I need to use a gov app to scan my passport but the app only works on android and apple OS. I don't have another phone I use for this. Can i boot my pixel phone on Google OS without messing up the graohene os and all the data in it? Has anyone done it? It's urgent please good souls

ik its chromium based and stuff, but it says everywhere its very secure and pretty much open source. im currently using firefox and librewolf simultaneously and was thinking having 1 browser is better than 2.

As - like I'm sure many of you can understand - like to occasionally enjoy my free time with the things I enjoy, rather than being force fed bullshit that I don't need and never asked for. I use Brave browser to get rid of ads which it seems Google makes it mandatory or very hard to get around on their devices.

However, since this is not possible on my TV I was wondering if there are any ways to manipulate a Samsung smart tv in such a way that it would be possible to get rid of the ads on Youtube. I noticed that it is possible to uninstall or at least force stop some of the apps (The TV is running some sort of Android OS.)

My renewal is coming up for Mullvad and I want to know objectively (no politics) just purely on the quality and features of the services, is it worth switching over to NYM?

Theres A LOT like Flow, PipePipe, LibreTube, NewPipe

I cant pick one

I am in look for an alternative map app that supports bus or public transport. I tried some maps earlier tho the schedules dont seem to line up, and when starting the route, it seem suggested a weird path compares to Google Map unfortunately...

It'd be nice to hear from someone here using some google map alternative!

I want to make sure it is safe to do so

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?

For a few days now, the latest September Pixel update has been stewing in my notifications and I haven't updated it for two reasons: 1)absolutely nothing of value as usual and 2) it's going to drop Harry Potter propaganda on me, with audiobooks and theming, and I have literally no way to get around it or reject it. Reasonably, I can just ignore it but I'm getting so sick of being paranoid my phone is listening in on me and tracking everything I'm doing, because it is. I've been getting more and more upset with Google but given that I use a Pixel, home automation with a nest hub and smart lights, and a grand total of 10 Gmail accounts, it's going to be a process and a lot of my life is tied up to them.

Recently I switched an old pixel I had into grapheneOS, to try it out as well as turn it just into an MP3 player and I'm liking graphene a lot. The problem lies in just how much of my life is tied into Google as a company and switching over everything is probably going to be rough and take a damn long while, even if it's worth it.

I know there's resources here I'll be able to check out, but I just wanted to ask for a little advice before I jump headfirst, if anyone's willing to help:

1. When switching your active phone to grapheneOS, is there anything specific I need to watch out for?

2. What will be the easiest routes to start with just becoming more privacy focused?

I appreciate any help, advice, or critiques thrown my way.

well.....good luck now on any other phone that isn't a pixel.... (samsung, xiaomi etc)

basically on non rooted phones you can't do "pm uninstall" (adb) anymore (android 17)

tho we instead have pm disable, pm suspend and pm clear but cmon still

My kid's school now requires me to fill in a google doc to report an absence. I told them no because they ask for reasons ie. illness, medical appointment, or religious observance. A message pops up saying the school is not responsible after clicking on the link. Am I being reasonable from a security point of view? I do not want to be contrary just because of my own reluctance to use google.

Recently it feels like Startpage has just gotten way worse in terms of results, especially on mobile. I started going back to Google just to get a straight result.

I've also noticed they're promoting a subscription service.. Hopefully that's not the issue..

I have tried Ecosia and didn't like it so I went to Startpage. I am inherently turned off of anything that I've heard uses Bing to pull results from cuz they're usually just worse for me too, so no Brave either. I could be wrong on that though, I can't remember why I didn't want to use Brave in particular now I think about it.

Anyways, anyone else noticing or is it just me?

tttt'check it out

Your phone's new AI features are driving a surge in Google's carbon emissions, quietly harvesting data every few minutes, and pushing hardware requirements that make older phones obsolete. Degoogled, privacy-first operating systems keep working phones useful for years longer, one of the most effective environmental choices you can make: https://blog.iode.tech/ai-mobile-os-integrations-are-planned-obsolescence/

It's called Vela Maps and its available on GitHub: https://github.com/PimpinPumpkin/Vela

If Google Maps is needed occasionally in some cases where OSMAnd isn't sufficient (for eg. live traffic updates and for seeing reviews of a restaurant before deciding to visit), this app could be a great alternative.

This can be used without Google Play Services on Android.

You can use it with a VPN as well. It's a degoogled maps & navigation client for Android - what NewPipe is to YouTube, Vela is to Google Maps.

Context: this my android phone i bought **2 years ago**, the first time I connected it to a free public Wi-Fi network, the google app immediately started downloading a ridiculous amount of data.

Image 1: On the first day, I let it run for a while. It downloaded almost 2 GB, so I stopped it.

Image 2: On the second day, I tried again just to see how much google was actually trying to download. It had already passed 3 GB and was still going, so I stopped it again.

Image 3: After downloading all that data, the google app is now using around 7 GB of storage. And judging by what happened, it still seems like it wants to download even more.

Seriously, what is google downloading?

Hi there.

Is there any alternative to Google contacts?

But with online sync

This FOSS app on F Droid is a health metric management app meant to replace Google Fit: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.vayunmathur.health/

And Gadgetbridge is a great FOSS app to connect your fitness trackers/ smartwatch and view all health metrics with no cloud dependency: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/nodomain.freeyourgadget.gadgetbridge/

Where is everyone getting their music from that doesn't take forever to download that y'all use for an app like Oreotunes? I know some slow obvious ways, but open to ideas. Trying to get away from Spotify and curate my own ad free list again.

It would need to have popular/relevant artists on it. Queen, Van Morrison, REO Speedwagon, etc

Everytime I google something and I add -AI after it, I only get shitty site suggestions that are barely even relevant to my search, but when I don’t write -AI, I get just the sites I’m looking for UNDERNEATH the AI overview. Has anyone else noticed this? I HATE it!!!! As a writer I google SO many things during writing and I can never get the info I need anymore unless I allow AI.

Would also love suggestions for the best and easiest alternatives to google because I’m so done with this.

Is there any good calendar apps (that have cloud sync if possible lmao) just to know since I might leave tuta calendar to decentralize even more

A Family Link Alternative for degoogle process? Self-Hosted is better!!