this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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tying to move as far away from google as possible. recommendations? (kbin.social)
submitted 1 year ago by milkytoast@kbin.social to c/privacyguides@lemmy.one
21 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I've switched to Firefox, proton mail and calendar, but what about google docs and drive? ty guys

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[–] JurassicPork@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Now where do I start lol, I've been on this journey for a few years, and I'd say, take it one service at a time!! I'll try and list most of my apps/services etc.

Phone running grapheneos

Browser - vanadium (graphenes hardened browser)

Maps - organic maps

Mail - protonmai

Calender - protonmail

Notes - standard notes

YouTube - newpipe

App store -F-Droid

Messaging - signal and threema

File sync - syncthing

Password managing - bitwarden

Gallery - simple gallery

Camera - stock grapheneos camera

Ad blocking - 2 piholes setup

And one of the hardest was google photos..... Overcame that with self hosting photoprism..... I have syncthing sync my camera roll to a hard drive attached to one of my raspberry pi..... 3am it rsyncs to a permanent location, than rsync to another hard drive, than have a script that adds it to the photoprism library an hour later, sounds hectic but perfect once setup....

And if you want to go even deeper and not use google or any other provider as your DNS, if you have a pi or any other computer running 24/7 can run your own recursive DNS resolver with unbound..... Hope this helps some people, may have missed a few πŸ˜‚

[–] AntennaRover@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

If you don’t have the time/interest in setting up NextCloud, CryptPad replicates a lot of the functionality of Google Docs/Drive, though to get more 1GB of storage you will have to subscribe.

[–] aksdb@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Another vote for CryptPad. Very polished and nice to work with.

[–] The_iceman_cometh@partizle.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're on Android, that's probably the most important thing to consider first. Just using a phone with Google Play Services gives up a great deal of privacy, even if you think you've turned all that off.

So, consider either an iPhone or if you're really serious about this shit, GrapheneOS. The iPhone is easier for average people, but GrapheneOS is more private and you have more control. Both are better than Googled Android.

For a Google Drive alternative, that's simple. If you're already using Proton, get ProtonDrive.

For Google Docs alternative, that's a bit more challenging. There aren't any direct competitors with full end-to-end encryption that are any good and also cross-platform.

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

fuck iphones. paying more to get a worse device? no thanks

[–] SoManyChoices@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Worse device depends on the user. In my mid-30s, I loved all the tweaks and options my Android phone gave me. Now, as I push 50, I find I want my phone to just work. iOS does that for me. I have a dozen other devices I can hack around on.

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

i agree that iphones just work. i just value customization a ton more. custom apks (cant get youtube revanced on ios) and whatnot

[–] animist@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

If you can afford it, make your next phone a Google Pixel and put GrapheneOS on it. Despite the phone being google, all the google crap will be removed by the OS.

Nextcloud self-hosted to replace Google Drive.

Install as many apps as possible from F-Droid and the rest via Aurora Store.

[–] schmurian@lsmu.schmurian.xyz 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you are already using proton mail, there is proton drive. For docs… maybe Libreoffice, or Cryptpad or any selfhostable options?

[–] milkytoast@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

proton drive is what i ended up doing. turns out i had literally one important document in docs lol

[–] burndown@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you still use Android? I don't feel like I can genuinely be off of Google until I find a way not to have them in my phone. Apple isn't much better, especially for the featureset sacrifice

[–] ThreeHopsAhead@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

GrapheneOS is the go to recommendation.

[–] this@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago

I'm using a pixel with graphineos rn and its the best mobile experience I've ever had without using google products.

[–] burndown@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

How different is it? Just removing Alphabet software or does it start from scratch?

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

the android which most phones use is android+gapps (google apps), which is a closed source fork/distro of android made by google. base android and grapheneos (based on android 13) are open source. grapheneos does not have google play services, so most google apps will not work at all, but play services can be installed (although i dont recommend).

[–] burndown@sh.itjust.works 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

So if you want graphene you either have to side load everything or use webapps? Or would side loading not even work?

[–] darcy@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 year ago

If by side-loading you mean installing from a 'non-trusted' or 'unofficial' source (apps other than google play store), then yes, that is the only option. however, this is not much less convient or secure.

There are a few ways to install apps (these should work with any Android phone, not just Grapheneos):

  • Any non-paid apps on google play can be installed using Aurora Store. supposedly you can use it without even logging in to google account (but i havent gotten that to work). Eg. Facebook

  • Most FOSS apps will be in the F-Droid repository, and can be installed with the F-Droid app, or other similar apps such as Droidify. Eg. K-9 Mail

  • If an app is not on the main F-Droid repo, alternative repositories can be added to your F-Droid client.

  • APKs (app packages) can be installed from the web. this is how F-Droid is usually installed for the first time. Eg. Signal is not available on F-Droid (for reasons)

Basically, if you need a proprietery app like Facebook, use Aurora; if you need an open source app, look for it on F-Droid or download the APK. There are of course pros and cons of each method in terms of security and convenience.

[–] damon@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I would recommend Proton suite and Skiff Workplace

[–] smajl@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Moving to China is probably the easiest solution.

[–] Timwi@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Technically true, but completely false in spirit.

[–] LollerCorleone@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago

There are a lot of good suggestions here. Just to add on to it, I have been using Skiff Pages as an alternative fog Google Docs for a while now, and I have been happy with it. They have a better UI and feels less clunkier than CryptPad. They also offer couple of other services such as Drive and email, which you can check out as well.