I’m working on degoogling and moving away from major tech companies. I’m really curious what others here are using instead — especially for everyday tools and services.
What do you use for things like:
1.Email
2.Cloud storage / file sync
3.Maps & navigation
4.Search engine
5.Web browser
6.Calendar
7.Contacts management
8.Notes / to-do lists
9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)
10.Messaging / chat
11.Video calling
12.Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news
13.Music streaming / podcast app
14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative
15.Password manager
16.VPN / DNS / Firewall
17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)
18.App store / APKs
19.Photo backup / gallery
20.Weather
21.Smart assistant (if any)
22.Anything else you’ve replaced?
Would love to hear about your setup — both what works well and any trade-offs you’ve had to make. Always looking for better FOSS or privacy-friendly alternatives
I self-host my email using postfix, dovecot, rspamd and others. The only tradeoff I had to make here is that some of the entities I have to communicate with via email use an allow-list, so some of my outgoing mail is sent through a relay (SMTP2Go).
- Cloud storage / file sync
I self-host a minio for cloud storage. I don’t need file sync, so nothing there. If I would, I would likely use syncthing.
- Maps & navigation
OpenStreetMaps & CoMaps. Works much better than Google Maps did.
- Search engine
Currently a self-hosted YaCy. I have my own index. Not entirely happy with this setup, will switch to something else (still self-hosted, I have no need for a general purpose search engine that indexes the entire internet of slop).
- Web browser
LibreWolf
- Calendar
I’m using Emacs & Org for most calendaring. Wife’s using GNOME Calendar & a Calendar app I found for her on f-droid (unsure which one).
- Contacts management
Nothing on desktop, some random contacts app from f-droid on the phone. I do use EteSync to keep a backup, and potentially sync later. (EteSync syncs her calendar too)
- Notes / to-do lists
Emacs & Org.
- Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)
Most of my “office” needs are covered by a combination of Emacs, Typst and Zola one way or another. For the rare case where I need Office compatiblity: LibreOffice.
- Messaging / chat
XMPP. Dino on Linux, Conversations on Android. I use Matrix too, from time to time (Element), and have Signal too. Not a big fan of the latter two, because it isn’t practical to self-host those.
- Video calling
XMPP. Dino & Conversations. If I need to video call with someone else, I’ll use whatever they use, usually.
- Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news
For social media, the Fediverse is my only social media. I’m using Tuba on desktop, Tusky on the phone for it. For RSS, self-hosted Miniflux. For Lemmy, the web ui on desktop, Voyager on phone.
- Music streaming / podcast app
Lollypop & Shortwave.
- Video streaming / YouTube alternative
FreeTube or yt-dlp if I need to watch youtube, PeerTube otherwise.
- Password manager
Bitwarden (via a self-hosted Vaultwarden on the server side).
- VPN / DNS / Firewall
The only VPN I use is WireGuard between my systems, but I don’t tunnel everything through it. For DNS, I’m using unbound on my VPS, which in turn dispatches to Quad9. Firewall? nftables.
- Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)
I haven’t de-googled my phone, because my bank app refuses to work on rooted phones, and I unfortunately need that for the bank’s 2FA. No, I am not changing banks. I do use a custom launcher (Nova), though.
- App store / APKs
F-droid.
- Photo backup / gallery
I manually copy photos from the phone to my PC, and it gets backed up with the rest of the stuff. I do my backups with restic, and save a copy on my own server, and another at BorgBase. I’ll have a third copy at a third place later.
- Weather
wttr.in, mostly.
- Smart assistant (if any)
My wife. <3
- Anything else you’ve replaced?
Not strictly de-googling, but I’m using Codeberg & my own self-hosted Forgejo instead of GitHub. I replaced LibreWolf’s bookmark manager with Readeck. For push notifications on Android, I’m using a self-hosted nfty.sh.
Would love to hear about your setup — both what works well and any trade-offs you’ve had to make. Always looking for better FOSS or privacy-friendly alternatives
Oh dear. Strap in, for you’re in for a Journey! The entire configuration of both my desktop and the rest of my fleet (my VPS, my homelab server, and my Mom’s miniPC at the moment) are all free software. Based on NixOS, declarative configuration written in a literate programming manner using Org mode. There is a lot of documentation.
I haven’t de-googled my phone, because my bank app refuses to work on rooted phones, and I unfortunately need that for the bank’s 2FA. No, I am not changing banks. I do use a custom launcher (Nova), though.
Use HMS Core (Gallery Huawei) store…
Not sure how that’d help?
If I don’t use stock Android, the bank app doesn’t work, no matter what else I install on it, or what store I use.
Use HMS Core (Gallery Huawei) store…
First post on Lemmy but not new to degoogling.
Phone is a Pixel 6a running GrapheneOS for about 2.5 years.
Laptop is a used Lenovo T470s with Linux, Fedora Workstation. Total noob.
1.Email - Proton Unlimited
2.Cloud storage / file sync - Proton Drive / Syncthing
3.Maps & navigation - OSMAnd
4.Search engine - varies but right now it’s Brave
- Web browser - On my phone I use Ironfox with UBlock Origins on expert mode (deletes all browsing data) and Brave for logins.
On my laptop, LibreWolf with UBlock Origins on expert mode (deletes browsing data) and Firefox for logins.
Ironfox and LibreWolf are sync through Mozilla.
6.Calendar - Fossify Calendar, phone.
7.Contacts management - whatever is stock on GOS
8.Notes / to-do lists - Fossify Notes for reusable checklists. Joplin on both laptop and phone for markdown notes. I used to use Quillpad when I used an android tablet and phone.
9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.) LibreOffice on Linux. LibreOffice viewer on my phone.
10.Messaging / chat - Signal
11.Video calling - I don’t do video calling but if I did, Signal
12.Social media - Firefox on my Laptop, Brave on my phone. I’m planning on ditching Reddit. RedReader is the app I use on that site.
12b. microblogging - I can’t stand microblogging (Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky)
12c. RSS reader / news - Feeder on my phone
13.Music streaming - I play music stored on my phone with Vanilla.
13b. podcast app - Antenna Pod on my phone. I like CPod on my laptop but it’s no longer being updated. I’ve looked but can’t find one I like for Linux that is being updated.
14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative - Freetube on Linux and PipePipe on my phone
15.Password manager - Proton Pass.
16.VPN / DNS / Firewall - ProtonVPN but their Linux app is barebones. Doesn’t even have split tunneling.
17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs) - Stock launcher on phone. Extension Manager on my laptop to tweak the desktop for more usability.
18.App store / APKs - From most to least apps installed from that store - Obtainium (usually Github) 22, F-Droid 15, Aurora Store 3, and Accrescent 3.
19.Photo backup / gallery - Photos sync to my laptop with Syncthing, from there I upload to ProtonDrive.
20.Weather - I open Environment Canada local forecast with a browser
21.Smart assistant (if any) - Nope
22.Anything else you’ve replaced? - I use mostly cash in stores. My keyboard is Futo on my phone.
I plan on moving away from Proton if they don’t start supporting Linux more. Addy for email aliases, Tuta for mail, and Mullvad for VPN. Not sure about cloud, or if I need it, at the moment.
