this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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Asklemmy

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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?

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[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)
  • 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
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 minutes ago

for speedtest, fast.com is pretty great as it's a pretty lightweight page and uses netflix's servers which mean it's not really possible for ISPs to game it

[โ€“] Bronzie 4 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

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

Iโ€™m still stuck with Maps and Android in my car as it has Android Automotive, but Iโ€™m happy with my progress so far

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

Tried? That is boring. Stick with what we kept using.

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

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

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

What podcast apps do you use with gPodder?

[โ€“] [email protected] 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago

I use Antennapod too, I really like it :)

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (3 children)

Replaced

  • Gmail -> Proton Mail
  • Keep -> Joplin
  • Docs -> LibreOffice + OpenDocument Reader
  • Drive 100 Gb -> Proton Drive (free 5 Gb)
  • Photos -> ente photos
  • Play Books -> ReadEra Premium + Kobo
  • Translate & Lens -> DeepL

Haven't been able to replace (just yet)

  • Wallet
  • Maps & Earth
  • Sheets
  • Home
  • Calendar
[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

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

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

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

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago

Tutamail shared calendars (which is a must) subscription was so confusing I didn't understand it. Like their whole subscription model is needlessly complicated.

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

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.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

I'm no accountant, but isn't excel way better than sheets?

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 4 hours ago

LibreOffice is solid, too.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 8 hours ago

Tell me about it. Wallet is literally the only good option. The alternatives to Maps don't come even close, it's simply the best and most convenient app. Same with Earth (use it rarely but still).

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

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 โ‚ฌ10 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
[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 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?

[โ€“] [email protected] 24 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago) (1 children)

Been degoogled for years at this point:

  • Stock Android --> LineageOS or GrapheneOS (no gapps)
  • YouTube --> Invidious*, NewPipe
  • Google Search --> DuckDuckGo, Brave Search
  • Google Play Store --> F-Droid, Aurora Store

I've also decoupled from other similar services:

  • Outlook --> ProtonMail
  • Calendar --> Nextcloud*
  • OneDrive --> Nextcloud*
  • Windows, macOS --> Linux (after years of distrohopping, I found LMDE is incredibly stable while still being a nice "out of box" distro)
  • Google Maps, Apple Maps --> OSMAnd, Organic Maps

I never used any online password manager myself, I went from writing passwords in a literal book to KeePass, to now Vaultwarden* for that

* - self hosted

[โ€“] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Nice, I have also chosen most of the same as you. For custom ROM there's CalyxOS, which ironically makes a Pixel phone one of the best picks for deGoogleing
I don't like the proprietary style of Proton Mail, plus they charge to have more than one account logged in, which is very inconvenient, so I set up my own Mailcow instance

For YouTube I highly recommend ReVanced

For notes I use Apache-CouchDB and connect using Obsidian with the LiveSync plugin. Live sync is fantastic and is as close as I think I'll ever get to OneNote.

NextCloud is great, a pain in the arse to add existing files as you need to upload everything, but a few hours of uploading with Cloudflare set to DNS only is fine

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 5 hours ago

I've considered CalyxOS but prefer the hardening of GrapheneOS with no gapps - still means a phone decent on privacy. However I do try to keep an open mind, so if CalyxOS has additional privacy benefits to my existing setup I'd be interested.

I agree with the proprietary style of ProtonMail point, and my workaround for multiple accounts has been to use my own domain and have email rules for delivering messages to the respective folder. I don't have immediate plans to move from them, but I am watching the news cycle and have considered Tuta as an alternative.

I haven't used ReVanced, but I remember the original YouTube Vanced was a mod of the original YouTube apk - if that's still the case, I feel like ReVanced would offer even less privacy than Invidious or NewPipe. However I'm happy to be corrected.

I personally use Nextcloud notes but the Obsidian setup you have sounds interesting, especially if it's like OneNote - I'll keep it in mind!

Completely agree on your Nextcloud points - I uploaded my uncompressed Telegram archive to it, which took like 12 hours over my Gigabit lan. I suspect it hated the sheer amount of small files

[โ€“] [email protected] 2 points 12 hours 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.

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