cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/31024070

Making the jump from Samsung to iPhone soon, mainly for privacy reasons. Want to cut Google out as much as possible while I'm at it.

What I'm planning so far:

• Mailbox.org instead of Gmail
• DuckDuckGo for search, would prefer something even better
• Safari with all the privacy stuff turned on

Where I'm stuck:

• What about YouTube? Just use the web version?

• Google Drive alternatives that actually work well?

• Best way to store photos that aren't big greedy corps?

Questions:

• Any must-have privacy apps once I get the iPhone?

• Settings I should change immediately out of the box?

• Services I'm forgetting that are probably feeding Google my data?

I recently started getting notifications from Google Fi requesting that I give Google Play both Phone and SMS permissions.

I dismiss the notifications because my phone already successfully received and sends all text messages and phone calls. The Google Fi app has Phone and SMS permissions, but Google Play only has network.

The above has been going on for about a month, then last week or so GOS did an update and now I get additional errors from Google Play saying below.

This seems odd. So far, since I have no issues with any functionality, I have been ignoring the messages. Should I be doing something about them?

I have graphene OS on a Pixel 8. Been using it successfully for maybe 6 months now. I have Google Fi service, and use Google Play services still both for Fi as well as other things I pay for and haven't been able to degoogle from yet.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/33650112

Hey, everyone. If you're looking for a fresh privacy podcast, we recently started a new one called Signal Jam.

Here's a bit about why we made Signal Jam and what we're hoping to do differently.

We even have preliminary ways for you to participate in the project, which you can read about here.

Feel free to connect with us on Proton, Tuta, Signal, or here on Lemmy. Looking forward to your feedback and thoughts!

Which Youtube alternative do you prefer to use and why? I've found PeerTube, Odysee, and Rumble. Thoughts on any of these?

I've been using DuckDuck Go since leaving Google Search, but that seems to be the first step away. I'm not keen on their AI assist. I tried Start Page, but the first four results were ads. I don't mind paying a small fee for good search. So Brave Search or Kagi?

So, I've been de-googling, and moved my email and calendar to Proton, and I've been using their VPN for a while as well. I really like it, and it works extremely well for me.

But I am slightly annoyed by Proton's choice to stop posting to Mastodon, and their CEO's Trump comments. And I do like Tuta's support for the Fediverse, and their better open-source implementation. But I'm wondering if it's worth it to bother switching again. I tried making a ones month payment to try out both, and my card doesn't want to pay for Tuta (It's finicky about stuff outside the US).

So would it be better to just stick with Proton? Or try to manage to go over to Tuta?

I feel like #degoogle seems to embody a greater movement to leave bigtech. Here are the crazy things I've done over the last month or so.

• Installed Arch on my laptop about a month ago
• re-engaged my Mastodon and Bluesky while deleting Twitter and unfriending everyone on Facebook
• Installed GrapheneOS on my Pixel
• Moved email to custom domain and Tuta from Gmail
• Moved to NextCloud in place of Google Drive
• Moved photos from Google Photos to Ente Photos
• Moved my PKM and Notes to Logseq
• Moved from Chome and Google Search to Firefox, Tor and DuckDuckGo
• Just deleted Reddit and started a Lemmy account.

It's been a ride and I'm open to other suggestions and guides.

edit: Solved.

The title is a bit theatrical. My google account tells me my storage is full and urges me to buy more storage. The problem is, that on my new phone G Photos just started to put all my photos into the cloud.

How can I remove my photos from the cloud without losing them locally on my phone? I tried logging out of Photos, but then I cannot access my photos. I just requested an archive download via takeout.google.com so I hopefully have a backup, but I still need to get rid of all the photos in the cloud to free up the storage.

I recently started a home server and want to move to selfhosted services, but that will take it's time, so for now, I am forced to continue google services.

Can you help me?

Hi, I'm hoping to get some help making my Pixel 5a more utility and less bullshit, but I'm not sure how to word it.

In general what I'm hoping to accomplish is this:

• Install a new OS to get rid of the Google crap baked into the phone.
• Have a list of remaining whitelisted apps that can run on the phone at all, not just limiting permissions.

I'm not sure if options like GrapheneOS have an inbuilt white list function. I'm aware that this phone isn't security supported anymore but I want to run this thing into the god damn ground.

There are a lot of posts online about Dumb Phones which I don't think is what I'm trying to create. I want to be able to use this device as a tool, not a suck-up-all-of-my-time device. So I'd like to keep things like Camera, calls/texts, internet browsing (although I'll have to block YouTube and such), and any other arbitrary app such as authenticators (advice on alternatives here would also be good appreciated) and advanced calculators.

One of the issues I expect is that any whitelist or permissions will be quick and easy for me undo in a moment of boredom, so I'd like the process of undoing this to be slow and painful.

There is a philosophy here that I believe my phone as a tool could be great, if every aspect of it wasn't designed to waste my time and ruin my mental health.

I hope I've explained what I'm trying to achieve well, it's not my strong suit.

Thanks for any replies, if I wasn't clear please let me know and I'll try and explain myself differently.

Do i just backup the apk and its data? Or do i need to sail the seven seas?

Hi everyone,

my cat is becoming increasingly adamant about going out. For health reason I can't walk her on a leash enough to satisfy her. So I'm looking for a tracker for her which works without google (in Germany).

The best option I've found so far is nut tracker. It also uses googlemaps but has a screen where it shows when the tracker is near and can beep the tracker.

Do you guys know of a better option?

Lately I've been using Proton, it's really comfortable, its interface and since I still have Google I don't miss any notification, but I heard that Tuta is better, is it true?

The only complaint I have with this one is its interface, it is still web based, and it can be a bit uncomfortable

Google Contacts, like most of their products, keeps changing and getting worse. Somewhere along the way it deleted all of the street address information from my contacts!

Ideally looking for a tool that checks these boxes:

• Open-source
• Android, Web, and (if necessary) Linux and Windows clients
• Stores contact info locally (i.e. self-hosted)
• Stores contact info securely (encrypted)
• Can store in a cloud location (e.g. Sync, Dropbox)

It seems like a tall order, but KeePass has managed to do that with their password vault, so why not contact info?

Any success stories out there?

Will Graphene OS, Lineage OS, or some other operating system install on a Lenovo Tablet?

Edit: Its a Lenovo P11 Tab Pro Gen 2

FreeTube is an open-source standalone YouTube client that gives you control over what to see and what not to see on YouTube. Among my my favourite features are:

• No Ads
• Checkboxes to eliminate common distractions, e.g. Shorts, Trends, Live chat, Recommendations, Comments
• Word filters and channel filters
• Integrated SponsorBlock and DeArrow
• History and subscriptions are saved locally, away from Google's prying eyes
• Easy download of videos, e.g. for securing videos or re-uploading them to a PeerTube instance (of course, only if it's legal in your jurisdiction)

If you're a parent, know that FreeTube also has several child safety features.

I have failed, it seems that I depend a little on Google, as I use Telegram and no client has good support for UnifiedPush is a little complicated with the issue of notifications...

Yes it disturbs me in how Google handles my data, but I would like to give priority to the battery, I heard that removing some permissions from Google services improves a little battery consumption, How true is this? And can I remove them all?

I also checked with the AppManager app that it has some trackers and components, does anyone know if it is possible to turn them off without completely messing it up?

For convenience I will continue using Aurora Store, I hate the automatic installation and update of apps

I don't particularly watch/like PewDiePie, but he is joining the train and spreading the word, which is awesome. He is self hosting services and using GrapheneOS now.

That I can import my Google keep data Thanks for help :)

Hey, i was wondering if anybody had any advice on a replacement sms app abd keyboard app. I plan on fully deleting my gmail account and have removed or replaced all my apps that require play store connection with the acceptions of textra and Swiftkey

For a sms my biggest requirements are an app that wont auto delete text history and can send large gifs. I tried quik sms yesterday but it woukdnt send larger gifs

For a keyboard i was hoping fot something similar to swift key in customizability and layout. Ideally with gif search but if its purely offline thats fine. A way to store personal dictionary would be needed too.

Thanks in advance