this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2023
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[SOLVED] Selfhosted or alternative privacy driven google calendar? (self.selfhosted)
submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by deepdive to c/selfhosted
30 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Hi everybody !

While I really like the simple and sleek google calendar web GUI and functionalities, I'm more and more concerned about my data and privacy. Even if I have nothing to hide, I don't agree anymore to sell freely and consciously my data to any GAFAM.

Has anyone any alternative to google calendar?

  • Free and if possible, open source? It can have some discret sponsors/ads. As long as it isn't to intrusive.
  • Todoist integration
  • Sync between devices
  • GUI doesn't have to be PERFECT, but a bare minimum for my candy eyes !
  • Can be API, Web... doesn't matter as long as it syncs between devices (android, mac, windows, linux)

I already searched through the web, but couldn't find any conclusive alternative, maybe someone knows some hidden gem :)

Thank you !

EDIT: The solution and compromise: nextcloud. It took me some times (2days) to set it up correctly and make it work as intended.

  • Android calendar sync with DAVx5
  • Calendar notification on android's native calendar app
  • 2way sync between Android calendar and nextcloud calendar
  • push notification on nextcloud web browser

A few things too keep in mind:

1 — if you build your nextcloud instance with docker-compose:

2 — Android permissions to sync with your calendar

  • DAVx5 mentions how to allow syncing seemingly
    • It's different for every android phone
    • Battery power mode
    • Work in the background
    • ...

3 — It won't work with todoist

  • Todoist is proprietary and won't work with DAVx5 and next cloud
  • alternative: jtx board! (build by the same devs as DAVx5 seems to work similarly)

Conclusion: Nextcloud isn't as good as the cloud sync provided by google/todoist and every other GAFAM cloud instance. It has his quirks and need some attention to make it work as intended. It take some times, reading and tinkering but those are compromises I'm willing to take :)

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ok, so this is a ”how many colors of the rainbow there are”

If you go balls to the wall, all out retardation: Nextcloud, the CalDAV is basically just a bonus, I’ve replaced google.com at home with Nextcloud

Some middle ground: SoGo, sogo.nu

If you just want to solve this specific problem: Radicale, https://radicale.org and Baikal, https://sabre.io/baikal/

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

I found nextcloud easier to set up than many other services, plus it comes with cloud file storage and other goodies as a bonus.

It is even easy on such obscure platforms as NetBSD in an nvmm-backed qemu virtual machine runnning on a NetBSD host.

(EDIT: well, it wasn't really trivial, the database (PostgreSQL in my case) setup and connection is not necessarily obvious to someone who hasn't done it before, but the fact that it works without real complications on very diverse platforms is a testament to its clean code.)

[–] ChillPill 14 points 1 year ago

If you're not confident in database management, there is always the Snap version. I know Snap gets a lot of hate, and you do lose some ability to tinker with Nextcloud configuration, but its been pretty solid for me.

[–] deepdive 1 points 1 year ago

Hey :) Wasn't that easy even with docker compose or specially with docker? IDK. But the cronjobs took me some time to figured it out... And the documentation wasn't that obvious with docker... Thankfully, I wasn't alone xD Docker issue github

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Just going to +1 for Nextcloud, it's literally the hub of my whole life including PC and CalyxOS phone syncs.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Second +1 for Nextcloud.

It's a CalDAV server and web client, you can use DavX5 on Android to sync with your mobile device. Any CalDAV client on desktop can connect natively.

Nextcloud also has an app called "Tasks" which can likely replace Todoist. DavX5 can also sync tasks from Nextcloud and OpenTasks is an Android app which will let you work with them and handle notifications.

[–] deepdive 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Thank you for your insight :) I tried OpenTasks, but yeah... didn't liked it ! But DAVx5 comes with jtx board who seems to fit better to my workflow and also syncs with nextcloud and Android ! Thank you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

But DAVx5 comes with jtx board who seems to fit better to my workflow and also syncs with nextcloud and Android

I did not know that. lol. Thanks for your insight, and I'm going to check that out. That may be new, and I've been using OpenTasks for years and have just settled.

[–] deepdive 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't worry, if you read the following on f-droid Use DAVx5 to synchronize your entries with the CalDAV-server of your choice (coming soon)! Its already working and syncs with your nextcloud calendar and task app.

It won't show up in the native Android calendar and I don't know about third party's. Have fun !

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Ah, gotcha. I haven't looked at the docs/release notes for DAVx5 in years. It's just been a standard app I load on my phone to sync my contacts/calendar/tasks. The last time I looked at the docs for it, it was still called DAVDroid.

[–] deepdive 2 points 1 year ago

Thank you :) This was the best of the 2 worlds. I was a bit reluctant because of the name (nextcloud) but after 2 days of hard searching, docker tinkering, cronjobbing and a few lost hairs It fits quite good. Except it doesn't work with todoist but jtx board seems promising and is not proprietary, so maybe I will make the switch :).

I edited my post accordingly, for other users stumbling on the post (also making lemmy more active 🌤 )

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I don't know if it matches all your needs, but I use nextcloud with its calendar module.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Nextcloud owncloud and some others. It looks like homechart and Baikal are options too. I don't know much about them though

[–] shertson 8 points 1 year ago

As others have pointed out

  • Nextcloud (in addition to calendar and contacts, has document sync, office suite, photo gallery...) I use this.
  • SoGo - I've never used
  • Radical - I believe just calendars and contacts
  • Baikal - calendars and contacts. Simple and light weight. I used this until I moved to Nextcloud.

Which ever you choose, your mobile will require another app, like DavX (android). This allows the phone to sync with the calDav server. Desktop clients should be able to sync directly with the server.

I am not familiar with Todoist.

[–] asbestos 7 points 1 year ago

Proton Calendar?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Sounds like you're looking to set up a CalDAV server. Stuff like Nextcloud has that built in, as does Synology and probably TrueNAS and a bunch of other server packages.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't like nextcloud very much but its calendar impelementation is more than good enough. I could use a separate caldav server but outside of nextcloud I couldn't find any functional web frontends. Nextcloud has both and it generally just works. Works just fine with android (calendar sync & todo).

[–] deepdive 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you :) At first I tried a separate caldav server, but was a bit out of my league :// As you said Nextcloud has both and it generally just works.

[–] erisir 4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm using Etebase as a self-hosted backend for this purpose. It is zero-knowledge, so not even your own server knows about your calerdar, to-do list, and contacts (but it does know when have you edited entries, I think).

There's an android app for synchronization, and on the desktop, you can run a daemon to expose a standard CalDAV/CardDAV interface for e.g., Thunderbird. The alternative is the Flutter-based client, either on the web or as a desktop app, I think, but I much rather prefer Thunderbird (I have other accounts from work to synchronize, too, and TB lets me look at them in one place).

I'm not sure about the Todoist integration, though. That sounds like it would compromise privacy.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

+1 for EteBase. Great software, with actual client side encryption. I've been using it for a few years and it's solid!

There's also a GNOME integration via evolution.

[–] deepdive 1 points 1 year ago

Thank you :) I tried with Etebase at first, but was overwhelmed by it... Right now it's probably out of my league ! Nextcloud just works, so I will stick to it by now. When I get a bit more confident in all this, I will probably switch to a selfhosed backend :)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

CalDav server (Baikal or anything similar, even Synology DSM has an app for it if you have a NAS), plus Davx5 if you're on Android, plus Simple Calendar.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Nextcloud with CalDavw

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Check out etebase + etesync-web (self-hosted, althought you can use their own frontend and change the backend, this is not good for privacy) + etesync-dav (for other integrations), on mobile I use Simple Calendar Pro on F-Droid, on web I just use etesync-web for a quick glance.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty curious about Bloben, but development seems slow. Did anyone try it out yet? https://bloben.com/

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

+1 for Nextcloud, plenty of integrations for all kind of platforms

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

One I've been using fo a while, less for calendar though it has that but tasks/shopping/recipies and others is home chart. Dev is super responsive and open to feedback too. Option to self host, webapp compatible and has a single time lifetime purchase option which is great since I hate maintaining subscriptions.

https://homechart.app/

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