What apps have you tried to "de-google" yourself?
What apps have you tried to "de-google" yourself?
Right now a lot of us are trying to divest and diversify from having our entire lives on Google both because of the way Google spends its money and the long-standing privacy concerns seeming a bit more scary now.
What services have you switched to and what has your experience been? What do you like, what don't you like, would you recommend them?
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I guess I'll share my setup aha. Forewarning: I invested heavily into self hosting and being in full control of as much as possible, mainly to try to be 'Internet independent'.
- Google ads, APIs, telemetry and everything else that is not necessary: AdGuard Home (selfhosted)
- Android app store: Fdroid with IzzyOnDroid repo, failing that Aurora Store, if apps still whine about not being to use Play Services then I use the Play Store
- Gmail: Mailcow Dockerized (selfhosted) with K9 Android client
- SMS (not that I use it anyway): Fossify SMS
- Instant messaging: Matrix (selfhosted) for Discord/Telegram style with Element client, or Telegram FOSS
- File Manager (I goddamn hate that Google Files forces itself onto any phone after initial setup, even when there's a manufacturer installed one already): Material Files
- GBoard (It's also really fucking invasive): HeliBoard
- YouTube: via Revanced Manager, with Odysee as a hopeful replacement. Much lower userbase though, obviously.
- Google Photos (refuses to settle for less than 100% file access): Part of a self hosted Samba share that I keep synced to via FolderSync (from Play Store - they charge €10 for the app outside of Google)
- Chrome: Brave (I downloaded a script to debloat it of crypto and AI)
- Google Search: My partner uses Ecosia for environment reasons, and I use DuckDuckGo for privacy reasons
- Chromecast: I recommend a Roku
- AndroidOS: CalyxOS if Pixel, LineageOS if not
- Play Services: Gapps pico or nano because some things are still tied to Play Services
- Maps is superior, unfortunately, but OSMAnd is a good alt
- Google DNS, used by default by a lot of things like routers: Cloudflare 1.1.1.1 and 1.0.0.1
Brave is chrome
Technically it’s chromium, not chrome.
I definitely understand their sentiment though - Google is obviously a search engine monopoly, and I simply found Chromium to be better suited to my needs than Firefox, and settled for a modified Chromium base.
I've tried HeliBoard as already suggested elsewhere, but I find its autocorrect and suggestions absolutely abysmal in English and even worse in my native Bulgarian. With Gboard I can usually type a letter or two and it already knows what's up, and it often knows what's the next word based just on the previous one.
How's your experience with it?
That's pretty accurate tbh, I'm ashamed to say I only know English, but a couple downsides include poor suggestions and aggressive replacement (doesn't save if you prefer an acronym to be lowercase), and it's amusing watching it freak out when I enter an email address. I do need it though - I'm glad it *does have those features, and a clipboard. Plus I often remote access my PC and my Linux server, and being able to use up/down arrow keys is an absolute must, at least for now. Not even the Gboard had that and it took a little while to find one.
I suppose the best keyboard for you is determined by your reliance on features like autocomplete, predictive input (i.e. listing emails in an email box), clipboard, multi-language support, and aesthetic customisation!
I tried Heliboard but went back to SwiftKey. It's the best keyboard I've found. It's from Microsoft but I have internet access disabled in Tracker Control and it works fine with multiple languages, swipe and emoji.
I've tried SwiftKey as well, but last I remember it was a bit sluggish. I'll give it another try, thanks.
Usually autocorrect accuracy is directly proportional to info stealing by the keyboard. Google's autocorrect is so good because it's constantly phoning home with what people write so they can improve their model.
I use a keyboard with no autocorrect (Unexpected Keyboard), and, although it took a while to get used to it, I got used to typing fast and mostly accurately after some time using it. You can also get used to your autocorrect's quirks, and you'll find that you will type faster with it.