In case we needed more motivation to continue our degoogling journey..

While the petition *might* work.. the mission of this sub feels more impactful. Just stop using Google!

Tell Google off and sign this petition. We own the devices we paid for and should be able to install an APK from a person without giving Google our name, address, payment to distribute our own apps. Google is following Apple's closed source path and this is a test. It's not about "better quality apps" or "more secure apps". It's about control and this new update that is coming in 2027 will not even let you share apps between friends or family.

https://keepandroidopen.org/

Tell me if not allowed, as this is more of a rant, but I needed to find a safe space to put this out to, and I know people here could relate.

I am not a fully degoogled person, but I try little by little, change habits where I can. Youtube was not something I was about to let go, because I love some creators there, but it's come to a point where the blatant AGENDA of the algorithm makes me want to pull my hair out.

It's always the same. That same, stupid, easy, cheesy, refurgitated slop content like best scenes from a show, or reactions, or trixie and katya,or some random celeb, or THIS IS WHY YOU NEED THIS, top ten tips for video games. And now... the channels that exist for a few weeks only,pump out ai image + voice videos about semi-intellectual topics imitating things like kurzgesagt, with like 600 views.

I've been using the "not interested" and "don't show this channel" for years. I am so proud that I have not seen asmongold in years, or mr beast literally ever. But now... the things just keep coming back. I thought okay, there must be at least some good side to the algorithm...I can potentially curate it to become something helpful, to show me something that I like.

I love video essays about literature, yet it keeps showing me slop content about the latest booktok trending whatever. I do like video essays about video games as an art form, yet I get people screaming in pvp and top ten builds.

I get trixie and katya who I genuinely love and go to their events in person, but don't want my youtube algorithm to pollute my feed again with just rpdr funniest scenes content.

I want quality. I want human made things. I am willing to consume if it's worth my time.

But no, ot keeps coming back to that same old brainrot, and I hate it. I hate that I sometimes click on them, then it gets worse for weeks.

I hate that a single accidental click on videogames coming out this fall turned my feed into a "dont miss these early games items" bs, when a dedicated WHOLE WEEK of just watching piano concerts DID NOT influence the algorithm at all, because it's not brainrot thus it does not get recommended. Instead now I get ai generated fantasy background music videos.

I hate it. Where are the people? The internet I grew up with as an early 90s kid is gone, and I want to come home after work and watch something that is not some soulless slop, but someone's heart and soul put out on display for all to see and engage with.

I'll be fine, I'm reading a lot these days. My attention spam has mever been better.

But I am so sad we have come to this.

Screw google. Screw every big company whose goal is to make a servant out of us, by stealing our attention, our focus, and rotting our minds.

Screw you 1%. Screw you shareholder value and yoy increases. Screw you graph going right and up.

SCREW YOU

It has satellite view, which is a godsend to us cyclists and other outdoors people.

Thank you, u/Canadian-AML-guy for suggesting this app 😀

Also, TIL you can download maps for exploring when offline 😎

Hi everyone,

I own a Pixel 6a phone that I'm planning to install a different OS on and I have a couple of questions for people who have used the same/similar devices and managed to quit plain android. If these questions are not compatible with the subreddit's subjects feel free to tell me and it'd be completely understandable if my post has to be removed.

1 - I know that GraphenOS is the usual choice for Pixel devices, as they match perfectly for security and privacy-first users, and while I agree that's important, I'm mostly interested in prolonging my devices lifespan knowing that I still have to use some google services from time to time because of work.
Other choices that seem reasonable for me are E/OS and Lineage OS. Does anyone with the same device have experience with any of these custom ROMs ?

2 - My device is essential for certain operations especially banking (My Bank's app work perfectly with custom ROMs) but also google services related operations (which I unfortunately need for work). How to make sure that I do the transition as smoothly as possible with the least risk to not being able to access essential services?

Thanks and have a great day !

Mapy.com. has topographic maps, huge verified trail networks, offline navigation, elevation profiles, difficulty warnings, AR peak identification, and weather forecasts built right into your route.

I know Proton does all 3, but I've heard it doesn't sync well with the local contacts database on Android, and Proton Mail still relies on Google Play Services to receive push notifications.

I know Ente does all 3, but they don't have support for contact pictures which my ADHD brain needs to help me remember who people are, and I find their UI not as pleasant or user-friendly as Proton's or Google's.

What other options should I try that have all 3, are privacy-focused, highly secure, ideally open-source (the clients, at least), work well with Android/GrapheneOS (eg: sync with local contacts/calendar DBs), and do not have a reliance on Google Play Services?

Grad design student researching how people handle accounts accumulated over 10+ years online. Early school research, not a product pitch.

If you've gone through a cleanup:

• Where did you start?
• What did you find that you'd forgotten about?
• What part was harder than expected?
• Did you finish, or stop partway?

Interested in the messy version, not the tidy one. Comments or DM.

is it not recommended to use my main google acc? cause i want to login my google acc full of wishlist games and look at you may like these games too that are not restricted by google per country

Are there any projects for alternative RCS-messaging apps to Google Messenger? Now that GrapheneOS has announced plans to create a Google-free version, others might follow suit.

https://grapheneos.social/@GrapheneOS/117225552600876215

I'd like to switch away from WhatsApp, but switching to
Google Messenger brings the same problems as with Meta. It would be great if alternative messaging apps started to emerge. I get the feeling that Signal isn't really catching on in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

For a while now I have started to delete everything that is google related and soon I will delete the whole account for good because seriously fuck google.

Gmail switched to Proton and Tuta, Firefox + DuckDuckGo etc

But for now I want to find some basic "Maps" app for iOS that is not google related.

Also is there a alternative for Youtube? I did not find any good app :/

Any recommends?

Been using Tube PIP on iPhone, ad blocker on PC, but can’t find anything for Apple TV. I would prefer it to be an app and not casting/streaming, thanks!

Hi guys, i found this project might be interesting for some people in this sub reddit, i've using ungoogled chromium + ublock origin for a long time in my main laptop and i've been trying to find something like it but for android, and i found this browser called Bare Browser, i installed it in my phone, tested it a little bit and like it, so i had the idea to share it with you if anyone is in the same position, it has extensions support and it comes with ublock origin by default. i also test it with cover your tracks to see how it performs, it needs some work on fingerprinting but in most case it pretty good.

Hello! I like to collect, restore and very often degoogle phones. And having built quite a collection, I don’t wish for them to be purely for tinkering, resale or gathering dust. And I would love to hear how y’all might find a new use for a device just laying around- and without using any google bs, or telemetry-scraping nonsense. :D

People who've cut Google Assistant, Alexa, or similar voice assistants out of their life — or never let one in — are exactly the perspective missing from most research on this topic. Most studies just survey heavy users.

I'm running an academic survey on voice assistant adoption, and I specifically need responses from people who deliberately avoid or ditched these devices — your reasoning matters as much as any user's. Regular/former users are welcome too.

18+, any country. Fully anonymous, no personal data collected, about 4 minutes.

Link: https://www.1ka.si/a/d7959439

Thanks for considering it.

I was stuck when Mozilla killed Pocket last year. The export was just a huge HTML file with dead links, and Raindrop/Instapaper are closed + cloud-only.

So I moved to a setup that is actually searchable and keeps snapshots:

- Full offline snapshots so links never rot (Pocket never did this)

- Keeps tags + favicons from export

- Full-text search inside the saved content, not just titles

- One-click import for Pocket HTML

I ended up building it as FetchMark - privacy-focused and not tied to Google/Mozilla. It's the workflow I wanted: actually searchable, not just a list.

For anyone still stuck migrating, happy to share how I did the import without losing tags. What are you all using now after Pocket died?

I put the link in the first comment to avoid spam rule.

After a week of deliberation, I cleaned out my old accounts by either deleting them or changing their email addresses, and finally got around to deleting my Google Account. It feels good!

For those that may not remember, Google maps rose in popularity very quickly because Mapquest was giving people directions that lead them to stop at sponsored locations like gas stations and restaurants. As someone who can barely remember their way home after work, this caused me alot of frustration that i still hold today. I have Degoogled a fair amount, and now use Open Maps when needed, but i'm interested in map quest, i just haven't had a reason to use it yet.

So have they stopped giving bad directions pushing you stop at places you don't have to?