I use GrapheneOS with multiple profiles. My main profile contains only FOSS apps, along with two proprietary apps that have no network access. One secondary profile is for my personal Google account (just Gmail) for work and bills, while another is for a disposable Google account for apps like Google Maps when I need GPS.
On my PC, I maintain a browser profile for work Gmail, which I almost never check, and I don’t have anything else connected to Google.
I’m not entirely comfortable knowing that I’m not free from Google and still rely on some of their services. However, I feel much better than I did a few years ago, when Google had complete control over my phone and everything I did on it. Now, I feel free most of the time.
What about you? Do you feel free? Or does it ever seem like Google owns a part of your life? Share your thoughts with me
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Google Maps is the one thing left for me… have tried moving but find other gps apps meh in comparison. I use MacOS for work with office 365. My personal computer is Linux, I use proton for my email. Librewolf browsing. DuckDuckGo for searching. If you count it, I suppose I do use Brave on my work computer, chromium base is needed for some websites I use a lot for work. My cell phone is an iPhone (thanks work)
Maps + location, calendar, contacts, google docs, google drive, all have been moved to self-hosted and private services I run myself.
All that’s left is email, and that is actually quite difficult to ditch. I have a protonmail account whose philosophy I don’t agree with, and a tuta account, which has nasty delivery problems.
So I actually don’t really know how I’m going to solve this.
Stuck with Google Workspace at work. Fortunately, it’s tolerant of me not being reachable 24/7, so it’s all confined to the browser on a work laptop. I like to think that I’m free from Google’s services in my personal life, though I still haven’t been able to give up YouTube yet. At least I’m never signed in.
Also, one personal Google account created ages ago. I’ve completely gutted it and haven’t logged into it in recent memory, but idk, I can’t be bothered to delete it either.
Knowing that Google isn’t peeking over my shoulder on my GrapheneOS phone is very freeing. I wouldn’t ever be comfortable using a regular Android phone again.
though I still haven’t been able to give up YouTube yet. At least I’m never signed in.
That’s good! Since you’re not logged in, you might want to try PipePipe, which is a fork of Newpipe. The only reason to stick with the official YouTube client is for the recommendations, but even then, I’d suggest checking out Morphe (https://morphe.software/). It’s an alternative to YouTube Revanced that patches the official client to remove ads and add other features.
Knowing that Google isn’t peeking over my shoulder on my GrapheneOS phone is very freeing.
I definitely relate to that feeling!
I’m as distanced as I can be for now but have one more big cord to cut - Google Fi. It’s just by far the most affordable carrier for our use here, and frankly every alternative sucks ass just as much anyway, but I’d still like to move to something else sooner rather than later.
Otherwise, my gmail accounts are still active but rarely used, both forwarding to Tuta. Been using GrapheneOS for over a year now, Aurora and the Play Store are last resorts for app installs. I only use youtube through a self-hosted Invidious instance. Photos has been long replaced with Immich, Drive long emptied and replaced with OpenCloud. For navigation, Magic Earth’s been the most reliable, not FOSS but so be it, CoMaps is good for browsing/exploring but kind of terrible for driving.
