this post was submitted on 30 Jun 2023
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Technology

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We're reaching the end of an era wherein billions of dollars of investor money was shovelled into tech startups to build large user-bases, and now those companies (now monoliths) are beginning to constrict their user-bases and squeeze for every single penny they can possibly extract. Fair or not.

Now more than ever, it's important for us to step back and reconsider whether we want to be billboards for these companies anymore.

For anyone unfamiliar, some good resources to have when starting your degoogling journey are below:

Privacy Guides - A list of privacy-respecting services you can use.

Plexus - A crowdsourced information bank of service compatibility with degoogled devices.

This random PDF - A study from 2018 detailing data that Google tracks about its' users.

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[–] meldrik@lemmy.wtf 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I degoogled by switching to an iPhone 😅 DuckDuckGo is my default search engine.

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[–] InterSynth@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I've degoogled my life as much as I can, but it's almost impossible to completely ditch Google Maps, YouTube, and Android. So I'm not even sure I've done anything significant, because I assume they get pretty much everything from my phone.

[–] Silviecat44@vlemmy.net 1 points 1 year ago

Not much honestly. Still use Gmail and Drive

[–] Awwab@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Google still runs a good chunk of my life and some of it I know I could use some of the great alternatives that others have mentioned but some of it I'm not really sure about.

Namely:
Maps
Messenger (web browser access to my texts)
Contact sync and backup
Google voice
And all the various services that let my phone operate...

[–] digitalgadget@kbin.social 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Right, I can't use my phone without it and I'm not buying into Apple. I also really like the user reviews on Maps, it's like Yelp and TripAdvisor before they both fell to enshttification. I've also got a Voice number that I pay nothing for and I give it out when businesses demand a phone number. I don't see myself switching to anything else for those.

[–] HidingCat@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

I was thinking about it; Google offers a number of useful services, and I realise the hardest to get out of will be Maps. I can sort of replace the others with workarounds (Photos will probably be the second hardest to move from), but Maps, there's nothing good enough to replace it for me as far as I can tell.

[–] baggins@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Tried DDG a few times over the years. Sorry, but it just doesn't do it for me. Results were terrible. Google had lots of results and it was just too much effort to keep switching from DDG if it doesn't provide an answer. Because I know Google will.

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[–] PiselloSauro@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago

Basically outside of Youtube I don’t use any Google service. Started by migrating to Kagi search, and while it requires a subscription, its a price I am willing to pay for a search engine that actually work good.

Everything else I use a mix of FOSS and subscription services.

[–] TeaEarlGrayHot@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I've been running my own Nextcloud instance since 2020, which, combined with ProtonMail, has replaced basically everything I was using Google/Microsoft for

[–] Sinfaen@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago

Didn't realize you could host your own, that's good to know

[–] pandaontoast@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The only thing I still hold onto my account for is YouTube. I pay for mailbox.org which covers email, calendar and cloud stuff. Their website could be better but the service is quality and their privacy policy is tight. When I was on android I used a bunch of custom roms with microg. My favourite ended up being calyxos but they all had a little jank here or there. I dearly miss NewPipe for android as a replacement for the official youtube app.

Edit: I also pay for Kagi for search. The price is a bit steep but I have found it justifiable in terms of the value I get from it. Whoogle and Searx are good options too

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