This is probably gonna be very long, so, if you dont have time and patience, skip it. I gonna tell you my journey on degoogle my life and share my thoughts. Btw, my english not that good, so, the warning is given :p
So, lets begin.
> Fake step 1: Uninstalled windows, went to Linux and unfortunately return to windows
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While I read more and more about privacy concerns and google/meta spyware, I just go through to Linux. I dont thinked about this step and just go forward. After some weeks of using Linux Mint, I realised Linux dont have some programms I need it and find windows more stable to edit videos. After these weeks, I return because of these reasons. After returned to windows, I did this:
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Debloat all stupid programms that Windows10 have. Deleted Cortana, Edge and others things I dont need/use.
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Disabled all telemetry possible and Im using OOShutUp10.
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Replaced Edge for Librewolf and Firefox. Replaced Office for LibreOffice.
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Used Capcut and DaVinci Resolve to edit videos. Tho, I will search more about video editors to know which are more user and privacy friendly.
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The only spyware-programms I have are Discord (I use the openasar extension and really need Discord to talk with my friends) and spotify (dont find yet a better replacement).
I want to return in the future to Linux, but this time I will lost more time to search which distro is better for me using a Virtual Box.
> Step 2: Be more conscious about apps and programms I use. Discovering email-aliases. Changing to Proton/Tutanota
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Ok, so….. Now, I just use apps or programms from google, meta or other spyware-stuff IF I REALLY NEED. Dont like Whatsapp but I need to talk with my family and friends. This is the same reason why Im still using Discord. Deleted some site accounts where have some (very) shady privacy rules.
Discovered email-alias and now im using for everything where request an e-mail. Evertyhing. My spotify and discord accounts are emails-alias. My e-mail here is an alias. Its help me to know where I have an account and give me more control about that. Maybe this looks paranoid, but this is the way I find to protect my privacy and get a better control on my things. To not look ultra-paranoid, I give you something about me: Im portuguese.
Replaced gmail for proton and tutanota. I dont deleted my gmail account yet because in this email unfortunately have some services associated, like my bank. This year, one of my main goals are to solve this problems and delete permanently my gmail account.
> Step 2.5 (Maybe fake step): Deleted my social media accounts (Instagram and twitter)
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I call this “maybe fake step” because I deleted my social media for these reasons: I was fed up about them, they bothering me a lot and dont help my mental health. Privacy policies was not the main thing to deleted them, so this is the reason I call a fake step. I also deleted them to prove myself I could do a social media detox. Bellow, I will explain more detail my reasons. If you dont want to read them, you can skip this step.
Dont have facebook since 2018 and deleted my reddit account on 2021. Facebook looked very dead for me and nobody (my friends and family) uses it (they have an account but rarely use it). Reddit account I dont need it and deleted because I dont like about their privacy rules and others sh** stuff they did. I barely used my reddit account and if I had do 10 posts on total, was too much. And I can see the only one subreddit I want without account. Im only using Whatsapp, if you consider this a social media.
~~ Instagram. Why I deleted? This is problably the most schocked step I made for my friends. The reasons why I deleted my instagram account:
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I felt like a boomer using instagram. I only went to my ig account 5 times per month, no more than that. Imagine a 90-year-old-mand using Linux for the first time. Yes, its me using ig.
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I saw my friends loses a bunch of time scrolling on ig and watching random videos, and Im was afraid of that. Because is a really time consumer and seems a little danger to view the beautifull lies of people buying cars and eating on the best resaturants. I guess this not help nobody.
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Mostly, my followers were friends of my chillhood, and lets be honest: I and they dont care about each other. They dont need to know nothing about my life and I dont have interest to know about them. So, to clear this people from my life, I deleted my account.
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Privacy concerns maybe it weigh about 20%-10%.
~~ Twitter. Why I deleted?
I think twitter is a great tool if you filter A LOT which you want to view. I learn a lot about football there and follow some people who have a good content. This is was my main reason to continue on twitter. However, some months after Elon buy twitter, I see a lot of racism and homophobic tweets and this is really annoying me. A lot. I saw this not help me and make me really frustrated and decided give up. Twitter gave me some opportunities to write about football for one blog (yes, I really like write) and gave me some helpfull contacts to share some opinions. Is very probably return to twitter on the future, just because I want to express my opinions about football (if you are american, im talk about soccer) and if really exists anyone who like my thoughts and my work (I worked an half-season on one youth football team).
> Step 3: Android
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In October, I started to understand how can I make my android more private and secure. During this time, I lost one week searching about if my oneplus have an custom ROM. Unfortunately, dont have. Some time after, in November, discovered is it possible to do one thing. Debloat and ride off all google stuff. During this month, I put all my effort on this and try debloat as possible as I can my phone , degoogle it and improve battery life.
And now, Im feeling in love again for my phone. Its a good phone, but this make my phone looking more shinning, for me. This is what I feel. But, lets talk about what I did.
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Discovered Universal Android Debloat. This help me a lot to find which apps I can remove and give me tools to search some apps which my android can live without.
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Removed Gmail, Google Maps, Google Play Store, etc etc etc. The only apps was stayed, was clock and camera. My replacements:
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- Google Play Store – Aurora store and use Obtaiunium to update apps
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Google dialer – Tried right dialer and Koler. Im using Simple dialer (from Simple Mobile Tools) for now, but I will replace in the future.
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Contacts – Tried Right Contacts and im using Simple Contacts Pro SE
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Youtube - Newpipe
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SMS – QKSMS
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Files manager – Material Files and PlainApp
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Gmail – Im not using e-mail on my phone after debloat
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Gallery / Google Photos – Tried Gallery from greensoft infotech and now im using Vsmart gallery
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Chrome – Tried Mull and Fennec and im using Cromite and PrivacyBrowser
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Calendar – Shitfcal
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Calculator – Opencalc
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Google Maps - OsMand~
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Spotify and whatsapp is the only spyware Im using.
This gave me a lot of work but as I said, im enjoying more than ever my phone. You probably may find some issues with debloating, and the reason to spend much time with this was when I removed Google Framework and Google Services. For many androids, this is probably a redflag and causes a bootloop, but with many tries I discovered how can uninstalling them. In my phone, Whatsapp and Spotify still works, but some apps requires GSF and cant install it. The main issue is the updates of my smartphone. Simply the updates dont work but I guess i can live without them. When I will return to twitter i need to install them again, but this is one problem for the future.
> Step 4: Discovering and searching for alternatives
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As have you seen, I found some reliable alternatives for the things i want to change, despite some excepetions. I saw Lemmy and Kbin as alternatives to reddit, but at the beggining, I dont bothered with that. After some time, my need to express myself was growing, and decide create an account here. So far, im liking a lot. Mainly because it is open-source, have good privacy policies and I can see people thoughts and share mines. And I hope can contribute with good stuff.
> Final thoughts
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After one moth, I see a funny thing. My gmail account stop receiving too much spam as in the past. I went to my gmail account one time per week, and now its very rare to see spam. Funny, isn’t it?
Probably this is a placebo effect, but nowadays im feeling less spyed. Obviously, this is impossible for anyone who uses internet , and the only way to make this possible is dont use internet, dont have an email and use a Nokia 3310. But Im feeling good with this changes and this is which matters, on the final day.
See you around here, fellas . Have a nice day
Thank you for sharing your journey! It's very interesting and informative to see how others have brought more privacy into their lives. I noticed that you were using something from Simple Mobile Tools. I know you said you were going to replace it eventually, but you should soon, especially if you got it from the Playstore, rather than from F-Droid, because they were acquired.
Ty for your kind words and ty for your tip. After read you, I will search more about alternatives to replace my dialer. My contacts app is from a fork of Simple Mobile Tools: https://f-droid.org/packages/de.ritscher.simplemobiletools.contacts.pro/
For now i guess its ok, but in the future I need to replace it, for sure.
there is a fork of simple mobile tools by one of the biggest contributors. they're still working on releases etc, but keep an eye out for Fossify
Fossify Gallery and Fossify Calendar are already on fdroid, more of the Simple mobile tools are still to follow
I know SMT was bought 😛
I didnt like too much about Fossify Gallery. This is the reason I choosed Vsmart Gallery. About calendar, didnt know about that. Ty very much for the suggestions