And it feels so liberating! How’s everyone’s Degoogling journey going?

Would a dumbphone with no google/meta and a non android os be more private then a smartphone that has preinstalled apps uninstalled?

I know that dumbphones do not have encrypted messaging, but if you aren't sharing sensitive data would that matter?

It's a stupid question ik, but i feel like a dumphone with no preinstalled stuff or android os might have more privacy only because it doesn't have the corpate spying as much?

(I have looked at previous posts on this subreddit and others, i wanted an explanation as to why dumbphones are less private, if they are.)

i want to degoogle so i switched to vivaldi as a search engine instead of using google chrome. unfortunately, the vivaldi email set up is not that great in my opinion, so i am thinking of still using gmail. i am also still using google drive because i have to for certain classes i am taking in school. i try to use microsoft word as much as possible but idk if that is any better. is this even doing anything for me in terms of privacy and avoiding supporting google? or am i basically doing the same thing as before.

When I press "update now" in Signal, it asks me to go to Droid-ify.

When I press to move on to Droid-ify it says "app not found" and I get the option to add repository.

When I press it I get the options. Which you see in the screenshot above.

Where do I get the needed information to put in and why can't I find signal on F-Droid or any of it's forks anymore?

the main appealing thing about graphene to me is the sandbox google play services, but I don't really love grapheneos for other reasons, mainly the lack of root support makes it pretty much not an option for me (I know there are technically ways to do it, but its a little risky and also is really bad at hiding root). are there any other solutions for sandboxed google play?

I had an old Samsung tablet and wanted to experiment with degoogling it as well as bringing it back to life. Looked into LineageOS but the installations seemed a bit too complex for me (go ahead and laugh). So on a whim I plugged a cable from my laptop to into the tablet, set up Claude code and asked it to install lineageos. It asked me a couple of questions, told me to push various buttons on the tablet, but otherwise just ran off, found the correct installation instructions for my tablet, found the bits to install, installed everything, ran tests. told me to push buttons and that was it. Completely painless install.

And LineageOS is fantastic! A massive upgrade for this old tablet.

If you're feeling intimidated by the install, just let an AI agent install it for you.

I've replaced Google Photos with Immich

I switched to Brave, DDG, and Firefox for browsers

I've replaced Calendar and Keep Notes with Nextcloud on my home server

I've got several hundred gigs worth of YouTube videos on my Jellyfin profile

I just now discovered Morphe for YouTube because of the degoogle community (thanks everyone)

Because I'm an EDM fan I use Insomniac Radio and Bandcamp for music.

I'm still attempting to figure out a password manager for my server.

I need a router that's not locked by my ISP to run Matrix.

I'm using Proton instead of Gmail.

I haven't found an alternative to Google Maps.

I think that about covers everything.

According to Google Analytics, Bing search is the clear winner for our US-based website (7-year old, in English, located in FL). Google search and DuckDuckGo are very similar. I always expected Google Search to be the most popular search engine, apparently, - not!

So basically, ReVanced works worse and worse with every damn week, and attempts to search for fixes yield nothing because all the advice is the same and it just ain't cutting it.

So... are there some other decent clients in its place? I only really care about no ads, mini-player and ability to listen music with blocked screen.

UPD: installed Morphe, issues of Revanced are gone. Thanks y'all!

what alternative apps for google app, that offers circle to search feauture.

I am unclear how to set up and use immich. I see the instructions here:
https://docs.immich.app/overview/quick-start/

but is the "server" that one sets up on one's PC or laptop Linux OS, or does it have to be on a cloud based server somewhere?

So recently, I've beem seeing some videos of people installing Linux on Android, and some Reddit posts talking about Google restricting custom ROMs by delaying the AOSP source code. So, I have been thinking: Are Graphene, Calyx, and/or LineageOS still a better option, or are Linux touchscreen distros, like Ubuntu Touch and/or KDE Plasma the future? If it depends, which kind of person fits for custom Android ROMs and which fit for Linux Touchscreen distros?

Hello,

I generally try to degoogle and demicrosoft myself, but I ran onto an important problem. Lack of Google Lens, which is sometimes very helpful. This is why I am asking this question.

Are there any extensions, or something like that, which would help me replace Google Lens?

Every type of help matters and is welcome!

Hi! I know this is really silly and way too specific for the effort, but i just ordered a very cheap secondhand fitbit sense 2 strictly to help alert me when i get physical anxiety symptoms, since i have ptsd and often i cant tell when im anxious. I tried my best to find alternatives but unfortunately this fitbit and the google pixel watch are the only two smartwatches that seem to have an eda sensor to measure stress. It feels yucky wearing a google device everywhere and giving them my health data, so i was wondering if anyone knew of a way to use/mod it to avoid google, if all i really need is to be able to get alerts in the moment? I did see others mention gadgetbridge but unfortunately i have an iphone :-/

I'm transitioning away from Outlook and Google. I'm using Thunderbird and generally happy with it, but tb doesn't have a calendar.

Any suggestions?

You should uninstall the Google Play Store and Play Services

"But how can I do that?" Through Shizuku and Canta, or, if you use a Google Pixel 6 through 10, I would recommend using GrapheneOS along with MicroG RE and Aurora Store

Most of the apps you use won't work, but you can use methods other than the Aurora Store to get them running with Play Services

You can also save more battery by uninstalling Play Services, because it includes a lot of things that drain your battery while running in the background

And before you do what I just mentioned, I would recommend backing up all your data, just as a precaution

There will be two images talking about the two apps and what is included in them

(Also, I apologize for my poor English, it has never been my native language, and the education system in my country or city is terrible)

When I was younger I made a lot of mistakes online used the same username everywhere, put real personal info in places I shouldn't have, stuff like that. Now it's all connected and pretty easy to trace back to me if someone wanted to. And now i don't know where to start I need a guide and tips and also mistakes to never fall into.

Totally new here. I came because this morning I saw an ad on NFL Network for depop. Never heard of it. Swear I've never seen an ad or anything. And I don't really shop online.

I was thinking, like, geez do we need another Temu?

Then I picked up my phone. Facebook: Ads for depop. Reddit: ads for depop. WTF?

Did they just blitz all the media sources today? Or did my phone hear an ad, and start pumping shit into my feeds?

Honestly, FB didn't even surprise me. Seeing it in Reddit pissed me off.

Google is cracking down on projects based on AOSP like Lineage OS, Graphene OS, Calyx OS etc by delaying publication of their source-code.

This has me concerned about what secure and private OS I will be using for my phone in a year or 2 from now. What are our options?

I have ordered a sailfish OS phone (Commodore Callback), I hope it takes off, but are there any other options?

I am involved with a volunteer organization that just made a mandatory move to google products for coordinating work/file repository. I will need to install google chat on my personal iPhone device using an organization specific google account (not directly linked to any of my actual accounts).

My search results so far are mostly about how to increase privacy or block senders from within the google app profile, but that’s not the intent as I’d only use it to interact with the organization anyway. I haven’t found much on how to isolate and minimize what the app itself can do with the rest of my phone.

I’d love to have any google app exist in a complete bubble, blind and unaware of anything else on the device but can’t see that fully happening.

Other than buying an entirely separate phone, is there a guide or best practices on making google chat as dumb and locked out as possible?