#degoogling ?

https://murena.io - apart from making /e/os to replace your Android installation on Pixel and other phones - offers a free workspace based on #nextcloud and #onlyoffice.

I have tried a number of nextcloud free accounts and they all sucked. This one does not suck. You get 1gb for free. You can find out whether their office, photos, news reader, and other apps will suit you as a replacement for Google.

If you like it, pay $20 a year for 20gb to keep them afloat.

I just (finally!) cancelled my #dropbox subscription as part of my move away from propritary (esp. American) tech! 🎉

I've been a subscriber since I was a teenager and it has taken me a while to work out how to untangle myself from this one!

(I'm moving to #ProtonDrive and #BorgBackup instead)

#OpenSource #DeGoogling

Thinking of #DeGoogling but not sure where to start? You've come to the right place.

This is your go-to guide for how to use Tuta Calendar - the #BigTech free, private calendar, that's free to use!

Link 👉 https://tuta.com/blog/how-to-use-tuta-calendar

Why Tuta Cal? 📅💙

✅️ End-to-end encrypted

✅️ Green

✅️ Open-Source

✅️ Zero ties to Google

✅️ Zero ties to Big Tech

Pixel Watch 2 - Privacy Preserving Setup

I've been trying everything i could think of to make the watch work under GrapheneOS - Here is what i learned:

• Unpairing the Watch means factory resetting it.
• Every feature (literally everything) is google dependent (who would have thought.. i know)
• Pairing with your phone requires the "Pixel Watch" -App to be installed on your main profile (not work, not private space) alongside Google Play Services. There's no way around.

This is obviously unacceptable. So i did a bit of research and found a way that will not only be way more practical, it will also be private.

First i created a second user on my Phone, installed Google Play Services and the pixel watch app on it, logged in with a newly created google account and completed the setup.

I know some people use a chinese version of the WearOS app to bypass the google login. Since i don't want a chinese app to configure my watch, i didn't even try that.

After the watch was set up, i continued and:

• Deleted the user profile from which i connected the Watch
• Enabled wireless debugging
• Debloated the watch as good as possible (i will have to root the watch in the future to properly do it)
• Removed the Google account in the settings
• Cleared all Bluetooth preferences
• Enabled Bluetooth discovery
• Installed KDE Connect on it (not meant for WearOS but it does work barely)

The watch is now in a state where i can use it daily.

But i also want to make use of all those fancy quality-of-life features, like heartrate monitoring, sleep tracking and so on.

Now comes the fun part.

I've created a basic Kotlin project with both a mobile and WearOS app.

I will implement features like:

• Notification sync
• Call notifications
• Media Player Control
• Weather (openweathermap)
• Heartrate monitoring
• Sleep tracking
• Do not Distrurb Sync
• Homelab integrations (Nextcloud, Immich, Uptime Kuma, ..)
• And much more ..

The goal is to keep the watch offline, let the phone do the heavy lifting and communicate with a selfhosted database. I may even add a frontend and an API so people can integrate it for their needs.

Sounds good but why don't you just buy an #opensource #smartwatch like the #pinetime - You may ask.

Because as much as i hate to admit it, i love the design, the look and feel of the pixel watch. And i'm sure that i'm not the only one.

I also bought this one cheap for around 120€ #refurbished. So the value i can get out of it seems pretty good to me.

So much for today. I haven't even started tackling the Bluetooth connection yet 😅. Let's see how that turns out

I have added a poll to this post to see how many people would be interested in a setup like this. Please let me know if you have any suggestions, ideas or expertise in that regard.

Cheers.

#privacy #security #android #google #pixel #pixelwatch #degoogle #degoogling #degoogled #adb #rooting #grapheneos #smartwatch #development #wearos #bluetooth #qualityoflife #GooglePlay #GooglePlayServices #frontend #api #selfhosting #selfhosted #homelab #opensource

I recently bought a domain name and hosting package so that my family and I could have email addresses separate from Google. However, changing my email address everywhere I have ever registered is such a hassle! 😫

For now, I have exported all my old emails using Thunderbird and set up email forwarding on Gmail, so I can update my address slowly over time, but this will take months.

Nevertheless, it's better than being dependent on Google forever.

#degoogling #domain #mail