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
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.
Google Maps can be used fully offline, and with a custom ROM like GrapheneOS it’s possible to cut off the internet completely once you’ve downloaded the maps for the locations you’re interested in.
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.
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 !
It’s a pretty cool project, but not really the same. There’s no app catalog like app stores have. It’s pretty cool if you want bleeding edge releases from git repos from apps that aren’t on any app store, or if you just want the latest and potentially unstable releases.
I seriously do not understand why f Droid has the worst client I have ever used in the world. Like why is the official one. So fucking bad. It’s impossible to find shit on there. It’s impossible to update things. It turns me off to complete using it all together.