I don't see this company or products mentioned on the Sub, So I thought I would share it.

A de-Googled OS without Big Tech built in. No vendor trackers, no analytics, no ads and no spying on how you use your device. BraxOS puts your privacy first.

https://braxtech.net/products/wink

https://braxtech.net/products/brax3

___________________________

EDIT: There was a post a few days ago about how unwelcoming and how toxic this sub is.
They are right. The GOS fan club in the comments below seem to be only Pro GOS and anything else just gets shouted down. Yes, I know that Graphene posted hit pieces on nearly all of their completion back in early 2025. I am aware of that. I also know that "Degoogling" is not "just" about privacy and what one socially awkward dev says. I'm wondering why we don't change the Sub name to "the Graphene (fanboy) advertising Sub" and just be honest about it.

To those who post 5 - 6 word statements with nothing to back it up, no detail, no reasoning, no experience of a product. Content lite negativity. You are not helping anyone. You are just trolling. Grow up.

I occasionally have to use Google Gemini for work on my desktop but try to limit any personal information I give it. (It's a paid tier)

Recently I've had a few situations were I could have saved a lot of time if I used it on my phone. Today I went to install it on iOS but before I did, I read the privacy section and .... Wow.

I understand this is a degoogle group and the general consensus will be avoid anything Google but if I did want to use it on my phone, would it automatically get access to all that data or could I heavily restrict it to basically only work off the prompts I give it?

I am on Linux and I haven't used chrome in a good while but my brother wanted to use chrome on my computer so I installed it for him, the next day I open the computer and I see that chrome has made itself the default browser and pinned itself to the taskbar/panel on MY account... TWICE. my brother couldn't do it because he doesn't have my password and wouldn't know how to do it either, so I uninstalled chrome and installed ungoogled chromium for him. If any other browser behaved like that everyone would call it malware

I have a Pixel 10 Pro running GrapheneOS, but I would prefer not to use Google Play Services, even sandboxed.

I’m looking for a keyboard that works as well as Gboard. I’ve tried all the usual recommendations for open source Android keyboards, and they all fall short. They have lots of great extra features, but the big problem is the typing experience. From Heliboard to Floris Board and the default AOSP keyboard that comes built into GOS, they all have atrocious touch targets.

They feel so bad to type on compared to Gboard, hell even compared to the iOS keyboard which is widely hated for being bad but it feels like I could write a novel on it compared to these open source alternatives.

Any recs for open source keyboards that have properly functional adaptive touch targets? Or is this just a fool’s errand? If Aurora Store wasn’t broken again I’d probably use Gboard with network permissions disabled but it’s apparently nonfunctional again.

So, as I was walking away from Google I got into Proton. Nice company, nice idea, cool. I got discounted plus plan so I got it for a year and on renewal I changed my mind as I thought the new price is a bit too much for what I was using, so I cancelled the subscription.

Boy that was a mistake. I figured the hard way when looking for alternatives that I cannot even forward messages without paid plan! Like pardon me?!

So now I am back to gmail and hating proton maybe even more. That is though only temporary (the Gmail) as I am going to use my domain and DNS for using some service to host my emails. I am quite angry. Feels like Proton is becoming the new Google.

I need help finding a private and secure laptop. It has to be configured when I buy it and easy to use, I'm not a hacker or a power user. I'm not totally ignorant either I can do basic set ups.

It has to be google/microsoft/apple/intel/nvidia free.

I was thinking of a laptop with an installed linux mint OS and Ryzen CPU and GPU. Would it be a good choice to have better privacy and security online?

I did, and it was convulated as fuck. A detective from another state called me asking for help with his investigation and whether or not I could help him fill in some gaps. It turned out this girl in another state had the same name as me except she had my maiden name. In this case the victim gave the police the wrong email address, which was my email address and that email address had it forwarding address to my main Google account so they sought search warrants for both of those accounts.

EVIDENCE SOUGHT

For the Google/Gmail accounts and email address of : (my email address) between the dates of July 1, 2014, and July 22, 2015, the following items and information:

All subscriber information related to the above listed account, including but not limited to, full name, address, phone number, alternate/related email addresses, account numbers, and billing information.

All information related to the account creation of the above listed email addresses, including date and times that the addresses were created and the IP address of the creator at the time of the creation of the email addresses.

Login histories for the above listed email address, including dates and times that the address was accessed and the IP address in use each time the address was accessed.

Any and all stored content contained in the above listed email addresses and related Google Cloud, including, but not limited to, digital images, digital videos, document files, and/or any other electronic files.

Any and all email messages and/or content contained in the above listed email addresses, including all email, read or unread, in the Inbox, Sent Mail, Drafts, Junk E-Mail, Starred, Spam, Trash, and/or any other storage directory, default or user-created.

Any and all location currently stored in relation to the account. This includes any historical physical addresses, latitude and longitude data, estimated latitude and longitude location data, location history, or any other data captured and stored by Google by the listed Gmail user that would aid law enforcement in establishing historical location information related to the Gmail account use. This would include all information stored and maintained in the “My Activity” associated with the listed Gmail address.

Any and all stored communications conducted via voice, text, or video chat in Gmail. Google Drive, or Google Hangouts.

Any and all communications and content of any Google Plus accounts associated with the email address listed above.

Any and all audio files, transcripts, and/or history files stored in myactivity.google.com, including Voice & Audio, Assistant, Search, Chrome, Maps, Android, and Google Play Store.

Any and all stored content contained in the above listed email address’s related Google Photos infrastructure.

Any and all accounts associated by cookies

I haven't been in this sub right at long so maybe this is all like duh we already knew this, but it was freaky to me! The detective did apologize and said -

"I’m sorry that your information was collected. You have my word that the content of your emails will be secured so that no one will view it. If the court gives me to the okay to destroy the content, I will do so immediately."

EDIT - here's what it said after the sought evidence above part.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Google is an electronic service provider (ESP) based in Mountain View, CA. Google offers several electronic services, including Google Search, Google Photos, Google Posts, Google Groups, Google Docs, Google Sheets, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google +, Google Drive, Google Cloud, Google Plus, Google Blogger, and Google Hangouts. All of these are free services to customers that allow for internet searching, communications, and data storage.

Anyone can create a Google account free of charge. When registering for an account, the user selects a specific unique username. This name is then used across all services offered by Google. Once registered, a user can create a user profile, add other users as “friends”, exchange messages (both email messages and instant messages), and store files, including documents, video, and pictures.

During the registration process, a user is required to provide basic information, such as name, email address, and/or phone number. Of this information, Google requires verification on at least one of them. This verification process consists of sending a message to either the phone number or email address provided and requiring that the person registering for the account respond to that message. As such, Google does maintain verified information for their account holders.

Also, as part of the registration process and through the course of normal usage, Google collects information on the account holder. This information includes items such as IP addresses, log in dates/times, type of browser or mobile device being utilized, and browsing history.

since google services are hated for hoarding your data, cant you just disable the internet from it? i was thinking about using Gboard for a bit because heliboard's autocorrect is terrible. cant i just disable internet access to gboard so it works locally?

I hope this is the right forum to ask this question. I've been searching reddit and the Internet at large and I'm not satisfied (or maybe I just don't understand) the answers I'm getting. Please don't flame me too hard I don't understand anything, I promise I'm trying to change that!

You have to login in to Google play to use aurora

The reason I want aurora is that I don't want to login to Google play.

So what does Aurora DO? Like what's the point? If I still need an account and Google is still following me around... Why am I going thru all this to degoogle?

Also also. For things like rideshare that you have to use your phone number for ..if I degoogle and re-download everything from a different account, but still have to use my phone number (that I do not want to change)..doesn't that just put me all the way back at square one?

And sandboxing (which I also don't understand) with a single account attached to all my downloads, has the same effect. So...why? What am I gaining from sandboxes and Aurora?

Eli a not-very-bright 5 year old.

Like, 15 years ago avoiding them was about monopoly/privacy/open source concerns (I believe?)

But now amazon sold ring cameras are used by ice agents to deport people, google provides infrastructure support to tsahal and their « where’s daddy ai, flock and palantir are enforcing panopticon stuff etc

I see posts about those from time to time but is there any comprehensive resource on that?

Edit: my dilemma has been solved I'm using flow now, it's awesome. Though missing some features (I'll label ❌). If you wanna recommend more go ahead 👍

Og post: I've recently tried libretube, grayjay, morphe and namida.

Honestly all of them were amazing but they were each missing features I wanted.

Features Im looking for (edited):

★Group subscriptions (must have)

★fast playback

★skip sponsorship

★account sync(❌) / good recommendations

★remove ai content (❌kinda)

★custom home page

★downloads

★ability to comment (❌)

★nice ui

Bonus: customisable UI. I would really want it to match my nothing phone (this isn't important lol)

actually flow has this, you can change the colours.

Is there even a difference? Which one has more features? Which one is easier to search for addresses?

But it is difficult with play integrity becoming crucial in banking apps functionality..

who are they going to target next? free palestine campaigners?

AI overview is too much, it's literally so frustrating as a student to use, I hate that it summarises everything, I hate that I can't properly see people's individual writing and research, I absolutely despise when I'm trying to learn something and the general overview pops up.

I DON'T WANT A SUMMARY, I COULDN'T GIVE LESS OF A SHIT ABOUT LEARNING ABOUT THE WORLD WITH A 5 MINUTE SUMMARY IM NOT INTERESTED IN DOING THAT AND IF YOU ARE YOU'RE JUST STUPID AND DON'T HAVE THE PATIENCE OR ENOUGH INTEREST TO ENJOY LIVING IN THIS BEAUTIFUL WORLD YOU'RE TOO DUMB FOR THIS

GIVE ME RESEARCH. I WANT RESEARCH. I DON'T WANT TO SCROLL DOWN YOUR STUPID AI OVERVIEWS TO GET TO IT.

JUST LET ME LEARN SOMETHING WITH MY OWN PACE AND CURIOUSITY AND ACCESS INFORMATION THAT OTHER PEOPLE HAVE MADE WHEN THEY HAVE PUT IN THEIR TIME, ENERGY AND CAREFUL CONSIDERATION INTO IT. I DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID AI SUMMARY

HOW DOES IT FEEL LIKE I'M GETTING AN AD EVERYTIME I SEARCH SOMETHING WHEN THE SUMMARY ISN'T EVEN A FUCKING AD

I've switched to DuckDuckGo and the relief is enormous, it's so much better and you can turn off your AI features. I don't know if there's a better alternative but I'm happy with it right now.

I truly don't know if there's a more detrimental technology than AI. I thought you guys were being hipstery in 2015, but now i get it. I'm with you. I need to unchain myself from this stupid search engine.

I finally pulled the plug on my personal Gmail account last month. Set up a custom domain, routed everything through a privacy-focused provider, felt briefly pleased with myself. Then the reality of being a freelancer with a day job set in.

Three separate clients have now asked if I changed jobs or moved companies because they saw the new email address and assumed something significant happened. One admitted they almost flagged me as a new contact rather than updating my existing entry. The accounting firm I work for during the day still sends internal communications to my old address even though I forwarded a change notice twice. IT just auto-archives anything from unknown domains, apparently.

I'm not trying to convert anyone here. Most of my clients are small business owners who picked their current setup because someone told them to a decade ago and they have no reason to change. But I'm curious if others have found ways to make the transition less weird for the people who actually need to use your email address. Changing a personal address is one thing. Changing one that shows up on invoices and contracts feels like a whole different project.