We’re reaching the end of an era wherein billions of dollars of investor money was shovelled into tech startups to build large user-bases, and now those companies (now monoliths) are beginning to constrict their user-bases and squeeze for every single penny they can possibly extract. Fair or not.

Now more than ever, it’s important for us to step back and reconsider whether we want to be billboards for these companies anymore.

For anyone unfamiliar, some good resources to have when starting your degoogling journey are below:

Privacy Guides - A list of privacy-respecting services you can use.

Plexus - A crowdsourced information bank of service compatibility with degoogled devices.

This random PDF - A study from 2018 detailing data that Google tracks about its’ users.

  • Awwab
    1•1 year ago

    Google still runs a good chunk of my life and some of it I know I could use some of the great alternatives that others have mentioned but some of it I’m not really sure about.

    Namely:
    Maps
    Messenger (web browser access to my texts)
    Contact sync and backup
    Google voice
    And all the various services that let my phone operate…

    • lemmyvore
      3•1 year ago

      For Maps there’s an alternative on FDroid called GMaps WV which is actually just the Google Maps website wrapped in a tiny webview app. It can’t spy on you if you run it that way.

      Or you can install Hermit and add Google Maps as one of its sandboxed light apps.

      If you’re interested in things that aren’t Google Maps you can look at OSMAnd, a great app with tons of features and my go-to app when traveling because you can download offline maps and info about local stores, restaurants, attractions etc.

      On the lightweight side there’s Map Marker which can use map tiles from a dozen different map services, and you can place markers on the map and group them in collections.

      • 𝒍𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒏
        1•1 year ago

        OSMAnd, a great app with tons of features and my go-to app when traveling because you can download offline maps

        This is one of the main things that brought me to OSMAnd! The journey duration prediction for cycling and walking is spot on too.

        I’ve since customised the crap out of its separate walking, cycling, and driving modes…

        • Cycling mode will show everything nice and big, highlight supermarkets and cafes on the map, and show a mini bike computer-like interface in the top right
        • Walking mode shows everything in a compact format with extensive detail
        • Driving mode’s been left as-is because it’s perfectly fine

        Love it so far.

    • digitalgadget
      1•1 year ago

      Right, I can’t use my phone without it and I’m not buying into Apple. I also really like the user reviews on Maps, it’s like Yelp and TripAdvisor before they both fell to enshttification. I’ve also got a Voice number that I pay nothing for and I give it out when businesses demand a phone number. I don’t see myself switching to anything else for those.

      • HidingCat
        2•1 year ago

        I was thinking about it; Google offers a number of useful services, and I realise the hardest to get out of will be Maps. I can sort of replace the others with workarounds (Photos will probably be the second hardest to move from), but Maps, there’s nothing good enough to replace it for me as far as I can tell.