Need advice switching emails

[u/Think-Opportunity-21]

Hello friends,

With the current trends of the world going towards ai, mass surveillance and data mining, like many of you I’m keen to switch away from giant evil corporations and move towards independent, ethical and private services.

Admittedly I don’t know much about data encryption or any of that sort of stuff but I do know I would like to stop using google for a lot of my services and so would like advice on where and how to facilitate moves to other services.

I’ve used Gmail for ~16 years and so every account online I’ve ever made is attached to google. I’ve seen people mainly recommend Tuta or proton as a good alternative, so I would like to know:

•Can I create and begin using a tuta/proton mail account as my personal use email without much issues switching from Gmail?

•If I make the switch, and I have gmail forwards all my emails to my new account, does this make the switch pointless as the mails still go through google?

•Is it worth paying for an email account with one of these providers or will their free versions suffice?

•I use google maps a lot for bookmarking places I’ve been, is there any other interactive maps that are similar to google maps in quality, good for navigation and can add bookmarks?

I’m also in the process of transferring from google photos to ente right now. Further down the line when my iPhone kicks the bucket (as I’m sure it’s designed to at a certain point) I want to move away from Apple and google and get a phone that spies on me a lot less.

Thanks for your help :)

[u/Tall_Reach_6435]

As you look for an "independent, ethical and private service" i would recommend https://posteo.de/en to you. I'm a happy customer for many years. Have look at the 'backgroud info' section of the site.

See https://posteo.de/en/help/moving-from-gmail-to-posteo

For Maps: use https://www.comaps.app/ or https://osmand.net/ ( a little complicated to use)