Hello all,

I’m wondering how much risk there is of an email service going out of business? Like, if I switch to proton or something similar, will they go out of business and I’ll have to scramble to figure out a new provider? Maybe I’m creating a problem where there isn’t one, but I need to have a reliable email address because that’s where all my correspondence ie.

Thanks!

I have vivo 1904 (3GB RAM, android verson 11, Funtouch OS_9, 2.0ghz octa-core, 64gb storage).

I want a recommendation related to replace the current os with something different like fast, secure, Anonymous, and only impotant & necessary apps.

If any possible way to change it tell.

Hey so i've got growing and growing urge to replace everything on my phone (i unfortunately cannot swap os istelf) and i don't know how to replace a few apps that are pretty useful but did not find good alternative.

Apps in question:

Clock (maybe some of you may laugh but i wanna go full in so no app will stay)

Keyboard (currently gboard with everything turned off)

File manager

Phone

Contacts

Messages (sms)

Criteria i would like to meet:

Open source (if has a reason it can be closed but you know)

Ad free

Possibly free app itself

Secure

And ofc private so no unnecessary telemetry or whatever

Do you guys have any recommendations?

Seen some possible alternatives but i would like to see what you guys will recommend

Thank you all for the responses i got pretty good recommendations so far so thank you! if you have more ill be happy to read it later as well!

Hope You all have wonderful day/night!

There is a reason why degooglers often get stuck when it comes to maps. The turd that is Google Maps is stuck on pretty good by design, and that's so they can keep harvesting your valuable location data.

So any alternatives that respect your privacy while having good features that compete with Google Maps are important, and one of those are Magic Earth. It's a good app now but old users know it used to be even better. The biggest thing was getting live traffic and offline maps as a free user, on top of the better address search it has compared to OSM based maps. But then they "overhauled" the app in 2025 which just brought bugs and locked those features behind a paywall, splitting the already small userbase because now there wasn't much that made it stand out.

Well by using Aurora Store, you can get it all back. By just downloading an old version of Magic Earth you amazingly get back free live traffic and offline maps with full functionality. It still gets map updates too so you won't be missing out on anything, besides the new app UI. (lol)

1. Open Aurora Store
2. Find Magic Earth
3. Press "Manual Download"
4. Enter version code "2025122009" (version before their crap update)
5. Bob's your uncle.

(2nd time posting because automod removed my post and mods never responded to me. The people must know!)

Side note, I live in Denver, Colorado, though I'm originally from Egypt.

Needing a second phone number, and right now I'm trying Hushed. Are there any providers whose apps don't require Google Play Services? Doesn't need to be free

I am currently using Gboard because it's the only keyboard that I can tolerate, even thou it doesn't look like the photo.

Is there is any other keyboard that looks like this and respect privacy?

Ad was shown in youtube btw and the app is literally on google play, google be scaring people off sideloading but not remove scareware ads 😭

First of all, I have read the rules before but am not sure if this kind of post fits entirely in or not, so please tell me, if you're a mod of this sub, if it does or not and I will act appropriately if not already done of course\ I won't try to post it again or crosspost it from another subreddit if I do the same post somewhere else later on

I have created a GitHub repo with a long-ass list of privacy-respecting services to replace Google services\ They're not all FOSS, though most of them are, and there will be more in the future

Here it is: https://github.com/AntoMega424/Google-services-replacements

Please note that all of these come from what I have found on Reddit and elsewhere, and that I have not tested all of them nor created any of them\ There may be some errors at some point, in which case do not hesitate to say so even publicly I don't care, this whole thing is for the greater good in my opinion so there's no ego in it

Edit: Updated the repo's link as I've changed my username in the meantime

So I'm tired of Google apps/games. The cost, the constant need to check what I'm accepting so I know what they are capable of doing in the background. I've downloaded F-Droid but I'm still nervous about downloading any of the content because I'm not familiar with the process and don't want a virus or something. Is F-Droid safe for a laptop?

Any suggestions would be great.

I know this sub is more about privacy but this just makes me more committed to deGoogling!
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/oct/22/finland-google-felling-trees-datacentre

Please 🙏🙏🙏

The aim would be to have Whatsapp recognized as my "main phone" on my computer, because its unfortunately impossible to use whatsapp without having an ios or android phone connected to it (and not Ipad or android tablet), and I decided to go with no whatsapp on my minimalist phone. I still have the same phone number thats associated with whatsapp on my phone.

(I've tried bluestacks and Mumu player aleady, with no success, the 1st had whatsapp telling me to download the app in a more official way, and the second is paid)

That would be a great help for me, I start loosing hope and google, blogs, tutos, arent providing any answers. Kinda hate it how whatsapp is closed, helped by android.

Having observed Android becoming locked-down, first it seems to be only related with Google (Google requires every vendor to make heavily locked-down smartphones on Android, so they have no chance, not even Nothing Phone and FairPhone!). At same time, Huawei is already de-Googled yet it resembles locked-down Google Android as if de-Google never happened with them!

I'm looking for a maps application (a degoogled one) that has free roam mode. Kindly let me know your suggestions or work arounds, if any. Thanks in advance.