Previously on Lemmy: Tablets
Let’s talk about deGoogling Android this week, since it’s a common topic of interest around here to talk about GrapheneOS and CalyxOS.
I feel like Google services has been lacking for the better part of a decade to the degree that I am reluctant to rely on most Google services nowadays. However, I don’t think I have the effort to actively remove all traces of Google from my phone, as the cost of bootloader unlock and rooting is a bit too much for me.
So, I would like to hear what your deGoogling experiences, since I’m unlikely to do it myself.
Past Discussions
LineageOS and simply not installing Google Apps.
Mine is still googled (Moto G Stylus 5g 2023), but I noticed that the Google apps couldn’t be uninstalled and some couldn’t be disabled. So instead of trying to pick and choose, I uninstalled everything I could that came on the phone (mostly bloat crap), and disabled everything I could disable but couldn’t uninstall, pretty much. I haven’t yet looked into rooting this phone. I confess to still using some of the stock apps out of laziness, but want to migrate from those to the extent possible. Except I don’t know of navigation apps as good as google maps. Organic maps is ok so I use it when I can, but I fall back on google maps some of the time. The rest of the google stuff doesn’t seem important. I haven’t used chrome at all, for example.
I figure I have some de-google cred for using Maemo phones for several years, though they are no longer usable due to the 2g/3g mobile networks shutting down.
I think if you attempt to degoogle all at once, you will fail. Slowly migrate your essential things and look for e2ee, privacy respecting, FOSS and sustainable alternatives. Unfortunately I can’t quite rid of the play store, but I’ve migrated mostly privacy friendly services. I’m still stuck with my friends being on discord, Spotify, and Google Maps for finding essential data (sorry open maps lacks too much info for where I am).
Tutanota controls my email, calendar, and contact syncing. I’m using ente for my cloud photo storage. I use Bitwarden for my password manager, pass key manager, and totp 2fa codes. All those services I listed are entirely FOSS and e2ee. For my browser, I use Fennec (Firefox fork) from f-droid. I use Droid-ify in place of the terrible official f-droid client. I try to use f-droid alternatives as much as I can.
My entertainment is my Feeder RSS feed, Boost for Lemmy, Moshidon (Mastodon fork), Twire as a twitch client, Newpipe for YouTube, and then Genshin Impact lol.
Agree with you, there doesn’t seem to be any good alternatives to Google Maps on Android (Apple Maps is seriously impressive with their animations at this point).
And outside of TripAdvisor, one of the only good places to find restaurants reviews, because Yelp is… not good.
Have you tried Obtainium as f-droid alternative? It’s a really cool project with some degree of customization !
Migration takes some time specially if you have a dozen apps, but after that everything is automated !
If you want to help make OSM better, there are a few apps that make it really easy to add details to your local area.
Street Complete has gamified quests to add details to things, including hours to shops.
Every Door is a step more detailed, but makes it really easy to add new things to the map.
Organic Maps is a nice Google maps competitor that does make it easy to make edits while in it.
Also, if you use maps in any other app, like bike share or fitness tracking, they probably use OSM data, so it can be worth making improvements where you can since it’ll make those services better too.
If you need to remain on stock android for various reasons then I highly recommend de bloating your system yourself with the Universal Android Debloater tool. Super easy to use, but also super powerful, so be careful.
I run ClaysOS and GrapheneOS (current on graphene OS).
