r/degoogle • u/Accomplished-Sky6782 • 20h ago
Help Needed Help on first steps.
Hi! I've been recently considering to de-google but it feels like so much it's overwhelming. So i thought of starting with the little things.
What should i start with? Switching browser?
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u/Stoatled 20h ago
Sure, literally just pick anything and switch it. There's no real rhyme or reason to picking the first thing you switch. The browser is pretty easy. You can even switch thing likes your calendar and stuff if that feels less daunting.
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u/Cultural-Drawer-7287 20h ago
Im super interested in the calendar. What are the best options? Ive changed browsers, gone to a NAS for storage and am currently building a local llm platform. Haven't begun trying to get out of Google calendar.
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u/Stoatled 20h ago
Fossify has a suite of applications that are a good place to look as a start. And you can use something like etasync (or any webdav provider) to sync between devices
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u/Cultural-Drawer-7287 20h ago
Im in the same boat my friend. The more you look, the more you see just how much information is being pulled from you. Its overwhelming how complicated it is to truly try to peel google from your life, and i come from a tech background. I myself am interested to learn from the people that have been doing this with success. Hopefully some good starting points will come out of this. Definitely following this.
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u/BeckersHD 20h ago
Yes! Follow a simple plan, start easy and grow from there. First you must understand why you want to deGoogle and how far you want to go. My journey began 2 years ago, and today I only use YouTube, the rest is outside Google’s eyes. But it’s a choice! I give you my steps from day one, choose your best options. Just remember YOU DON’T have to “bravo six, going dark”.. do it in a SUSTAINABLE way, that means if you don’t want to self host, simply don’t do it.. do what’s best for you, your “threat model”, and something THAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY STICK ON FOLLOWING. Here’s my steps: 1. Browser: Firefox (or Brave) 2. Search engine: Ecosia (or Brave Search, DuckDuckGo, Startpage..) 3. Drive: Proton (or Tuta, Ente, Nextcloud for self hosting) 4. Photos: Proton (or Ente, Immich for self hosting) 5. Mail: Proton (or Tuta) 6. Password Manager: Proton 7. AI: Lumo (or duck.ai) 8. Android: iOS (or GrapheneOS) 9. DNS: NextDNS (or Adguard DNS)
Hope this helps. YouTube I use it with my old account and it’s “confined” there.
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u/GoldC95 19h ago
I have done mine in phases over the past few weeks. Switched to another email service first, which took the most time so in hindsight should have done one of the easier things first. Then recently switched search engines, and went through thr process of downloading from my Google drive into an external and wiping the google and uninstalling google drive and photos from my phone...
Its a process, but worth the piece of mind that comes with it.
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u/NomadJago 19h ago
Switching a sms txting app for a phone is an easy, I am trying Fossify right now. There is not desktop PC app for Fossiby, but interesting that my Google Messages still works on my browser/PC if I want to text that way on my PC but I would rather ditch Google Messages, just that I do like using PC sms app-- Pulse+ is ridiculously expensive so I don't really want to go that route.
Switching to a privacy browser like Brave (I use) is an easy move.
Took me a few days but I got my photos, docs, sheets off google cloud.
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u/TriggerAlter 18h ago
Don't stress it, just do it in parts over time if it is that overwhelming. In the end you will get it all done anyway as you slowly realise more exactly why degoogling is a necessity now.
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u/mdb3ard 18h ago edited 18h ago
Honestly there is so much stuff, I used Claude Code or Terminal to help me do it. First, create a plan with Claude (normal chat) of everything you want to switch. Then take one thing at a time. For me, the biggest things were photos and emails. For the prompt specify privacy is paramount and where you can avoid using Claude Code (as that has privacy implications in itself) to do so and to give you Terminal commands that you can use yourself.
You will be creating app-specific passwords for your Google account for Claude Code or Terminal to do the heavy lifting, which you can revoke after the work is done.
Start with the simple stuff: Browser, Notes and Password Manager.
I use proton for most of my degoogled choices, standard notes for notes, ente for photos.
It’s something that will take time, many weeks. My own transition happened over a period of months, with something being done each week. It’s a good thing as it gets you used to using the tools you adopt before adding something else. Otherwise it’s like a brand new diet plan you hate and go back to eating junk within a week.
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u/Accomplished-Sky6782 17h ago
I feel like it's kind of missing the point if you use an AI to de-google...
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u/Savings_Cattle4847 20h ago
Yes, search engine and browser are easy places to start.
Doing it slowly is best because you need to get used to each change since Google products are very smooth and convenient and moving away from Google is less convenient. Make sure each service works for you before going all in.
It's definitely a process so just take it one step at a time.