🩵 Bwee the Fluffdragon 🩵May 16, 2024

So... I've read some things lately about the big evil G that have put me into unease. The problem is, I use Google for absolutely everything right now, and have for as long as Google has existed. It's tied into everything and I need to break free.

These are the Google things I use regularly:

* Email - Gmail (I have many years of email that I've saved in my account)
* Browser - Chrome (including saving my passwords)
* Writing - Docs (I need collaborative capabilities and a place to safely save my work)
* Spreadsheets - Sheets (used for organizing various things, collaborative options are very needed and used often)

My phone is even a Google Pixel phone, of course running Android and integrated into everything I do.

I am not very tech savvy. I need user-friendly, reliable, relatively easy to learn options for everything I use, and I have zero idea where to begin.

I've done searches online for alternatives, but nothing is really standing out to me as being a good replacement. If you have any ideas for me (and dear god let them please be free or have reasonable pricing) please let me know.

Thank you for any advice!

#help #google #degoogle

Edited to add: Thank you all so much for your thoughts and responses, I got more than I bargained for, haha! I have this post bookmarked and will take in the information at my own pace.

I will be muting this post as I have been a little overwhelmed with the responses, but I really appreciate all the input for when I have time to process it. :3

💙💙💙

Show threadTrash PandaMay 16, 2024
@Bwee
HELL YES MY MOMENT TO SHINE.
Now, before I recommend things I wanna point out some of the options you were recommended and why I wouldn't use them, all the respect to those who recommended them, this is just my personal point of view/opinion:
Proton: A lot of people consider it a honeypot for glowies, you surely have nothing to worry about, but I'd rather use something trustworthy. It also won't let you use a third party client IF I remember correctly, don't quote me on this. IIRC it also doesn't have an F-DROID app (more on this later)
Outlook: It's microsoft, I don't think you should go from the arms of an evil corp to another, what's the point?
Tutanota: No third party client and no app on F-Droid (more on this later)

So, most of your problems can be solved with one website: https://disroot.org/en/#services

Alternatively, if you're willing to shell 3 bucks a month, there's mailbox.org, it's what I use, it offers most of the things you need.

EMAIL: mailbox.org or disroot.org
BROWSER: The obvious choice is firefox, however if you want to have extra privacy there's librewolf, a fork of firefox with some built in options for privacy. Don't like how they look and wanna stick with something that looks like chrome? github.com/uazo/cromite
It's an ungoogled chrome fork, also built for privacy.
PASSWORD: keepass is the best choice for privacy, bitwarden is an ok compromise if you need your password stored online, regardless of which you use, backup your passwords because you never know, you should do this even if you store then in a browser.

WRITING+SPREADSHEETS in collaboration: You should look into nextcloud and find places that offer it's services, and guess what? Back up your files too.

Speaking of backing your files up, remember the 3 2 1 rule.
Always have at least three copies of important files: The original and two copies.
Have at least two different mediums of storage (like on the cloud and on a usb drive)
Have at least 1 copy off site: A copy on the cloud stored somewhere else from where you live. Touch wood, but if your computer catches on fire at least your work is still stored somewhere else.

PHONE: The pixel is a fantastic device, the obvious problem is google's OS, this can be solved easily by installing graphene os, if you do this remember to backup everything on your phone, because it will wipe it clean.
https://tube.raccoon.quest/watch?v=L1KZWjZVnAw
Graphene is privacy focused, you can also have multiple profiles on it, each sandboxed from the other. If you can't live without an app that is only on playstore then you can make a profile with the play store and have the app there, the playstore will NOT have access to any other profile on your phone. I have a main profile without google and one with google because I need it for work.

Running out of space to write so I'm gonna reply to this post for more.
Disroot | Disroot.org

Disroot is a platform providing online services based on principles of freedom, privacy, federation and decentralization.

Show threadTrash Panda
@Bwee
Before I continue, I saw someone recommending duckduckgo. Personally I don't trust them since the day they danced tango with microsoft, even if they stepped back from it my trust is gone like a fart in the wind.

Now, I mentioned F-DROID before.
It's an alternative to the playstore, you won't find all the apps the playstore have but most things there are safe and those that seem sketchy have flags showing you why it might not be safe. I remember a bible app with internet access. Uhm... Why does it need internet access? They gonna add bible pages?

If you desperately need an app from the play store that is free you can check out aurora store, it allows you to download apps from it, only the free ones though. I would do so in a different graphene profile though.

About F-DROID:
https://tube.raccoon.quest/watch?v=utbDwEj0vd0

https://tube.raccoon.quest/watch?v=MnNm-o0yfZw

SEARCH ENGINE: Shameless self advertisement: search.raccoon.quest

YOUTUBE: Shameless self ad again, you can use invidious to watch anything on youtube, sometimes youtube changes shit in their code to break it, but it usually last only a few days. You can make an account too and follow channels just like on youtube.
tube.raccoon.quest
Get Freedom Respecting Software on Your Android Phone with F-Droid

In this video I show you how to get freedom respecting software installed on your android phone through the F-Droid repository, this is a crucial step in optimizing your privacy and security on android devices. ₿💰💵💲Help Support the Channel by Donating Crypto💲💵💰₿ Bitcoin 3MMKHXPQrGHEsmdHaAGD59FWhKFGeUsAxV Ethereum 0xeA4DA3F9BAb091Eb86921CA6E41712438f4E5079 Litecoin MBfrxLJMuw26hbVi2MjCVDFkkExz8rYvUF Dash Xh9PXPEy5RoLJgFDGYCDjrbXdjshMaYerz Zcash t1aWtU5SBpxuUWBSwDKy4gTkT2T1ZwtFvrr Chainlink 0x0f7f21D267d2C9dbae17fd8c20012eFEA3678F14 Bitcoin Cash qz2st00dtu9e79zrq5wshsgaxsjw299n7c69th8ryp Etherum Classic 0xeA641e59913960f578ad39A6B4d02051A5556BfC USD Coin 0x0B045f743A693b225630862a3464B52fefE79FdB Subscribe to my YouTube channel http://goo.gl/9U10Wz and be sure to click that notification bell so you know when new videos are released.

Mental Outlaw | Invidious
May 16, 2024 at 8:33amWeb
Show threadTrash PandaMay 16, 2024
@Bwee
Also, check your chat app, sent a voice message.
Show threadMagicLike 🏳️‍🌈May 16, 2024
@raccoon @Bwee if you still want to try other search engines, there is also Startpage (uses Google for you, without you having to use it) or Mojeek
Show threadTrash PandaMay 16, 2024
@MagicLike @Bwee
Disroot offers a search engine too btw. Also my domain has one ​​
Show threadDushmanMay 16, 2024
@MagicLike @[email protected] @Bwee
They tout privacy but the company behind startpage is kinda shady, I wouldn't trust it.
Show threadDushmanMay 16, 2024
@MagicLike @[email protected] @Bwee
Better than google tho for sure
Show threadLemonheep (Medicine user) May 16, 2024
@raccoon @Bwee Hmm, I should switch to Searx. Qwant (my former main search) got pissy at me for using an adblocker, and Duckduckgo manages to suck at ethics (you know, the very thing you use private services for even at the expense of performance). Meanwhile, Qwant has good performance according to others and it's self-hostable (therefore, no central authority to hope isn't evil).

Also, I'd fully recommend Newpipe if Invidious doesn't work sometimes. In my experience, issues made by Youtube are resolved quicker in this app than on Invidious, and its downloading is also more reliable. I use a fork of it called Tubular myself, since it implements Sponsorblock (a crucial extension for me).
Show threadTrash PandaMay 16, 2024
@radmin @Bwee
Yeah but you can't use newpipe on your desktop IIRC