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Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

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Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#21

Post by another-dave »

It's a work in progress for me.

Flashed my Android phone with Lineage OS without any Google Play Services — most apps work OK, though have some teething issues (some probably based on my config). Find any google things I still need I can use the web version for.

* some apps crash on start-up, even though you'd expect them not to be using Play services. Others (e.g. Monzo) work fine but I no longer get push notifications.

* some e.g. (Citymapper) work really well apart from the Maps integration, which is fair. Would love if devs could provide a fallback to link out to another maps providing app for directions but know it's not financially viable.

Maps.me wrapper around OpenStreetMaps is a really nice replacement for GMaps — like that I can correct things on it too. Only issue is that address lookup is slow & house number level info is a bit lacking. In London though, street level is good.

Moving cloud stuff is slower going — Have mail forwarding to Protonmail & will start to put an auto-reply on emails asking people to use new address directly. One thing I'll miss with GMail is the "send as" feature for other email accounts — use it a lot for things that are jointly between me & my wife. Also wish I'd have used a custom domain before switching so that I could swap vendors later more easily.

Need to pull photos & docs and create a backup somewhere. Not sure what vendor I should use for that.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#22

Post by unixfox »

JustFinishedBSG wrote: post #15

I tried and I'm basically Google-free except for... google.com I tried DDG and co very hard but Google search really is that much better ( well I also use Google Drive for Business but I can switch and all my data is encrypted )

You should try Searx which is able to proxy Google Search.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#23

Post by duiker101 »

muzani wrote: post #5
Ultramanoid wrote: post #2

Yes. As far as I can tell. Google lost me the day they shut down Reader. There are plenty of alternatives as long as you're not forced by your job or a particular client into using their services. One thing I'd still like to achieve is to find a permanent solution for avoiding communication with people who use Gmail. Strong-arming them into a new e-mail service is a non-starter.

I'm surprised nobody has built a better email client by now. Gmail, as an enterprise solution, is quite expensive. I'd rather use any other service. An email service bundled with a calendar or to do list functionality could potentially be a billion dollae company.

Almost every email provider I can think of has calendar functionality and some have todo lists. It's not that uncommon. Other than that thought, you risk going in the territory of companies that try to do too much and fail at having anything decent.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#24

Post by Spooky23 »

Ultramanoid wrote: post #19
rakoo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of very good email providers out there, many of which would please the HN crowd requirements. Are you talking about a pure email _client_, ie where emails are stored elsewhere? Where's the business in that ?

The issue is not whether there is an alternative or not. The issue is convincing someone who uses Gmail to stop using it, and change to another service.

The exercise is pointless, the equivalent to arguing about the most private pen for sending postcards.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#25

Post by newsgremlin »

I already made the switch to Firefox and DuckDuckGo. I still got to stop using Youtube and either root my android and get rid of all google apps or replace my Pixel 2 with (never thought it would come to this) an iphone, which as it stands I don't trust them much more with handling my data either.

There's also my gmail which will probably be the longest transition changing all my accounts emails.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#26

Post by rocgf »

JustFinishedBSG wrote: post #15

I tried and I'm basically Google-free except for... google.com I tried DDG and co very hard but Google search really is that much better ( well I also use Google Drive for Business but I can switch and all my data is encrypted )

You can use DDG with !s or just Startpage directly.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#27

Post by Ultramanoid »

Spooky23 wrote: post #24
Ultramanoid wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The issue is not whether there is an alternative or not. The issue is convincing someone who uses Gmail to stop using it, and change to another service.

The exercise is pointless, the equivalent to arguing about the most private pen for sending postcards.

More like two people having a conversation in the street, except one of them is screaming every word and you're just asking to please tone it down a bit, which is too much to ask for that person.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#28

Post by Engineering-MD »

archi42 wrote: post #13

I'm running LineageOS + MicroG on mobile, Firefox with DuckDuckGo as default search (both mobile and desktop). My Firefox on desktop has heavy tracking and JS blocking. Temporarily whitelisting every domain in NoScript is a bit annoying, but I can live with that. But the Google services are just good, I often fall back to them if the alternative doesn't keep up: - For some searches the result quality on DuckDuckGo is…

For search, use the !s band on duck duck go. It redirects to start page which uses google search but without google tracking you. I often start with ddg, and the. Use start page if necessary.

Re: Ask HN: Has anyone successfully been able to completely quit using Google?

#29

Post by rakoo »

Ultramanoid wrote: post #19
rakoo wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's a lot of very good email providers out there, many of which would please the HN crowd requirements. Are you talking about a pure email _client_, ie where emails are stored elsewhere? Where's the business in that ?

The issue is not whether there is an alternative or not. The issue is convincing someone who uses Gmail to stop using it, and change to another service.

That's why I don't believe in switching services, an email provider should merely be used as an email provider and have all the desired features (privacy, encryption) built on top
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