has your experience been? What do you like, what don’t you like, would you recommend them?

  • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    1 hour ago

    Google office stuff > libreoffice

    Chrome > firefox and librewolf

    gmail > proton

    Google > ddg

    Iphone > grapheneos pixel

    Youtube account > newpipe, libretube, grayjay with exported subscriptions

    Google drive > synology

    I think that covers about everything google specific.

    Note: I included iphone because even iphones ping google SUPL servers whereas Grapheneos settings host their own servers to ping to avoid sending stuff out to google.

  • UltraMasculine@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    6 hours ago

    If I remember correctly I started deGoogling “seriously” in the last summer. At this point YouTube and Youtube Music are the only Google products/services I still use daily but only on PC. I never use them on phone. I also am quite forced to use Gmail sometimes but otherwise I avoid it like a plague.

    I think my phone is as deGoogled as possible without rooting and/or changing the OS. I have uninstalled every Google app that I have been able to uninstall and also I have disabled every Google service that is possible to disable. I still have to deMicrosoft my PC. I want to move to Linux but I have understood that there’s some compatibility issues with Reaper and virtual instruments. That’s the only reason I haven’t done it yet.

    Anyway. Here is a list of apps/services I use instead of Google’s sh*t:

    • Browser: Waterfox on PC and Ironfox on phone (of course both with uBlock Origin)
    • Cloud storage: Proton Drive
    • Email: Proton Mail
    • Calendar: Proton Calendar
    • Authenticator: Aegis
    • Map: OsmAnd
    • Search engine: DuckDuckGo and Brave Search
    • Play Store: Droid-ify and Aurora Store (not signed in)
    • Speech Recognition & Synthesis: SherpaTTS
    • Find My Device: FindMyDevice (FOSS)

    I think that’s all. There’s some other FOSS apps and services that I use but they are not exactly replacements for Google’s sh*t.

  • Frenchys_prospecting@aussie.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    7 hours ago

    I am absolutely dumb with this stuff so I have one question: how do I get all of my photos off Google cloud? That’s the only thing stopping me from shitting it down.

    I also have a google pixel phone but that will be destroyed once my contract is up and I can afford something not google related

    • /home/pineapplelover@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 hour ago

      I know there are more options out there but what I have is a synology nas.

      I self host the nas at home and I can still access the photos and stuff everywhere I go.

      I chose synology because even though its proprietary and a little overpriced, at the time, I was short on time to learn the inner workings of free operating systems and setting up all the certificates, ddns, ports, etc.

      Ofc there are also other cloud providers as well, but I use the synology for jellyfin so I killed 2 birds with one stone.

    • Rusty@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      7 hours ago

      Don’t destroy your phone, you can install grapheneos(a privacy focused android distro) and it’s working great on pixels.

  • silly goose meekah@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    11 hours ago
    • Desktop OS: Linux (Arch)
    • Phone OS: /e/OS
    • mail, notes, calenda, online storager: mureno
    • maps: cittymapper, magic earth

    I’m pretty happy with all of those

  • rraggl@feddit.nl
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    15 hours ago
    • Desktop: Linux (Tuxedo)
    • Browser: Vivaldi
    • Search: Ecosia & DDG
    • Mail / Groupware / Calendar / Contacts / Cloud Drive / Meet: Infomaniak kSuite Pro
    • Backup: Syncthing
    • Movies / Netflix / Amazon Prime: buying DVD / Bluray and ripping to my home media server with Jellyfin and Videoland.nl
    • Mobile Phone: Fairphone with /e/OS or Calyx
    • Whatsapp: Signal, Matrix / Element, Briar, Threema
    • YouTube: Grayjay, Floatplane, Nebula, Curiosity Stream
    • Maps: Magic Earth
    • Photos: ente.io
    • Authenticator: Ente Auth
    • Twitter / X: Mastodon
    • Cards: Catima
    • Keep / Evernote: Notesnook / Anytype
    • Backup comms: Meshtastic / UHF / VHF
    • Translate: DeepL
    • Podcasts: Antennapod
    • Google Home: Home Assistant
    • Google Assistant / Gemini: Mistral Le Chat / LLama
    • Router: openWRT (GL.iNET Flint2)
    • Firewall: opnSense (Deciso)
    • Pushbullet: KDE Connect
    • speedtest.net: LibreSpeed
    • Fing: Ning
    • Kobo / Kindle: Pocketbook
    • Amazon: Local / European dealers
    • Pocket: Wallabag
    • Creality / Bambulab: Prusa
    • VPN: Proton, Wireguard, Tailscale
  • Bronzie@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    18 hours ago

    Almost everything, finally!
    OS: GrapheneOS
    Calendar: Proton
    Browser: Firefox
    Storage: NAS
    Youtube: NewPipe and SmartTube

    I’m still stuck with Maps and Android in my car as it has Android Automotive, but I’m happy woth my progress so far

  • somenonewho@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    22 hours ago

    My selfhosted Nextcloud does:

    • Cloud storage (including photo storage)
    • Contact/Calendar/Task Sync (DAV Droid)
    • Notes
    • Podcast subscription and progress sync (gpodder)

    While I use OSMAnd for offline navigation MAPS is still my go-to for navigation/discovering places.

    My phone is currently running stock Android

      • somenonewho@feddit.org
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        18 hours ago

        Honestly I just use AntennaPod on Android. I’ve used Gpodder Desktop before but I don’t really listen to podcasts on desktop… So I don’t really need the sync but it’s nice to have especially if you’re moving phones/OS

        Regarding AntennaPod it’s honestly the perfect podcast app it does everything (chapters/chapter images …) I want from a podcast app and it’s open source

  • SexDwarf@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    22 hours ago

    Replaced

    • Gmail -> Proton Mail
    • Keep -> Joplin
    • Docs -> LibreOffice + OpenDocument Reader
    • Drive -> Proton Drive
    • Photos -> ente photos
    • Play Books -> ReadEra Premium + Kobo
    • Translate & Lens -> DeepL

    Haven’t been able to replace (just yet)

    • Wallet
    • Maps & Earth
    • Sheets
    • Home
    • lud@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      18 hours ago

      Since you already use proton you should check out proton calendar.

      • SexDwarf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        16 hours ago

        We tried it but my wife hated it. With Proton, you have choose one subscription. I already use Pass plus so I can’t have Mail plus (shared calendars) without Proton ultimate which is an overkill in my situation and too expensive.

    • Liljekonvalj@feddit.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      19 hours ago

      Tutamail has a calendar. Tutamail hasn’t said anything positive or factual about the republican parties either. They’ve made no statements

    • iborrelli@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      22 hours ago

      Google sheets is simply… Really good. I haven’t been able to find anything else close. I’ve tried libre and even excel but sheets is by far my favourite. And I really love spreadsheets so I feel I’m in a horrible position and so torn.

  • Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    edit-2
    23 hours ago

    I guess I’ll share my setup aha. Forewarning: I invested heavily into self hosting and being in full control of as much as possible, mainly to try to be ‘Internet independent’.

    • Google ads, APIs, telemetry and everything else that is not necessary: AdGuard Home (selfhosted)
    • Android app store: Fdroid with IzzyOnDroid repo, failing that Aurora Store, if apps still whine about not being to use Play Services then I use the Play Store
    • Gmail: Mailcow Dockerized (selfhosted) with K9 Android client
    • SMS (not that I use it anyway): Fossify SMS
    • Instant messaging: Matrix (selfhosted) for Discord/Telegram style with Element client, or Telegram FOSS
    • File Manager (I goddamn hate that Google Files forces itself onto any phone after initial setup, even when there’s a manufacturer installed one already): Material Files
    • GBoard (It’s also really fucking invasive): HeliBoard
    • YouTube: via Revanced Manager, with Odysee as a hopeful replacement. Much lower userbase though, obviously.
    • Google Photos (refuses to settle for less than 100% file access): Part of a self hosted Samba share that I keep synced to via FolderSync (from Play Store - they charge €10 for the app outside of Google)
    • Chrome: Brave (I downloaded a script to debloat it of crypto and AI)
    • Google Search: My partner uses Ecosia for environment reasons, and I use DuckDuckGo for privacy reasons
    • Chromecast: I recommend a Roku
    • AndroidOS: CalyxOS if Pixel, LineageOS if not
    • Play Services: Gapps pico or nano because some things are still tied to Play Services
    • Maps is superior, unfortunately, but OSMAnd is a good alt
    • Google DNS, used by default by a lot of things like routers: Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1
    • kamen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      21 hours ago

      I’ve tried HeliBoard as already suggested elsewhere, but I find its autocorrect and suggestions absolutely abysmal in English and even worse in my native Bulgarian. With Gboard I can usually type a letter or two and it already knows what’s up, and it often knows what’s the next word based just on the previous one.

      How’s your experience with it?

      • Fleppensteyn@feddit.nl
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        8 hours ago

        I tried Heliboard but went back to SwiftKey. It’s the best keyboard I’ve found. It’s from Microsoft but I have internet access disabled in Tracker Control and it works fine with multiple languages, swipe and emoji.

  • Kalvin Carefour Johnny@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 day ago

    I tried to minimize my dependency on Google by signing up for various email services like Petal Mail by Huawei, Proton Mail, and Yandex Mail. I also tried to find smartphones that don’t have Google by default, such as Murena smartphones and Huawei smartphones. But it seems like it’s too late to look for those gems without Google because I have so many apps that I bought on Google, amounting to around five digits in Malaysian Ringgit, which is not cheap. So I think I’ll stay with Google for now, sadly.

  • AlexWarburton@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 day ago

    Google Search -> Ecosia, Qwant Browser -> Vivaldi Mail, Calender -> Proton* Drive -> Proton* DNS -> Quad9 Notes -> Joplin VPN -> Proton LLM/AI -> Mistral Translate -> DeepL Maps -> Here We Go Dall-E etc -> Stability Matrix Kindle -> Pocketbook

    *Planning to move everything to a NAS with Nextcloud and synch in with Jottacloud as a backup.

    • EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      edit-2
      1 day ago

      I see from the “View source” option that your comment has everything in a neat, line-by-line fashion, though the final markup is decidedly not.

      So, a pro-tip I’ve noticed from my own commenting experience: even if you have a line break, Lemmy (for some stupid reason) won’t apply one when rendering; so if you want it to show, you have to use two line breaks, though then there will be an extra half-line or so that you probably never wanted.

      For example, don’t do

      Line Item 1
      Line Item 2
      

      but rather do

      Line Item 1
      
      Line Item 2
      

      Yes, I agree it’s rather stupid.

      • Ephera@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 day ago

        It’s the way Markdown works, for reasons, which is what Lemmy uses for its comment syntax.

        If you want a regular line
        break, you can put two spaces
        at the end of a line.

          • Ephera@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            23 hours ago

            Yeah, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense here. Codeberg uses a Markdown flavor which honors single line breaks and it kind of surprised me how well that is working. Like, if you’re used to Markdown, you can put those two spaces and they’re just ignored. If you’re not used to Markdown, it works like you’d expect.

            I guess, the downside is that either each client needs to configure their Markdown renderer to behave like that, or I guess, the server software has to pre-process the Markdown to add in the double-spaces.
            That’s more of a problem for Lemmy than it is for Codeberg, because there is a number of different clients available.

            • toastal@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              18 hours ago

              Jerboa vs. the website do different things since they render Markdown differently. Markdown itself is so spartan that it doesn’t have many things users want or need, so a bunch of incompatible forks get made & everyone just pretends it is all the same when in reality, it often lies on a single tool’s implementation.

              Take AsciiDoc with its verse directive or reStructuredText with its line-block directive. Both get you poetry-style newlines on demand & are a part of the spec instead of left to the implementer.

              • Ephera@lemmy.ml
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                18 hours ago

                Yeah, that’s kind of the advantage and disadvantage of Markdown. It’s so simple that alternative implementations can be easily created, which helps with adoption. But because those alternative implementations exist and because there is a need to add more features, those alternative implementations will see custom changes for the format, ultimately making the format less standardized.

                • toastal@lemmy.ml
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  12 hours ago

                  I find this pretty bad since everything seems to be compatible until it is too late & it is already adopted. I would like to see more uptake of the alternatives.

  • 0485@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 day ago

    I have moved away from Google Contacts and Google Calendar and am now using Synology Calendar/Contacts. I’ve left Google Drive for Synology Drive and I’ve left Google Photos for Synology Photos. Everything is self hosted and self maintained.

  • Flubo@feddit.org
    link
    fedilink
    Deutsch
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    1 day ago

    Mail: Posteo Maps: osmand for walking, hiking, cycling, skiing and magic earth for car navigation (because of real live traffic) Drive: nextcloud Phone: second Hand Google pixel with graphene OS installed (degiogled Android)

    There are like 10 communities called something like privacy and a couple with degoogle in their name specifically. If you need more alternatives check them out. ;)