No! THIS is a DeGoogled phone!

Intro

You want to have a deGoogled phone? Well, this is a deGoogled phone. There is not a single Google app installed. I even get my apps from questionable, potentially dangerous sources. Is this what you should want? Maybe. Let’s find out. Yes, you are watching this on YouTube. We don’t talk about that.

Many have tried it. Few have succeeded. But only one is the best of them all. I am going to show you how you can start your deGoogling journey from the easiest steps anyone can follow to some more hardcore ones that take a little bit of dedication.

Why even de-Google? I could point you to my Patreon podcast and my playlists with hours of content detailing everything wrong with Google. But the gist of it comes down to three main problems that should make Google an unacceptable presence in your life.

Privacy

Privacy is the biggest reason. Google has been boasting for years they collect so much data about you they can predict what you think. This level of surveillance goes beyond just using front-facing Google services such as Gmail or Search. Almost every website or app on the Internet will run Google services in the back-end in some way. Whether it’s Google Ads, Analytics, embedded YouTube videos or other Google products, they are all used to collect your data to the same extent as if you are using the main Google apps. None of us meaningfully consented to this, because most people don’t even realize this is how it works. If you tried to explain this to a regular, non-technical person, their brains would explode. Google is in the news you read, the games you play, the apps you use, the videos you watch, the music you listen to, the things you buy, the places you go, the people you meet, the churches you visit, the believes you hold… That’s too much trust in one company. A company which to be in good graces with the government, will share all of your information with any state power, authoritarian or otherwise.

Censorship

Google is a very powerful company. In all markets it operates in, it’s either a monopoly or an oligopoly. Google is in fact officially ruled to be an illegal monopoly in the United States. That’s position Google has pursued aggressively and without mercy not just to free market but to free speech also.

Google’s ToS implemented across all of its services has completely neutered public discourse. Any word with a mildly negative connotation is purged from the discourse by algorithms not even Google understands how they work. We can’t talk about mental health issues, current events, controversial issues, sensitive events, political hot topics, guns, drugs, sex-ed, hacking as the list of taboo topics keeps expanding without stopping. And why is all of this happening on a platform that’s the only forum of content for billions of people? To be “advertiser friendly”!

Unreliability

As a side-effect of Google’s rent-seeking monopoly, services and companies keep getting acquired by Google, they get appropriated and repackaged into Google’s brand, get millions of customers, only to randomly shut down within a few years. Google has killed so many of its products there is a Wikipedia list about it. And it’s now a meme that you can’t stop fearing that one day Google might kill something you use because of reasons not provided. There is a chance some things I mention here are going to be killed by Google by the time you finish watching this video.

HEATHEN!

There are many more reasons why not to use Google. But if these aren’t enough, I don’t think more would convince you. If you are convinced, here is how I arrived to a completely de-Googled experience. It’s ironic of me saying this on YouTube. Please, type that into comments. But there is a way to watch YouTube without YouTube and I will explain it when I get to that section. And YouTube is precisely where this video needs to be – because I need to convince those that still use Google, not those that already don’t.

So here’s how to start from where it’s the easiest and then we’ll gradually build up until we have a completely de-Googled life.

Search engine

There are three biggest digital domains where people submit most of their lives to Google’s omnipresence. That’s email, search and web browsing. The easiest to start with is the search engine. That’s simple. Just use DuckDuckGo. There are other alternatives available – Qwant, Brave search, Leta from Mullvad, Ecosia. Choose whichever works best for you and set it as your default search engine.

Web browsing

The next biggest domain is web browsing. Google Chrome’s dominance is way too dangerous. By the very least, use a more privacy-preserving alternative such as the Brave Browser or Vanadium from GrapheneOS. But to be even more independent from Google, use a browser that’s not based on Chromium – these are Firefox, Mullvad and the Tor Browser. Any browser will let you import bookmarks and other data from your previous browser. Make sure that your deGoogled browser is set as the new default.

Email

Now the next step is gonna be a little more laborious. You are going to switch from Gmail to something that respects your personal dignity. I personally like Tuta mail the most, but ProtonMail is also good. I actually use them both and have multiple paid accounts. But all you need is to choose one and make it your new email address. You will have to keep your old Gmail for a while though. You will need to go to your Gmail inbox and set up email forwarding to your Proton or Tuta address. That way you will never lose any email and can gradually start telling your contacts to update to your new address. Both Tuta and Proton come with encrypted calendar apps so that takes care of Google Calendar also.

There is a kickass feature that both Tuta and Proton offer – it’s email aliases. This is an absolute must-have because you can create multiple email aliases in one account and have a separate alias for different activities. You can have a throwaway email alias to give to random websites or subscriptions to avoid cluttering your inbox with junk. You pay for these email aliases with money, instead of your data, it’s cheap and absolutely worth every penny. There is a service called SimpleLogin that you can use to create email aliases with. You get up to 15 free aliases and unlimited aliases with a subscription.

Google Drive

Proton comes with the benefit of cloud storage in one suite. If you often back things up to the cloud, Proton Drive is a worthy deal. Proton Drive will keep your data end-to-end encrypted. If you want even more control over your cloud storage, you can self-host it with NextCloud. I personally like Tresorit.com as it has better offers and focuses strictly on encrypted cloud storage. You may think this is inconvenient but it’s better to not put too many eggs in one basket. Which is what this whole deGoogle process is about.

When it comes to cloud storage that’s more of an alternative to Google Photos, my personal favorites are Ente and Cryptee. Just make sure that whenever you use these cloud storage services, you set up a strong password and second factor authentication. Speaking of which.

Passwords

Use Bitwarden for private and open source password management that will seamlessly sync across all your devices. The only password you’ll need to remember is the Bitwarden password and from there, you will generate strong and unique passwords for each of your accounts.

For second factor authentication, you don’t need to fall back to Google Authenticator. You can use Aegis, which is a free and open source 2FA app. Whenever possible, use hardware authentication with something like Nitrokey or Yubico.

Docs/notes

If you are looking to deGoogle your office workflow, you are probably aware of many big tech solutions. But many problems with Google are also problems with other tech giants. So allow me offer a few more sustainable options.

If you only want an offline alternative to all Google Docs, then you can’t go wrong with LibreOffice. LibreOffice is so powerful it can replace Microsoft Office and it’s completely Free and Open Source. If you want something that works online, then I think Cryptpad is the ultimate badass alternative. It works without an account. Yes, without an account your documents will expire after 90 days. If you want them for longer, you can create an account. Cryptad offers premium storage solutions you can purchase with money instead of your data. You should get into the habit of paying with cash and not with your privacy.

Maps

Google Maps is a behemoth that few would think has an alternative that’s actually good. But it does and it’s not Apple maps. My absolute favorite is Organic Maps and OSMAND. Organic Maps is so good Google once removed it the PlayStore. Both Organic Maps and OSMAND work on OpenStreetMaps, which is an open source and crowd sourced collection of maps. I’ve been using them for many years and they have yet to fail me. I’ve been use them for hiking trails, biking trails, car navigation, public transit, it.just.works. There is no excuse to use Google Maps at this point.

App store

Now the final step is to remove Google from your phone. And there is a much better way to do this than to just get an iPhone. After all, Apple is guilty of exactly the same things Google is. But unlike the iPhone, you can use Android without Google.

Android allows you to install apps from third-party sources. And it also allows you to change all your defaults from Google apps to alternatives. Apps you can’t uninstall you can at least disable and delete your Google account. On this phone, I don’t even have a Google account. Which means I don’t have the Google PlayStore to install apps from. So how do I get my apps?

Well I get them from two places – one is called Accrescent and the other is called Obtanium. If either of those doesn’t work I use Aurora. That’s a bunch of nonsensical words, isn’t it? To explain it plainly – I want to get my apps from a source I don’t have to give my identity to. I don’t want to be forced to create an account and give my phone number and my email address. And Accrescent, Obtanium and Aurora do not need any of those to work.

So Accrescent is an app store that comes with GrapheneOS. It’s very new and doesn’t have that many apps. But there are a few gems I am always happy to get from there. If you are a developer watching this, please publish your app to Accrescent. This is the future of app distribution.

If I can’t find my app on Accrescent, I get them from Obtanium or Aurora. The difference between the two is that Obtanium lets me download apps directly from the developers page, and Aurora gets them from the Google Play Store. It’s easier and more fool-proof to get your apps from Aurora. You give Google no information, no account details and if you use Orbot or VPN no IP address either. But if you want to kick Google out of your way to get apps, then only Obtanium is truly independent.

To use Obtanium, you can download the installation file from its website. For extra security, use the AppVerifier from Accrescent to check the signature on the website matches with the signature of the file you downloaded and install Obtanium.

Because it doesn’t have its repository of apps, you have to search for them manually. Let’s say you want to install MullvadVPN. Go to “add app” and type “MullvadVPN” into search. This will give you lots of results, but only few of them are officially from Mullvad – in most cases the top result will be the official one.

Now you might be asking – what if you mistaken an official app for a virus? What will protect you then? Well… nothing. The biggest advantage of an official repository such Accrescent or the Google Play Store, is that apps are verified and developers vetted to make sure people don’t install malicious apps pretending to be official ones. If you install apps from the Google Play Store, yeah you are selling your soul to Shaitan but at least you know what you are downloading.

This is where this movement of deGoogling for the sake of deGoogling doesn’t really make sense. And that’s why in my future video, I will showcase how to actually properly secure your privacy against Google even when you are forced to use Google services.

A better way

I personally wouldn’t install apps from other sources than the PlayStore with the exception of NewPipe and apps I can find on Accrescent. I am on GrapheneOS, which is the most private and secure de-Googled phone. And on GrapheneOS I can install Google Play Store in a separate profile where Google doesn’t have access to any of my data. How to set this up is a topic I’ve talked about on my Patreon podcast and if you become a member you can listen to them in your favorite podcast app. The higher tier you pledge, the more content you unlock. Support my work because I didn’t take a single sponsor making this even though I very well could. Thank you.