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2 days ago- Mix of Proton Mail and Tuta Mail. I do want to get a custom domain just so I don’t need to go through the email shuffle the next time a service goes to shit. Unfortunately i still need to keep around my Google account and Microsoft account. To access emails, I use FairEmail on my phone alongside the Proton and Tuta Mail apps, and on the desktop I use Thunderbird.
Cloud storage / file sync
- Filen for cloud storage, Syncthing for file sync, also selfhosted Nextloud. Used to use MEGA in the past, but i don’t anymore. To backup my phone, I use LineageOS’s built-in tool (Seedvault), I simply ask it to back up to the SD card and use Syncthing to sync this to my computer and server.
Maps & navigation
- OpenStreetMap is not great where I live, so I am still forced to use GMaps.
Search engine
- Duckduckgo (for most things) + Startpage (when I need better results).
Web browser
- Fennec Browser on mobile, Librewolf on desktop.
Calendar
- Fossify Calendar on mobile, Thunderbird on desktop, calendar is synced to a selfhosted Nextcloud server.
Contacts management
- Using the default contacts app on LineageOS on mobile, these synced with the same Nextcloud server.
Notes / to-do lists
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Tasks: Tasks.org on mobile, synced with the same Nextcloud server (with Nextcloud tasks). Honestly I can’t find a desktop todo list app that supports Nextcloud, so i just use the website (if anyone knows a good option for this, let me know).
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For note-taking, i use Obsidian synced across all my devices with Syncthing, backed up to my Nextcloud server and Filen as well. For quicker notes (my obsidian vaults do take a while to open on my phone) i use the Nextcloud Notes app.
Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)
- Still using Microsoft Office, however looking into switching to LibreOffice or Onlyoffice.
Messaging / chat
- Sadly, still forced to use closed apps like Discord and Whatsapp, as 99% of my friends and family still use these apps. I’d like to use Signal more, alongside Element and maybe Revolt as a Discord alternative, but trying to convince them to switch is really hard.
Video calling
- (i don’t do video calling)
Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news
- Social media: been using Lemmy more often via Thunder, been trying to use Mastodon more but I don’t seem to find any good posts for some reason? anyways. I still use some closed social media, if i need to see a post on Twitter, it’ll be through Squawker (really good client for twitter), i don’t keep any social media apps on my phone anymore, so i just use the browser if i need to look something on twitter/reddit/bsky/tumblr/whatever, this way I get ad and tracker blocking as well.
- RSS reader: Nextcloud News on mobile, RSS Guard on desktop, all synced to Nextcloud News.
Music streaming / podcast app
- I don’t do music streaming, i prefer to keep my music files locally, either buying them on Bandcamp or elsewhere For music playback however, on mobile i use Musicolet, and on desktop I use Musicbee (currently trying to find a replacement that is as good as Musicbee for Linux).
Video streaming / YouTube alternative
- Still using YouTube, YouTube Revanced, however GrayJay does look pretty good as a YT front-end and i do want to switch to that (once the desktop version is not awful).
Password manager
- I’ve used Bitwarden for the longest time, but I’d like to start using KeepassXC instead, since it is offline and does not look like a mobile app cosplaying as a desktop app.
VPN / DNS / Firewall
- Using ProtonVPN, alongside Tailscale to connect to the server i have at home.
Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)
- Launcher: Used to use Nova Launcher until they were bought out by a sketchy company, now I use Lawnchair. Still miss Nova Launcher to this day honestly.
- Custom ROMS: LineageOS 14, with microG. Honestly still surprised my banking app does not care about the fact I don’t have GApps installed (the most it ever gave me is a single “your phone may be modified message” notification). Whatsapp messages are really delayed which has been a pain, but it is a worthwhile tradeoff.
App store / APKs
- Aurora store, F-Droid.
Photo backup / gallery
- Nextcloud Photos for camera backup, Syncthing for everything else, and for the gallery i use Fossify Gallery.
Weather
- Weathermaster on F-Droid. For a widget that tells me the weather, Another Widget is really good (sadly no longer developed).
Smart assistant (if any)
- (i don’t use any)
Anything else you’ve replaced?
- planning to switch to Linux, I really do not like Windows 11 and their plans to shove AI everywhere, I been trying out Linux on my laptop and it has been pretty great, I really like how customizable it is, KDE Plasma is great and Fedora has been really stable as a daily OS. I may still be forced to keep a Windows VM or separate Windows partition around for certain stuff, like games that use anticheat bullshit, or other tools that are Windows only.
- Currently the phone I have is on its last legs, so I may switch to a degoogled Google Pixel, and use something like GrapheneOS or something that lets me lock the bootloader with a custom ROM installed
- Been looking into alternatives for MSOffice, Libreoffice looks good, however compatibility wise OnlyOffice tends to get the formatting right more often.
The computer/server i am running Nextcloud on is very work in progress, and does not have a lot of storage, nor does it have a fast internet connection, i do plan to add more storage and a proper ethernet connection in the near future however. At the moment, I use it more for calendar/todo list syncing, contacts sync, RSS feed syncing, as well as bookmarks syncing. Also i have been using Syncthing for much longer than Nextcloud, I have around 200GB of data synced across three devices and I have never had any issues with it so i feel no need to change what already works pretty well