# Degoogle
My personal checklist and research to de-google my stuff.
## Motivations
* The Cambridge Analytica revelations ([blog post](/withdrawing-from-social-media))
* The [Purism Librem 5](https://puri.sm/products/librem-5/) phone is on my watch
list. If released, it will be a GNU/Linux phone (not Android) so might as well
prepare to leave the Android ecosystem while I wait.
Main things that have been keeping me on the stock Google Pixel 3 Android OS:
* Google Fi as cell carrier, and potential loss of features running an open source
Android like LineageOS (mainly, ability to switch towers between T-Mobile, Sprint,
US Cellular at will; WiFi Assistant I can care less about).
* Unlimited photo storage with Google Photos for a couple years with the Pixel phone
purchase. But if I self-host my own photo cloud this is really a moot point.
## Progress
Google Service |
% Migrated |
Replacement Service |
Remarks |
Photos
| 100% |
Nextcloud (self) |
All Google Photos migrated, Camera Backup enabled |
Contacts |
100% |
Nextcloud (self) |
Automatic sync between Android and Thunderbird (desktop) |
Calendar |
100% |
Nextcloud (self) |
Automatic sync between Android and Thunderbird (Lightning Calendar add-on) |
Drive |
100% |
Nextcloud (self) |
Gmail |
80% |
Rackspace Mail |
Moved kirsle.net from GSuite to Rackspace; minimizing use of Gmail.com account WIP |
Search |
100% |
DuckDuckGo |
Switched to DDG a long time ago as default search provider in Firefox. |
Maps |
0% |
n/a |
No real competitor to Maps |
YouTube |
0% |
n/a |
No real competitor to YouTube |
## Checklist
* [x] Experiment first with old Pixel on LineageOS without Google Play Services
nor microG. Install microG only as a last resort to test the crucial apps that
didn't work otherwise.
* [x] Leave Google Fi for a normal carrier (T-Mobile or Sprint)
* [ ] Install/configure a home server to provide crucial services:
* [x] Nextcloud for Contacts, Calendar, Camera Backup and File/Photo Storage
* [ ] Personal OpenVPN Server
* [ ] ~~Install LineageOS on primary Android phone~~ I can't do without Chromecast
support for Netflix/Hulu, so second best option is to remove Google accounts from
my phone but keep the Google Play Services for Chromecast support.
* [x] Change 2FA methods to TOTP app instead of Google push notification.
* [x] Google Voice: forward text messages to email.
* [x] Add Gmail address to a standard email app (Librem Mail on F-Droid)
* Chromecast from apps still works fine.
* Google Home app can still manage Chromecasts on the local network w/o account.
* **Google WiFi:** requires a Google account to manage the WiFi routers. For this
I installed [Android-x86](https://android-x86.org/) in VirtualBox on my laptop,
if I need to manage my WiFi I can boot that up and use the app.
* [ ] Migrate out of Google's ecosystem
* [x] Download latest export from Google Takeout
* [x] Upload contacts to Nextcloud server
* [x] Purge all photos from Google Photos (move all photos to Nextcloud)
* [x] Clear out my Google Drive of all files (move important ones to Nextcloud)
* [x] Clear all data from Google Assistant and other places
* [x] Opt-out of all data services and ad personalization from Google.
* [x] Move kirsle.net email from Google to an external provider
* [ ] Migrate accounts linked to my Gmail address to Kirsle.net address
* [ ] Wind down usage of Gmail account (unsubscribe from any mailing lists,
get down to Inbox Zero where only Google themselves will ever send me
mail to my Gmail account)
## Google-free Android
See [Self Hosting](/wiki/Self-Hosting) for my experiments running LineageOS
_without_ Google Services and the options for self-hosting crucial web services.
### App Compatibility w/o Play Services
Without Google Play Services some apps won't function correctly. I need to make
sure the apps that are important _to me_ work or have workable solutions.
**See also:** my [App Compatibility Table](/wiki/Degoogle/Apps)