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Tips for de-Googling phones? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 3 days ago by Rogelio_Marciano@lemmygrad.ml to c/technology@lemmygrad.ml

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Hello Lemmians,

I've recently moved over to Linux Mint for Windows and I'm very happy with the decision. There are only like 2 things I can't do on Mint but I'm confident I could do them if I invested some more time. Anyway, my system is on dual boot so I could start Windows if I wanted to / needed it.

Now, I'd love to do the same on my phone, basically eliminating techbrofash stuff and replacing it with something FOSSy. It's a Samsung from 2018, do I have any chances? Specifically, having to use a Google account all the time bugs me.

I'm not a heavy phone user since I prefer computers, but as you all understand I'm not keen on having Netanyahu & friends know at what time of night I pee.

Any suggestions?

Thanks!

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[–] Emily@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 3 days ago (2 children)

I don't know what type of phone you have specifically, but if it's on this list, you can install LineageOS, which is an open-source android-based platform that's not tied to Google. https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/#samsung

If you haven't already switched most/all of your apps to open-source or non-google play versions, you'll need to start looking out for that. I would suggest using the F-Droid store to find apps. Depending on how hardcore you want to go, you can also look up the github/codeberg address of the various apps you find and use the Obtanium app to download them directly from the repo. I think it's totally fine to use F-Droid to find your options, though.

Some suggestions: There's a series of apps called Fossify that replace most of the stock apps on the phone, everything from the clock to sms to phone. They even have a file manager and launcher if you're interested in that. I use the open-source Lawnchair launcher with the Delta icon pack, Phocid for music, AntennaPod for podcasts, Myne for ebooks, Fennec is my browser, and a mixture of Citra and Lemuroid for games.

Iirc, Mint uses Cinnamon as a desktop environment, but if you ever find yourself using KDE, there's an app called KDE Connect that allows you to transfer files from your computer to your phone and back (along with other things) over a network connection.

Good luck! I hope you find this path as rewarding as I have. It feels really good to get away from Google.

[–] Rogelio_Marciano@lemmygrad.ml 3 points 2 days ago

Thanks a lot! Will take a look :)