A process that started roughly a year ago with just changing browser and search engine, now feeling that I got somewhere. The journey ended up being more than just degoogle, but also demetaing and taking more control over my data and privacy.

Before and after picture with notes:

Chrome -> Zen browser (Firefox on iOS)

Google -> Qwant

Gmail -> Proton Mail

NordVPN -> Proton VPN (I don’t use VPN very often, but have NordVPN through another subscription, now replaced with Proton across my devices)

Google Drive / Photos -> Proton Drive

Google Password Manager -> Proton Pass

Google Authenticator -> Proton Pass / Ente (Ente Auth is only used to store my 2FA keys for the Proton account, other keys are stored in Proton Pass)

Google Translator -> DeepL

YouTube -> FreeTube (Unwatched on iOS)

Google Maps -> Magic Earth (OSM on desktop)

WhatsApp -> Signal

Notion -> Anytype

Keep / Notes -> Notesnook

X -> Mastodon / Bluesky

Reddit -> Lemmy (Voyager on iOS, dreaming of an eventual complete migration)

Instagram -> Pixelfed

Facebook -> stopped using

Windows 11 -> Ubuntu (Only personal laptop, work laptop still windows)

    • joelvdc@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      0·
      15 days ago

      I usually tell people the same, this is a decision I will have to live with. I am happy with Proton and also happy to support their growth, hopefully it will go well for a long time.

      From the other services I tried, Filen and Ente deserve an honorable mention. I was close to just go Mail Plus + Filen + Ente. But as soon as you do Proton Mail + VPN, you then go with Proton Unlimited and that is what makes the most sense financially.

      • LWD@lemm.ee
        1·
        15 days ago

        But as soon as you do Proton Mail + VPN, you then go with Proton Unlimited and that is what makes the most sense financially.

        That’s how they get you! ;)

        Mail and VPN are something I would never want to cross associate, though. After all, any mail provider can see the full contents of any unencrypted email at some point (including Proton), and any VPN provider can see as much as your ISP used to see about your internet activity.

        • ohshit604@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          15 days ago

          This right bloody here, you have to make sacrifices for peace-of-mind otherwise you’ll live your life paranoid on the smallest of things.

          One persons opinions don’t suddenly make a service unusable or unreliable.

      • Biskii@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        0·
        15 days ago

        This is my thing. I’ve ditched all of proton for the obvious reason, but aside from that, I no longer want everything under one umbrella. Convenience has shown it comes at too great of a cost

        • admin@sh.itjust.works
          0·
          15 days ago

          I was just about to pay for their service, started a new LLC so that was gonna be a good excuse to start supporting them and then his CEO shows his true colors.

          I have been happily supporting Tuta instead. Is a bit slow but the aliases and emails work great.

          • jsomae@lemmy.ml
            1·
            14 days ago

            Did the CEO do anything to bother you other than tweet that Slater was a good appointment by Trump? If not, can you explain what the problem is with Slater as a nominee?

            • admin@sh.itjust.works
              0·
              14 days ago

              When the CEOs political preferences get lousy enough or attracted as the necessary amount of attention to make it to a headline, some customers will turn away.

              • jsomae@lemmy.ml
                11·
                14 days ago

                Maybe I’m misunderstanding, but the thing that bothers you about the CEO is that other people are annoyed by the CEO’s tweet?

                Edit: honestly I don’t even understand what’s politically problematic about his tweet. One of the few ways we can encourage the Dems to improve is by voicing our approval on when the GOP actually does something right.

                • admin@sh.itjust.works
                  1·
                  14 days ago

                  I wonder how worrying about how others spend their money benefits you.

                  Edit: also not everyone in the world is American. Not everyone in the world sees the politics as a war of black vs white like you do of the ‘Dems’ vs the ‘backWards’

    • Lena@gregtech.euEnglish
      2·
      15 days ago

      Apple is a horrible company, for privacy and otherwise, and should be avoided at all costs. And their OS isn’t open source, why trust it?

      • SHEN SHAK RAK@lemmy.world
        0·
        15 days ago

        I might be expressed myself wrong. Because of my poor English😅 I mean, the last step to change is the iPhone. To the Android alternatives with custom OS. Especially Google Pixel phones with GrapheneOS.

        • ceiron@lemm.ee
          1·
          15 days ago

          How ironic that the ultimate degoogling involves buying a Google Pixel phone! I’d rather go Fairphone with LineageOS.

  • baggachipz@sh.itjust.works
    1·
    15 days ago

    As predicted, here come all the purity tests.

    I know there’s no way to definitively prove it, but in my mind Apple is the safer alternative vs. anything Google. I know you can do custom roms and all that, but let’s face it: It’s a huge pain in the ass. I know, I know, “It’s not really”… I beg to differ. I went through my purity phase with degoogled roms and all that. Due to driver inconsistencies, updates breaking things (even the phone part), and the inability to use a lot of “normal” apps, I gave up and went with an iPhone. Apple’s business model is to sell you the thing at a higher price, thus reducing the incentive to sell your data or enshittify. Yes, that will degrade over time and I’ll reach a threshold at which I’ll reevaluate my options. Given the two major choices, I choose the less terrible ecosystem of the two.

    I refuse to have any Google or Meta products on my iPhone. I know that makes me lame here, but we should also understand that any normie would never go to all the trouble of OS tinkering. The are a lot more people who want to degoogle vs. the people who understand how to do rom flashing. Criticizing a person’s degoogle effort as “not good enough” does nothing but drive people directly into the arms of the very evil we wish to diminish. This is a community to banish Google, not everything backed by a for-profit corporation.

    • airikr@lemmy.ml
      1·
      14 days ago

      Yes, but iOS is even more closed than Android which makes all iPhones a small prison for open-minded and privacy oriented people.

      Google is Big Tech, logs everything. Apple is Big Tech too, but only logs tiny less than Google. All Big Tech is a big no-no if you’re privacy oriented. This applies to all services that uses Big Tech, too.

      Here’s my response to the -2 votes or whatever it is called. I bet it’s because of the last sentence. If you surf a website with a browser with uBlock Origin and blocks Big Tech, that’s good. But a lot of people visits websites and allows everything, feeding Big Tech with even more data than they already have. That was why I wrote it is a big no-no even services that uses Big Tech. Signal included.

    • joelvdc@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      1·
      13 days ago

      As I mentioned in other comments, I didn’t buy a new phone to degoogle. I’m sure there are more people on the same boat. And this is a degoogle group.

      • Lord Wiggle@lemmy.world
        01·
        13 days ago

        After experiencing the iPhone 3 and MacBook pro 2009 I knew I’d never want to give Apple my money anymore. Boy did they try to scam me. “Broken hard drive? (500gb non-SSD) Sure, well fix it! 600 euros!” I’ll never sell my soul to Apple anymore.