I’m working on degoogling and moving away from major tech companies. I’m really curious what others here are using instead — especially for everyday tools and services.

What do you use for things like:

1.Email

2.Cloud storage / file sync

3.Maps & navigation

4.Search engine

5.Web browser

6.Calendar

7.Contacts management

8.Notes / to-do lists

9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)

10.Messaging / chat

11.Video calling

12.Social media / microblogging RSS reader / news

13.Music streaming / podcast app

14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative

15.Password manager

16.VPN / DNS / Firewall

17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)

18.App store / APKs

19.Photo backup / gallery

20.Weather

21.Smart assistant (if any)

22.Anything else you’ve replaced?

Would love to hear about your setup — both what works well and any trade-offs you’ve had to make. Always looking for better FOSS or privacy-friendly alternatives

  • sunth1ef
    3·
    15 hours ago

    1.Email –

    proton

    2.Cloud storage / file sync–

    pCloud (lifetime storage purchase FTW)

    3.Maps & navigation–

    Magic Earth works pretty well

    4.Search engine–

    Qwant for daily driver, exploring SearxNG

    5.Web browser–

    Waterfox on desktop and mobile, exploring LibreWolfe and Fennec as well but Waterfox is smooth and fast

    6.Calendar–

    Proton

    7.Contacts management–

    Fossify

    8.Notes / to-do lists–

    Obsidian MD (free) with paid vault sync upgrade

    9.Office suite (docs, spreadsheets, etc.)–

    LibreOffice & Obsidian

    10.Messaging / chat–

    Signal, Line. I really, really tried with Element and Element X - would love a federated discord alternative - but honestly I was not even successful at adding friends with confirmed accounts. Could be user error.

    Signal is great.

    11.Video calling–

    Line, Signal

    12.Social media / microblogging–

    Mastodon, BkueSky

    RSS reader / news–

    TBD open to suggestions -

    13.Music streaming / podcast app–

    Podcasts - AntennaPod is great, switched over from PocketCasts and haven’t looked back. Fuck Spotify.

    Music – Bandcamp (must try it!) + CloudBeats on mobile (streaming my own flac files to myself) + MusicBee on desktop. Also, fuck Spotify.

    14.Video streaming / YouTube alternative–

    PeerTube, PipePipe

    15.Password manager–

    Proton

    16.VPN / DNS / Firewall–

    Proton

    17.Launcher / Android OS (if you use custom ROMs)– Android with I hope all the right settings and no g-apps in the main profile. Looking at Lineage (my device can’t do Graphene)

    Never wanted a pixel for any reason but might try it for next device solely for graphene - we’ll see.

    18.App store / APKs–

    Aurora / F-Droid

    19.Photo backup / gallery–

    Fossify Gallery

    20.Weather–

    Ehh. Still on MyRadar but probably time to switch

    21.Smart assistant (if any)–

    None

    22.Anything else you’ve replaced?–

    Left audible for Libro.FM, so far so good.

    Left Amazon, been buying books on Thriftbooks.

    Pixelfed seems to have potential as an IG replacement.

    RedReader when looking at Reddit .

    Looking for a meaningful Goodreads replacement with a mobile app…

    Goal is to potentially try Lineage this summer…