This might be a dumb question so apologies in advance. I'm looking into degoogled phones but haven't taken the plunge yet. If I logged in and used the aurora store to get apps I paid for in the past, will that ''regoogle" my device and allow google to track me again through signing in and using those apps?

I'm looking to replace gboard and I have spent about a decade using gesture based typing. Is there any alternative that is private that gesture based typing actually work on?

Has anybody else had problems using the Capital One mobile app? I have a Samsung S21 Ultra 5G that I thoroughly degoogled and de-Samsung'd over a year ago. No problems running any other apps including Key Bank, Charles Schwab, Tile, etc. but Capital One will not even load to the login screen. Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated.

Hi! What would be the best way to limit play serbices to only selected apps. I still need notifications to work from them, but would like to be sure that google can't access anything else

Recently I have bought a Cat S75. On their website they stated at the time that I will get at least Android Version 13. currently its still on 12, which is fine cause its end of life is not reached yet. With the current Version cycle I'd say the end of life vor 12 is expected in ca 9 months.

I have a Cat s41 as well, of which I had to switch away from cause there is some ancient android (~8) on it and it doesn't get any updates.

I am cautious with just trying out a new OS on my device, because I dont know how I would get back the old OS if nothing works, and Cat beeing a rather small smartphone producer makes finding experience-reports rather difficult.

Can I just expect a Linux/ degoogled Android to work on my devices? I'd guess not, therefore: Can I test that somehow? Is there a way to go back to the factory settings or smth like that if I am lost?

I'm in the process of de-googling, and for the most part I'm pretty okay with using separate services for things like email, photos, calendar, etc... but the few things that I really like having bundled are Google Docs and Sheets in my Google Drive.

There's plenty of good alternatives for cloud storage, but I haven't seen any that come with any sort of office-like products. I know that I can self host my own private cloud storage and something like OpenOffice, but I'm hoping to find an existing cloud solution so I don't have to bother with that maintenance.

Any recommendations?

I've been using many apps and from few months, It's seems I'm quite stable so I think it's time to share a list of awesome Android Apps I'm using everyday as I've removed Google from my life!

I finally gave up on Nova Launcher after watching the various "calls home" its doing now after the acquisition by analytics company Branch. I held out for probably way too long considering the way things were inevitably going to go. I've tried Kvaesitso, KISS, and Neo Launcher so far. There are a couple of features I really miss from Nova that I thought I'd check to see if anyone knows of a workaround or a launcher that has these features:

App Drawer shortcut

Ability to remove browser badge from PWA and browser shortcuts added to homescreen

And lastly, while I don't have a photo example, pull to search in app drawer. This is the same gesture used in most mobile browsers to refresh the current page, if that makes sense.

I'm aware that the road to degoogle is paved with compromises, and I'm willing to make them if I need to. But if there are options out there, I haven't found them. Thoughts?

Just switched to a new phone carrier, and they had a promotion that included a free phone: the Google Pixel 8. I'm not a fan of Google, but I am a fan of free, so I took the bait.

It's already bombarded me with pitches for their new AI bullshit. I've opted out of as much as the settings allow, but I'm under no illusion that doing so actually provides any real privacy.

So, damage control time.

On my previous device I used YouTube Vanced for music and videos, but I guess Vanced isn't around anymore, and I'm pretty out of date on what the current options are... any insight on streaming specifically?

*I'm a medic who's only surface-level competent with tech, so please idiot-proof any instructions.

Thanks all!

I haven't used it much if at all in the past year, but I finally took the last step and deleted it! Sorry if this is low effort I just don't have anyone I know to share it with.

Awesome Android Apps

AAA

Hi all,

for 2 years, sporadically, I've been adding awesome FOSS apps with the following:

Rules

• Open Sourced
• Free of charge (on F-Droid and source code repository releases)
• Free as in Freedom
• Ad-free
• Installed and tested by me or by contributor
• Privacy-friendly aware
• Easy to use
• Still in development or polished experience
• Does not lack features compared to proprietary app
• Does not need an account (the only exceptions are self-hosted) apps)
• Has dark theme

...tested by my and then later by contributors. I think many of you will appreciate this simple README.md repo, and I would love some help with it.

🏔️ Codeberg version

I hope you will find it useful! 🤩

I didnt need even more motivation to degoogle but got it anyway.

... And damm it feels good! Before starting this step, I had to migrate to a better browser that respects privacy (Brave, because🖕Firefox, I mean Mozilla at this point doesn’t even want you to be safe on the web anymore!) And a better “Google-style” ecosystem (Proton is the best they have an email service, a calendar, a password manager and the holy drive).

The last step was YouTube. How to do without a Google account? Well, thanks to Piped + Yattee, the best combo I had a hard time finding. For those who do not know, Yattee is a great app that is an interface for Piped on Apple devices, besides, do you consider Apple to be respectful of privacy?

In short, today I am the happiest of men.

Hi all,

Currently trying to DeGoogle my phone. I'm down to the last few apps. I want to replace the Phone and Messages apps.

I tried the Fossify versions from FDroid but was met with mixed problems. The first is the phone app. The Fossify version doesn't have Spam call warnings like the Google version. The Fossify version also doesn't have a voicemail button, not really a deal breaker but nice to have.

Second was a bigger problem though, the messages app. At first it seemed to work, but couldn't send pictures after a short time. I usually send picture links anyway so not the worst but kind of annoying. After a while I would start getting delays in receiving standard SMS messages and finally wasn't able to send any messages at all. I switched back to Google messages and everything worked flawlessly immediately. Also I turned off RCS in Google messages prior to switching.

If any of you could recommend a good SMS/Phone app i would appreciate it.

• QKSMS is unmaintained as are a lot of other SMS apps in the stores.
• I've got a Pixel 7 with the stock OS, but will be moving to LineageOS soon.
• I use Signal when I can, but I have clients that I can't simply request they use a whole separate app just for me.
• Using T-Mobile

I'm not sure about my phone, maybe I'd like to keep Google Lens, but on a TV box it seems completely unnecessary. Its identifier com.google.android.googlequicksearchbox also sounds like it shouldn't contain anything important for the working of a device, but who knows with Google. Is there anything unexpected that would stop working when uninstalling / disabling updates for this?

I've seen that LTT made a video about degoogling our lives, that's a great point that a big youtuber like him would make videos like this!

Since some time I've searched photos related apps, to edit and take pictures but I've not found anything interesting in open source... Does someone has an explaination?

I'm looking for a Google Photos search replacement in local, preferable FOSS.
Does anyone know one?

Google is one of the biggest obstacles to privacy. This article will explore how and why to de-Google yourself to reclaim and protect your digital privacy.

Like instead of google docs or google sheets use this?

• /e/OS V2 is a de-Googled Android operating system with Android Auto support, UI enhancements, and privacy improvements.
• The update includes features like a new launcher app, App Lounge app store with privacy ratings, and a "wall of shame" for tracking apps.
• Based on LineageOS 20, /e/OS 2.0 offers bug fixes, security updates, and performance enhancements, along with device-specific improvements.

I've found helpful guides for de-googling here, but I wasn't able to find any for limiting the personal data that is shared with Google before making the switch to other services.

I'd greatly appreciate if anyone could link me to existing guidance or offer guidance here. Some questions I have:

• If you've de-googled, were you able to clear out any of your data from wherever Google captures it?
• Does Google allow you to clear out data upon account deactivation?
• What is the extent of control we have (if any) over our personal data once Google has captured it? Once Google has sold it elsewhere?