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?

  • Lyra_Lycan@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    2·
    6 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
      1·
      3 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?