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submitted 11 months ago by Geert@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[-] reagansrottencorpse@lemmy.world 36 points 11 months ago

Me, who's had a Gmail account as my main email for twenty plus years. 😞

[-] vale@sh.itjust.works 23 points 11 months ago

I've been meaning to switch off of Google for months now, but never had the time to properly research what exactly that entails

[-] plz1@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago

I was primarily using Gmail and Youtube Music and the switch was fairly easy. Apple Music was a better replacement than the other competitors, and Proton Mail was super easy. Paying for both makes me "not the product, but an actual customer". Forwarded Gmail to Proton in about 30 seconds, and replaced Chrome with Firefox. Duck Duck Go isn't a "perfect" replacement for Google Search, but it's good enough.

[-] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago

Proton looks pretty good, but all the paid Google services show that paying is not enough to be seen as “not the product, but an actual customer” these days.

[-] plz1@lemmy.world 8 points 11 months ago

Proton itself has no access to the encrypted content of your email. Also, they are not an ad company, so their product isn't you.

[-] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

It's NOT a valid reason not to switch, but god that's a dumb name for a product. Again, I don't understand why I hate the name, but I do. Please help me.

[-] plz1@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

Proton or DDG? For Proton, I use a custom domain for my email, so that was moot. DDG could have a better name, for sure.

[-] TheGreenGolem@lemm.ee 1 points 11 months ago

Yepp, thought about DDG. Proton is a bit weird too, but I have my own domain as well, so that's not an issue.

[-] plz1@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Good luck on your journey away from Google, it’s worth the effort.

[-] Swarfega@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

What name are you referring to?

[-] Llewellyn@lemm.ee -1 points 11 months ago
[-] silentknyght@lemmy.world 10 points 11 months ago

Curious what you decide. I feel trapped. My Gmail has been my primary account for almost 20 years. With that kind of longevity, switching would be extremely disruptive.

[-] berg@lemm.ee 9 points 11 months ago

When I did it I just forwarded my mails to the new service (fastmail) and changed mail address whenever a mail got forwarded in. When I didn't receive a forwarded mail for a year or so I deleted my old mail and never looked back.

If you use a password manager this get easier though, since you can just lookup where the old mail is used.

[-] radix@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Never realized this was a benefit of password managers. Even happier I've been on Bitwarden a few years now.

[-] filcuk@lemmy.zip 4 points 11 months ago

I kept Gmail, but gradually switched over to proton. Eventually, year or two later, it's full of emails I don't glcare about. Start now and take it slow.

[-] BillyTheSkidMark@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

I've heard good things about proton. Considering switching to that as well. Other than heading so many places use your old email until you update it is there any reason you did it gradually?

[-] filcuk@lemmy.zip 1 points 10 months ago

No, that's the only reason. I didn't want to flood my new inbox with emails I don't need.

[-] vale@sh.itjust.works 1 points 7 months ago

3 months later I finally started the process. Got Proton Unlimited and am slowly transitioning my Google drive over

[-] mojo@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Try to create a new email on a privacy respecting service and start with setting up email forwarding from Gmail to the new email. Then you just kinda slowly move your accounts over for a period of months or even years. I still keep my unused Gmail forwarding just in case.

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this post was submitted on 20 Sep 2023
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