DeGoogling Yourself

[WhiteFelineWonder]

I decided to make this topic for folks that don't wanna deal with Google's products. Figured we could curate a list of resources for people that either are new to this or have been away from Google products for a long time and show them that Google isn't the only thing out there. Is it late concerning some current news? Better late than never if that's the case (though you're free to give some more info about this in case I've missed a detail or two).

I'll start off with these:

Android Debugging Bridge (ADB) - It's a handy swiss knife tool for doing things that Android normally can't do because of the usual vendors. You should probably have access to developer options beforehand though.
F-Droid - It's an alternative app store for Android devices that has tons of open source software (and even things you wouldn't find on Google Play) plus even more if you add extra repositories. Haven't looked back ever since.
Universal Android Debloater - A wonderful tool used to list what's installed and with the click of a button, it can be removed or disabled! Use with caution though, as it can definitely ploof your Android device if you're not careful.
MicroG - A reimplementation of GPS for AOSP ROMs, but less data is sent to them.
LibreOffice - An open source office suite, no internet connection required. (Plus it's an inclusion amongst Linux distros!)
Newpipe & Pipepipe - YouTube frontends for Android that let you watch videos in peace. No ads, and you can download videos! Pipepipe extends this to other platforms too & includes SponsorBlock so you can get to the actual video!

If you know of any alternatives to Google products don't be afraid to share them here!

[crash-stop]

If we are talking about degoogling phones there are a couple of options, though some technical knowledge is required.
1)Lineage os ( check which phones are compatible ) which will allow you to add g apps but you dont have to when you install, fdroid is pretty awesome
2) the more hardcore e/os which has pretty much zero google stuff but is still android
3) super paranoid levels (but only really works on google pixel phones) Graphene os
4) Linux based postmarket os but steep learning curve if you dont know linux and battery life is not great ( personal experience , your experience may differ depending on phone ) - lots of phone compatability but some things like cameras are a hope rather than expectation.

also the first three are all awesome also should mention ubuntu touch which works really well but for my purposes not useful , but the camera does work and the interface is nice.

for online services its hard to remove yourself from googles touches but there are some good alternatives  cloud storage I use pcloud ( swiss based good pricing) for email and docs i use mailbox.org eu based in germany. youtube is hard to escape peertube is great but doesnt have the same reach or variety that youtube has - but thats not the point is it. Chrome browser is easy to escape havent used it in years - meeting software either big tech like zoom or jitsi or if you want go hardcore vdo-ninja , i mean google meet is pretty appalling so its not that hard. Loads more I could add but lets see what else comes up 

[IndigoGolem]

LibreOffice is good, but i see it more as an alternative to MS Office than to Google Docs. For that i have used CryptPad, but i don't need it often because i only have one computer and prefer to keep most of my files local. LibreOffice is what i usually use for rich text and spreadsheets.

Android (i think, i'm no expert) is developed by Google but they make available barebones versions that don't have any of the usual bloat or tracking. That's what devices running Android-based operating systems use.
    If you don't like that, Ubuntu Touch has already been mentioned. And Apple has their own mobile OS that i'm not familiar with.

Startpage is a search engine that uses Google's web index, so you get pretty similar results without having to directly interact with Google.
    Other search engines i use are Wiby and Marginalia.

Probably everyone here already knows about Firefox. It's the main alternative to Chromium browsers. I use LibreWolf (a fork of Firefox) as my primary browser, and keep a few others¹ on hand mostly for testing my site. Firefox has plenty of forks that take things in different directions. LibreWolf, Pale Moon, and more i haven't used.
    Linux has GNOME Web, which uses the same rendering engine as Apple's Safari.
    There are some smaller browsers not based on Google's Chromium, Mozilla's Gecko, or Apple's WebKit engines. NetSurf uses its own engine but doesn't have the same support for modern CSS and HTML features that the big browsers do. Ladybird is not yet available but looks like it's trying to become a viable option like Chrome and Firefox are, with its own new rendering engine. There are also text-based browsers like Links2, Lynx, and w3m.
    Some gaming consoles have web browsers too, though i think these tend to be less useful. Last i checked the Wii U's still works. I don't know about most other consoles since everything else i've owned is too old to use the internet.

I've never owned a Chromebook so i don't know much about those, but it should be fairly easy to replace whatever OS they use with some flavor of Linux or your other OS of choice.

Some websites (w3schools, tvtropes) embed Google for searching within the site. I don't know a way to avoid that besides not using the search features or adding "site:w3schools.com" to your usual search engine when you need to find something.

Every Email client i've used does basically the same thing. Gmail, Proton, Tutanota, they're pretty interchangeable. Find one whose ToS you can stomach and fees you can afford. Also, you can write messages on paper and send that to people without using the internet. Ask your local post office for details.

Google Maps was hard to replace. Open Street Map and OsmAnd work as maps, but i've always struggled to get them to show me routes or details about a place. You can still get a real GPS though. I use a HUTNVEA GPS that works except i guess nobody who designed it knows about displays that are visible in sunlight (E-Ink, LCD, TFT, etc.) so it's hard to see when i'm in my car.

Google Drive is similar to Dropbox, MS OneDrive, CryptPad Drive, and every other cloud storage service. If you want your files backed up to someone else's computer any of them will do that for you. An offline hard drive that you maintain manually will also back up your files.

YouTube has some alternative frontends like Invidious, and there are also other ways to host video like Peertube instances.


¹Firefox, Links2, NetSurf, Vivaldi (Chromium), GNOME Web (WebKitGTK) for HTTP, Amphora and Alhena for Gemini.

[alexela64]

Gonna brainstorm some more alternatives but in the meantime everything here is good.

I'd like to toss in that in general i think people should move more towards FOSS (free open source software for the uninitiated).

I would also like to ask if I should put my list of photoshop/adobe alternatives here or start a different thread for that. Particularly Canva alternatives, as someone who is an amateur graphic designer and HATES the chokehold that Canva has in the amateur part of the field.

[WhiteFelineWonder]

I feel a list for Adobe alternatives could work here in the same thread. Might have to alter the subject title maybe going forward.

[grubbyfox]

I've degoogled my laptop (rather, never-googled-it, lol.)

Here's what I use for software on the laptop, that is not Google (Or Meta, Adobe, etc)

Browsers:
Firefox and Waterfox

Music:
Winamp (ui may look bad on win11) and Musicbee - musicbee website seemed to not load today, haha.... great look.

Chatting
Signal, Escargot MSN and AIM by the same group. (And Discord...)

Word processing/Spreadsheet, notepad, etc:
Libre Office, EditPad Lite

Photo-processing/Drawing:
Paint.net, Krita

Coding (simple, like a notepad):
Sublime Text

Video-editing:
ShotCut (DaVinci Resolve if my PC was more powerful.. it's great)

Search Engines:
Startpage and DuckDuckGO


Websites:
Invidious (youtube alternative), Proton (email and more), Tuta (email)

For legit free streaming, I use Pluto TV, but I think it may be Nordic countries only, maybe European only? Idk. The URL is pluto.tv. It's legit, with ads. Has a lot of great stuff. I think it's similar to Peacock? For americans (or VPN users I guess), there is also Tubi (tubi.tv)

On my Android, I use the F-Droid store to find some apps, and I use NewPipe for youtube.

ps, I've linked the software I use, but I dont take any responsibility in any changes to website or anything. Click at own risk and use at own risk! xD

[Tuffy!]

 

BIG TECH DETOX  Cut Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Maps, Reddit, Google Search, & Google Translate off

 

There is a nice browser addon I just got recommended lately.

It is named: Privacy Redirect and it redirects all direct traffic and even embedded stuff like videos etc. through privacy friendly frontends. Some offer proxy streaming (for youtube videos)

Description: A web extension that redirects Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Google Maps, Reddit, Google Search, & Google Translate requests to privacy friendly alternative frontends for those sites - Nitter, Invidious, FreeTube, Bibliogram, OpenStreetMap, SimplyTranslate & Private Search Engines like DuckDuckGo and Startpage.

Supported browsers:
Edge, Firefox, Chrome

 
UNITED WE
    STAND

[iSmile]

Here are my recommendations:

SEARCH ENGINES
* DuckDuckGo is the obvious one to mention, however personally I don't use it. I am mostly not able to find what I want.
* StartPage is what I use instead... It uses results from Google, but it acts as a mediator so that Google cannot track you...
* Ecosia is an another one of such search engines which acts as a frontend, this time for Bing results

There's a few more like:
* Qwant
* Mojeek

Of course, one could also go about hosting their own, and use something like SearXNG
... or Whoogle if you want Google's results...

Some people recommend Brave as well, but I'm not its biggest fan... It's infected with too much AI crap...

Either ways anything is better than using Google, Bing, Yahoo etc.

BROWSERS (PC)
* LibreFox is the one I use. It's pretty secure, and I appreciate any browser not built on Chromium...
* Zen is a browser a friend of mine uses... I couldn't get used to it, cause it's UI is quite different, but it seems like a good option as well...

Personally, I'm not a big fan of using Chromium. If I wanna de-google, I feel like I wanna do it properly, and not use anything Chromium-based. But that's just me.

There are actually decent Chromium-based options, which are very secure.
One of which is:
* Ungoogled Chromium

Some people will also recommend stuff like Brave, WaterFox, Vivaldi etc. - but these are actually not all that secure.

However, just don't use Chrome, also vanilla FireFox is quite insecure as well! Same goes for Opera, for that matter...

BROWSERS (MOBILE)
* Fennec F-Droid is a decently secure option, and I use it on one of my devices...
* IronFox turned out as the most secure mobile browser, according to my research

Some recommend WaterFox, but it's not as secure as the other two... Same as for PC, don't use vanilla Chrome or FireFox, they're quite insecure.

EMAIL
* Proton Mail - I just go with it... It's the best option IMO...

MAPS AND NAVIGATION
* Open Street Map - and the Android application OSMAnd (Open Street Map Android)

CLOUD STORAGE
There's
* Proton Drive
I also use these two:
* MEGA
* DropBox
I made them yellow because I personally haven't done as much research into how secure (or insecure) they are.
The best option is, of course, hosting your own thing... (something like TrueNAS?)

Google's, MicroSlop's and Yandex' Drives are examples of quite insecure ones...

VIDEOS
Or, to be more precise, YouTube alternatives...
You could watch YouTube over something like
* GrayJay
or
* Invidious

But there are also alternative sites like:
* VidLii?
(I'm sure there's more but I cannot remember at the moment...)

As for mobile app frontends to YouTube, we have:
* GrayJay
* NewPipe
* Piped

Or
* Youtube Re-Vanced (which is based on the forked YouTube app)

AUTHENTICATION AND PASSWORD MANAGING
* Proton Pass
* Yubikey

MOBILE APPSTORES
* F-Droid
* Aurora Store (a front end for Google PlayStore)

MOBILE OPERATING SYSTEMS
If possible, try to stay away from the "big two" (Android and Apple),
It's quite difficult, but if you are able to do this, some options include:
1) de-googled OS' based on Android, such as:
* e/os - has some of the widest support
* LegacyOS - for older devices
* iodeOS - also seems to have quite a decent support for many devices
* CalyxOS - seems like a decent OS, but has quite limited support. Mainly only Pixel and selected Motorola devices, and Fairphones as well. Fairphones seem to be a very decent smartphone option, as they support quite a bunch of these OS'
* VollaOS - the OS used in Volla devices... It seems like a pretty good one, but the devices are a bit pricey (at least for me)


Some people recommend GrapheneOS, but there were some controversies with it actually... Another thing is that it also works primarily on Google Pixel phones. If I want to stay away from Google, why'd I buy a Google phone? Also why'd I support Google by buying their device and giving them money? They are planning to expand their support anyways, and it seems to work on some Motorola devices as well (kinda like CalyxOS), but still, this OS is controversial, and there are better alternatives honestly.

2) using a non-Android mobile Linux OS
Some examples include:
* PostMarketOS - has some support, besides Pixel devices, also supports Fairphones, PinePhone, and a bunch of Samsung and Xiaomi phones... It's based on Alpine Linux...
* Ubuntu Touch - has similar support like the PostMarketOS
* SailfishOS - used in Jolla phones... they seem alright, but kinda pricey for me...
* PureOS - used in Librem 5 phones.. it's Debian-based with Gnome and KDE desktop environments available...

PC OPERATING SYSTEMS
I know that this isn't related to Google, but just use Linux bro.

FONTS
Here's one that isn't spoken about much, but:
Bunny Fonts is a great alternative to Google Fonts

If someone has suggestions or corrections to what I wrote, please do so... I also might have forgotten some stuff... IDK...