this post was submitted on 14 Dec 2024
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Privacy

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Hello I use GOS have for almost a year and finally removed sandboxed play services in my main profile and only use Aurora for my bank app and Apple Music in my main profile still have Google Voice in private space but seperated from my main profile all my apps are only FOSS other than the 2 apps from aurora and it feels so good to finally say that. I just wanted to share my big news with you and hope you can all ditch Google apps/services as I have its amazing how my spam calls/texts have stopped or become less the more I degoogled.

I hope everyone has a great Degoogle/privacy enchancing experience

Any better replacements for Google Voice welcome in the comments if there is any.

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[–] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 41 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I wish all
privacy advocates
a very pleasant
degoogling

[–] bruhsoulz@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Ty! ^^ been thinking about deleting my final remaining gmail account but unfortunately there may be unexpected consequences so I'm second guessing still.

[–] cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Since deleting my Google account early this year (having used it as a primary account for e-mail for about 15 years), I have only stumbled upon two problems. The first one was that an old account I had with my current ISP had tied my phone number and my old e-mail account. This was solved with a call to customer service that severed that link and allowed me to make a new account with my phone number. The second was that I missed an invitation to an alumni party from a previous job... so yeah...

Note, I did spend a significant time overlapping my new primary mail account with the Gmail-account to ensure I had resolved as good as all of these issues. Since moving to Proton, I think I spent 2 years before actually deleting my Google account. That included a fairly thorough cleanup of old accounts that took quite some time and energy (boy, do some of these services give you a hard time deleting old accounts....)

[–] bruhsoulz@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago

I KNOWWW right?? (Response to that last part)

[–] QuazarOmega@lemy.lol 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah, I'm not doing that either yet, I'm using it for a few things and can't really replace it

[–] sic_semper_tyrannis@lemmy.today 29 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Good job. You can start off the new year with a breath of fresh air.

I finished my house privacy finally this week with the FLIRC TV remote to get rid of the OEM remote that had a microphone built in. It's programmable on Linux too which is awesome

[–] Harald_im_Netz@feddit.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

Uh, neat tip. Thank you!

[–] shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip 15 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Check out jmp.chat as a gv replacement. Its $5/mo tho

[–] BearOfaTime@lemm.ee 10 points 2 weeks ago

Best part with JMP is SMS is piped into XMPP/JABBER. So you're no longer tied to a phone/Sim card for sms.

[–] bradboimler@startrek.website 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Thank you will look into $5 isn't alot so will probably switch to it.

[–] apostrofail@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[–] rcbrk@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)
[–] zerozaku@lemmy.world 12 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Recently I too have made a huge change in move towards degoogling and replaced Gboard with Heliboard. I never thought I'd be able to replace Gboard because I use gesture typing a lot. Heliboard doesn't come inbuilt with gesture typing but you have to import from closed source(?) data which is just a one time import (would like to know more on this one from someone more knowledgeable). So far, it has been great!

[–] copd@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Unfortunately I can't access my banking app without a "certified virtual keyboard". I have to flip back to gboard whenever I want to check my bank balance

[–] MidsizedSedan@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I learnt to just use my PC for all banking. Double check my balance before leaving the house for groceries.

[–] copd@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I'm an idiot for not thinking of that. Fuck I'm so dependent on my phone

[–] bradboimler@startrek.website 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

That sucks my bank app doesn't seem to rely on it for anything other than notifications and I can live without those.

[–] copd@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

To be fair, android custom keyboards are ridiciously insecure. They have access to effectively everything on the screen and what you're typing while also having access to make external requests.

The solution is for Android to allow you to select keyboards per app

Yup

[–] 7_Heavens@lemmy.ml 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Man can you tell me how to import the gesture typing Library?

[–] zerozaku@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

It is explained in their github.

"Glide typing (only with closed source library ☹️) library not included in the app, as there is no compatible open source library available can be extracted from GApps packages ("swypelibs"), or downloaded here (click on the file and then "raw" or the tiny download button)" https://github.com/Helium314/HeliBoard#:~:text=Glide%20typing%20(,tiny%20download%20button)

In the app, you go Advanced > Load gesture typing library > Select your downloaded library.

[–] 7_Heavens@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago
[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 6 points 2 weeks ago (6 children)

hope you can all ditch Google apps/services

Sadly, I can't ditch WhatsApp since everyone I know uses it + work and without sandboxed play services, WhatsApp eats my battery like crazy

[–] countrypunk@slrpnk.net 6 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's weird. I use WhatsApp daily without Google play services and it doesn't do that. I have a pixel 7a

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 4 points 2 weeks ago

I have installed WhatsApp without GServices and got delayed/no notifications and ~50% of my battery was WhatsApp in background. Brand new battery (?) on a refurbished Pixel 8. With minimum use, I used to get around 2PM with ~30% battery while now, I can get to 15% to 9PM with roughly more usage than before.

No idea why

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I personally have no notifications (aside from SMS, calls and calendar). Not like I would be checking the phone when I suddenly hear a notification anyway, only when already deciding to check it.

Simplex apparently does a similar thing in terms of draining battery for its notifications, I just didn't allow it to run in the background in the settings. Maybe this could work for Whatsapp if you're willing to ditch notifications?

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 3 points 2 weeks ago

Maybe this could work for Whatsapp if you're willing to ditch notifications?

I need it for work so no? I can't

[–] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You can still use Google Push notifications with microG.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 1 points 2 weeks ago

I had it but I don't know how to connect the 2 together

[–] Der_Fossyler@feddit.org 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

For the lng run there needs to be a solution for the WhatsApp Monopoly we all live on. I mean, this argument is several years old and what can we do to change that? You could start by trying to convince some og your contacts to switch zo signal. In terms of co convinience their app is the closest to WhatsApp.

[–] Cris16228@lemmy.today 6 points 2 weeks ago

Saying "Signal is more secure and private"? No one gives a shit apparently

[–] VintageGenious@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Hopefully one day they'll all use Signal

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

While it would be an improvement, it seems to me that going to another platform would be repeating the same mistake. Protocols are more sustainable longterm solution.

[–] VintageGenious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You can fork signal's protocol

[–] EngineerGaming@feddit.nl 1 points 1 week ago

If we're talking about the encryption - yeah, people have done so. If we're talking about the whole service - from what I understand, it is not practical to selfhost. And even if it was, you cannot communicate with people using other servers...

[–] asap@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You could use Beeper, which connects with Whatsapp without needing the app installed.

[–] zerozaku@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Is Automattic a good company tho? Heard some not so good stories about them recently.

[–] kchr@lemmy.sdf.org 4 points 2 weeks ago

They went crying about WPEngine having found a good business model around Wordpress support, and started sabotaging for them.

https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260158/automattic-demand-wp-engine-revenue-wordpress-battle

Looks like they lost in court a few days ago!

https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/10/24318350/automattic-restore-wp-engine-access-wordpress

[–] asap@lemmy.world 1 points 1 week ago

They use open source solutions for this, so you can spin up your own version if you want. It's just Matrix with bridges.

[–] Sarcasmo220@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I have significantly reduced my usage of Google and Apple services for a couple of years now. Sometimes I wonder if I should go back, but then I see the enshitification of it all and it reminds me why I did so in the first place.

[–] cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

For which services are you sometimes wanting to go back for?

[–] Sarcasmo220@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

I guess it's less the services and more the updated hardware that tempts me. I don't do anything that requires a lot of computing power, so I get tempted to get something with Samsung Dex or Motorola Ready For to use it as both mobile and laptop/desktop.

I do use the Librem 5 with convergence, but storage is becoming an issue. I have a few things I can try to maximize storage before seriously considering something else.

[–] InevitableWaffles@midwest.social 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Congrats! Do you use Android Auto? If so, how does it work for you without Google play?

[–] cyberwolfie@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

I'm on CalyxOS with microG, and as far as I know, Android Auto does not work here. I understand this is a deal-breaker for a lot of people, but I have personally never seen Android Auto to be of particular interest, so I am completely fine with it.

[–] spookedintownsville@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Congrats. I've moved away from using Google other than for school/work (I have no choice there). Although I still haven't deleted my personal account yet.

[–] bradboimler@startrek.website 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I have a work gmail as well with works apps with Google Play but it's in a work profile so separate from. Main so I understand that.

[–] Professorozone@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Ummm, why were you using Google, Boimler? Why didn't you just use the systems Star Fleet provided on the Cerritos?

[–] bradboimler@startrek.website 1 points 1 week ago

Because I am trapped here and have to use current tech and you know I dont do off the grid! 🖖

[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 1 points 1 week ago

Congrats! It can be a difficult choice for some, because of the inconveniences it brings, but it's well worth it. We all need to ditch the big corporations and be free.