Hello I use GOS have for almost a year and finally removed sandboxed play services in my main profile and only use Aurora for my bank app and Apple Music in my main profile still have Google Voice in private space but seperated from my main profile all my apps are only FOSS other than the 2 apps from aurora and it feels so good to finally say that. I just wanted to share my big news with you and hope you can all ditch Google apps/services as I have its amazing how my spam calls/texts have stopped or become less the more I degoogled.
I hope everyone has a great Degoogle/privacy enchancing experience
Any better replacements for Google Voice welcome in the comments if there is any.
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Congrats. I’ve moved away from using Google other than for school/work (I have no choice there). Although I still haven’t deleted my personal account yet.
I have a work gmail as well with works apps with Google Play but it’s in a work profile so separate from. Main so I understand that.
Recently I too have made a huge change in move towards degoogling and replaced Gboard with Heliboard. I never thought I’d be able to replace Gboard because I use gesture typing a lot. Heliboard doesn’t come inbuilt with gesture typing but you have to import from closed source(?) data which is just a one time import (would like to know more on this one from someone more knowledgeable). So far, it has been great!
Unfortunately I can’t access my banking app without a “certified virtual keyboard”. I have to flip back to gboard whenever I want to check my bank balance
I learnt to just use my PC for all banking. Double check my balance before leaving the house for groceries.
Man can you tell me how to import the gesture typing Library?
It is explained in their github.
“Glide typing (only with closed source library ☹️) library not included in the app, as there is no compatible open source library available can be extracted from GApps packages (“swypelibs”), or downloaded here (click on the file and then “raw” or the tiny download button)” https://github.com/Helium314/HeliBoard#:~:text=Glide typing (,tiny download button)
In the app, you go Advanced > Load gesture typing library > Select your downloaded library.
Thanks man
I wish all
privacy advocates
a very pleasant
degooglingTy! ^^ been thinking about deleting my final remaining gmail account but unfortunately there may be unexpected consequences so I’m second guessing still.
Yeah, I’m not doing that either yet, I’m using it for a few things and can’t really replace it
Good job. You can start off the new year with a breath of fresh air.
I finished my house privacy finally this week with the FLIRC TV remote to get rid of the OEM remote that had a microphone built in. It’s programmable on Linux too which is awesome
Uh, neat tip. Thank you!
Check out jmp.chat as a gv replacement. Its $5/mo tho
Best part with JMP is SMS is piped into XMPP/JABBER. So you’re no longer tied to a phone/Sim card for sms.
Thank you will look into $5 isn’t alot so will probably switch to it.
$5 isn’t a *lot
Congrats! Do you use Android Auto? If so, how does it work for you without Google play?
hope you can all ditch Google apps/services
Sadly, I can’t ditch WhatsApp since everyone I know uses it + work and without sandboxed play services, WhatsApp eats my battery like crazy
Hopefully one day they’ll all use Signal
For the lng run there needs to be a solution for the WhatsApp Monopoly we all live on. I mean, this argument is several years old and what can we do to change that? You could start by trying to convince some og your contacts to switch zo signal. In terms of co convinience their app is the closest to WhatsApp.
Saying “Signal is more secure and private”? No one gives a shit apparently
You can still use Google Push notifications with microG.
I had it but I don’t know how to connect the 2 together
You could use Beeper, which connects with Whatsapp without needing the app installed.
Is Automattic a good company tho? Heard some not so good stories about them recently.
They went crying about WPEngine having found a good business model around Wordpress support, and started sabotaging for them.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/2/24260158/automattic-demand-wp-engine-revenue-wordpress-battle
Looks like they lost in court a few days ago!
https://www.theverge.com/2024/12/10/24318350/automattic-restore-wp-engine-access-wordpress
That’s weird. I use WhatsApp daily without Google play services and it doesn’t do that. I have a pixel 7a
I have installed WhatsApp without GServices and got delayed/no notifications and ~50% of my battery was WhatsApp in background. Brand new battery (?) on a refurbished Pixel 8. With minimum use, I used to get around 2PM with ~30% battery while now, I can get to 15% to 9PM with roughly more usage than before.
No idea why
I personally have no notifications (aside from SMS, calls and calendar). Not like I would be checking the phone when I suddenly hear a notification anyway, only when already deciding to check it.
Simplex apparently does a similar thing in terms of draining battery for its notifications, I just didn’t allow it to run in the background in the settings. Maybe this could work for Whatsapp if you’re willing to ditch notifications?
Maybe this could work for Whatsapp if you’re willing to ditch notifications?
I need it for work so no? I can’t
