mirror of https://github.com/kirsle/kirsle.net
4.7 KiB
4.7 KiB
Degoogle
My personal checklist and research to de-google my stuff.
Motivations
- The Cambridge Analytica revelations (blog post)
- The Purism 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
- 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.
- Leave Google Fi for a normal carrier (T-Mobile or Sprint)
- Install/configure a home server to provide crucial services:
- Nextcloud for Contacts, Calendar, Camera Backup and File/Photo Storage
- Personal OpenVPN Server
Install LineageOS on primary Android phoneI 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.- Change 2FA methods to TOTP app instead of Google push notification.
- Google Voice: forward text messages to email.
- 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 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
- Download latest export from Google Takeout
- Upload contacts to Nextcloud server
- Purge all photos from Google Photos (move all photos to Nextcloud)
- Clear out my Google Drive of all files (move important ones to Nextcloud)
- Clear all data from Google Assistant and other places
- Opt-out of all data services and ad personalization from Google.
- 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 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