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  • Having a really, really difficult time De-Googling and being privacy conscious

I've been trying to De-Google for a year now and be more privacy conscious. It's so hard. I've already deleted tons of online accounts, signed up for services like SimpleLogin, Bitwarden, ProtonMail, and ProtonVPN and migrated accounts over. I recently bought the Pixel 7 Pro specifically so I could install GrapheneOS. I have been watching the "supported devices" page like a hawk the last few days and saw there was a build available, so I installed it last night for the first time and have been tinkering around.

I'm just having such a hard time with all this. I often ask myself if this is all worth it. I'm sure everyone here will say that it is, but it takes so much more time and you lose so many conveniences. There's too many to even list. One such example is getting a date texted to you in Google Chat that gives you a link you click to add it to your Google Calendar, which lets you add a location, which will then notify you when you need to leave the house to be there on time and gives a link you can tap to open Google Maps to navigate there.

I don't even really know what the point of this post is except maybe to see if anyone else felt this way and how you overcame it, or if you didn't?

    Honestly still struggle with this. I came from an iPhone (used ios for almost a decade) which probably makes it harder because of the iOS vs android differences. Grapheneos has been great but I have made some compromises as well. I think the biggest one is 95% of my social circle uses iPhones and iMessage/FaceTime. While I’ve been able to get a few to use signal, most don’t. So much of my communication moves to insecure sim based texts and phone calls with no encryption.

    Additionally I haven’t got myself comfortable with the idea of installing play services so I’m working without push notifications on many apps. While it’s been a nice mental break, there are certainly some minor inconveniences due to not having timely alerts.

    I had too many accounts with rewards attached to my Gmail e-mail ID, I didn't want to lose them, and unfortunately, these companies wouldn't allow me to change my e-mail address, so I keep my Gmail on my laptop and access it when I check mail using Thunderbird.

    As for Play Services, I installed it, started the login procedure as described, but did NOT complete the login. I did this because I have at least 2 apps that will not work without at least Firebase messaging enabled: myToyota, and myParish. So, I am NOT logged into the Google Play Store, but I can access all the benefits.

    There are some apps that will absolutely not work on GrapheneOS: AMC Theaters, PayPal, and myEvive. I'm sure there are others or will be.

    1e2j6

    One such example is getting a date texted to you in Google Chat that gives you a link you click to add it to your Google Calendar, which lets you add a location, which will then notify you when you need to leave the house to be there on time and gives a link you can tap to open Google Maps to navigate there.

    If you want this level of app integration, you should be able to find a setup that works for you. It took me a few weeks to set up GrapheneOS in a way that everything was as seamless as the iOS experience.

    Depending on what you want out of GrapheneOS, it is possible to use proprietary apps privately. For example, I downloaded Google Camera through Aurora store anonymously, then revoked network access and background data, set camera/mic permissions to 'only while using' and disabled location access. I also configured storage scopes to a single folder. This fit my needs. (If you decide to try this, only Google services framework needs to be installed for the camera to function but you can revoke all its permissions).

    For a gallery I recommend Aves
    For TTS/voice input I use Google speech services, download my language and then revoke network access and background data.

    I would say be patient, when I first installed GrapheneOS I was looking at a blank phone thinking 'now what?'. It took me a few weeks to get my desired configuration. Keep asking questions, welcome and good luck!

      1e2j6 I too feel that way sometimes but at the end of the day I know I want to stay the course. Few years ago I decided to take my privacy back and be in control best I could most possible without detrimental expertise degradation. There is price for everything, right, and if there is something I need, I would compromise but no more than I have to.

      That's my stance and based on it I slowly been reconfiguring my services: moved to Proton, use Yubikey, use email aliases, use VPN, switch phone to GrapheneOS, stop all Google histories (location, web, app, etc.), use Brave, use PWA instead of apps - none of which really diminished much the ease and convivence of how I use web and apps. Yeah I have to enter passwords more frequently than 5 years ago but that's what password managers are for, right?

      With that, I will have Google services installed on my phone as some apps will need it without which I will encounter inconveniences I'm not ok with, I will have Tasker and will give it most permissions for my automations. I know that's not perfect, but much much better than a before and that's trend I'd like to keep.

        I can only add that it is extremaly difficult to move to privacy oriented environment. I took me years to move it. Take it slowly make it as way of living.🙂 small steps at the time.
        Cheers!

          I would recommend setting up a Nextcloud instance if you haven't already. Not having cloud services would have made the transition so much harder not unlike what you described in your original post. I was able to flash NextcloudPi to a Raspberry Pi 4 and that made migrating my data away from Google so much easier. Now I can access it across multiple devices and everything is organized across multiple platforms. The only real convenient feature I lost was Google Pay which I got back with a Pixel Watch so it is a moot point. You also have the ability to run Google Maps with permissions revoked so use that to your advantage.

          1e2j6 learn to play your day and not rely on Google to micromanage your life???
          Why do you need Google to tell you to leave the house. Figure it out for yourself, your cognitive ability will improve by having to actually think for yourself.

          Relying on Google like that sounds like a dystopian nightmare to me and would be a reason to stop relying on technology.

          Ditch Google. Get proton mail and calendar. Get a functioning memory and sense of direction. Done.

            Grkrz

            Agreed. Degoogling/Making a privacy a conscious effort is a long process, you need to take it one step at a time before your workflow is finally in a place where you are totally divested from these accounts and systems. It is not easy, but it is doable. And there of course is a scale. We don't all need to live like Richard Stallman.

              I stopped using Google on my phone before all that assistant stuff was rolled out. So I guess I never got hooked. What I can tell you is, that a good life is possible without it.