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?

Hey there, I'm looking for an alternative to Google pay that'll allow me to use NFC payments etc. Thoughts?

I don't have a Google account, nor am I interested in opening one.

E: Just to clarify, the payment part would be convenient, more annoying is how I don't get to use a single place for my subway/gym/ticketmaster passes.

It seems that the motherboard is dead, and that it's a common issue with the 5a and I "should've known better," despite it being impossible to find decent information on phones these days.

I got it because it was the last Pixel with a headphone jack, and because it had good official LineageOS support. But I compromised: giving up the SD slot was tough for me, and now that I've been burned by not having one (I typically auto-backup my Signal history and other things to the SD card) I don't want to get another phone without it.

But the landscape seems bleak. The vast majority of phones that are officially supported by LineageOS are Pixels. It's impossible to find easy information on which phones have non-official LOS ROMs. Search results are useless these days, and I also keep running into an issue where after researching a phone for half an hour I discover that it has some arcane process to unlock the bootloader that doesn't always work, and the forum posters imply that the purchasers "should've known better." I'm just at my wit's end.

If anyone can suggest something that has decent deGoogled ROM support with the following features, I'd be very grateful:

• OLED screen (a must-have for my photosensitivity)
• SD card slot
• I am willing to give up the headphone jack in order to expand my options

I am in need of a separate degoogled phone for some things that require high level of privacy (nothing illegal).

I have 2 phones that I can use. One of them is my business phone (it has my business number, apps, data and that sort of stuff) which is now running an OS with all the Google spyware because it's necessary for the apps to work. I can reinstall everything on the second phone and use the first one as the secure device since it supports everything I need. The problem is that it has some issues on vanilla ROMs that I don't really want to deal with and the reinstalling will take a lot of time.

The issue with the second phone is that it is rocking an old MTK chip and rooting instructions are let's say a bit beyond my ability to understand. I still want to use it without Google if possible though. So can I degoogle its stock ROM with ADB or something? And is it worth trying or there will still be some vulnerabilities?

EDIT: to clear some possible misunderstandings, the reason of why I need a separate secure phone is that I am forced to use a very invasive proprietary app that I'd prefer just keeping on a separate device instead of trying to limit its spyware abilities with firewalls and that kind of stuff. I don't trust the last solution much. Also I can't use it in a VM because I need it to always be accessible wherever I am and yk carrying a PC is not an option

I have 5 of the older generation google home speakers that i dont use because google assistant got dumber and dumber so that in the end it was just easier to get up and turn off the light instead of having google do it.

It seems like a waste though to throw them away. Could I re purpose them in any way?

I really want to try Filen as my main cloud provider but my main brake point is that the app doesn't automatically upload my images in the background. I'm not sure if this is because I'm on the free plan or because of my device, has anyone had better luck with the automatic image upload in the background?

Sounds like trouble for Newpipe, Sponsorblock, etc...

Hi y'all, in my quest to de-goog my life, I've switched from using google's calendar to a new service from a company I trust more. (Someday I will self-host but not today)

In any case, I am looking for a way to have any new invitations which are sent to my google account be auto-forwarded to my new calendar. I was able to set up something similar for my gmail, but is there a way to do with with calendar events? I've searched around and not found anything yet.

Thanks for any ideas.

I've thinking about ditching my Protonmail email address with Posteo since I need IMAP support (because I hate using the Protonmail app) and honestly paying for Proton Mail Plus didn't worth the money because they are pushing me to buy the Protonmail Unlimited but I don't need all those capabilities nor would I use them and the best alternative I've found is Posteo and honestly I like it, I even got CalDAV support which I didn't have in Protonmail, but personally I don't know anybody who use Posteo, so I post this here.

invidious redirect of the yt video

One thing is being aware of bad actors on the internet, in that case IOS could be an option, other thing is being aware of the mass surveillance and manipulation across the digital space, and that's the thing we're more worried about in communities like this, in such case, IOS is no better than shooting yourself (i understand the point of the difficulties of having a custom rom, but that's just a skill issue).

You can't become privacy conscious without sacrificing something, some friend will go away calling you a paranoid, somo products you own will become garbage, that's just normal here.

Are there any good apps to use as a replacement for google maps? It's the only google service I'm still using.

Hey, I'm wondering what everyone uses for searching. I personally use a combination of these sites:

• mwmbl.org
• https://search.marginalia.nu/
• https://greppr.org/
• https://wiby.me/

For main driving I use duckduckgo

This post is going to be a bit personal (and maybe a little bit out of context, it's not just Google software I want to remove) but I'm tired of not knowing what to do about it. I want and have wanted to get rid of a bunch of proprietary software in my life, including but not limited to Google's software, for quite a while now, and I even got a Pixel 7A with hopes of installing GrapheneOS. But there are a few problems. First, my parents are understandably concerned and need me to use Google Maps' location sharing whenever I go to school. All my classmates use Instagram and we have that as our only messaging platform. I currently use DFInstagram, but I feel that it is not free from spyware. Finally, I also own a DJI Mini 3 Pro, and the associated DJI Fly app just refuses to work under GrapheneOS (I tested). Is there anything I can do to replace or limit the access of these aforementioned proprietary apps?

I've thinking about purchasing Proton Mail Plus only and just only to have IMAP support, but I've looked all the features that the Proton Unlimited Plan have, and honestly I believe it's worth, but I hate having all the eggs in the same basket.

The features I believe worth the most are the 500GB storage, IMAP support, all the VPN servers with P2P and unlimited SimpleLogin aliases, but when I ask if it is worth the price I mean, the majority of those features I can have them having individually with others services and even at lower price.

@degoogle I believe you should be speaking about Sapio so that many people contribute to its community driven database. Just saying (:

https://github.com/jonathanklee/Sapio