Degoogling Workshop & presentation

Created for the CNX Sovereignty Meetup on Monday 26th September 2022

About this session

  • Alternative services to Google
  • Alternative phones / laptops to Google
  • Alternative device OS to stock Android
  • This session is fully interactive, feel free to share your ideas

Why? (part 1)

  • Google offers a lot of value added products for free
  • and ... they are an advertising / data mining company
  • If you aren't paying for any of the products.. you are the product

Why? (part 2)

  • You care about your privacy / leaking personal identifying bits of metadata to a marketing company
  • You hate advertising
  • You'd much rather pay for products than be a product

Why? (part 3)

  • We want to embrace open standards / collaboration
  • Your device your rules

Alternative Services to Google

In order for you to first understand degoogling your phone, you should be comfortable with other alternatives first.

Please note, that these are not all fully sovereign solutions (in terms of data ownership). We can cover this in future talks.

This list is not fully comprehensive, theres more.

Google Pay Alternatives

  • Apple Pay ;-)
  • Cash / Credit Cards
  • Bitcoin / Monero

App Store Alternatives

  • APK Direct download/install over the web
  • Fdroid
  • Aurora
  • Other FAANG app stores

Messaging Alternatives

  • Telegram FOSS on FDroid
  • Matrix
  • Session
  • Anigma (Nostrgram)

Search Alternatives

  • DuckDuckGo (I've been using this for 6 years)
    • searx.space
    • searx.privacytools.io
  • Startpage

Youtube Alternatives

  • NewPipe
  • PeerTube
    • diode.zone
    • bittube.video
  • LBRY / Odysee
  • Bitchute
  • Rumble

Gmail Alternatives

  • ProtonMail (Using this for 3 years, rather than Gmail)
    • ProtonDrive
    • ProtonCalendar (Now with Mobile apps too)
  • TutaNota
  • Disroot
  • Mailfence

Google Chrome Alternatives

  • Firefox (if you tweak it)
  • Waterfox
  • Chromium (suggested on the April 25 meetup)
  • Brave (suggested on the April 25 meetup, may have some dox features)

Google Drive/Photos Alternatives

  • Syncthings (peer to peer and encrypted with peer discovery servers. Recommend because it works with degoogled devices)
  • Dropbox (centralized but its not google)
  • Nextcloud
  • Internxt
  • ProtonDrive

Google Maps Alternatives

  • Apple Maps :)
  • OpenStreetMaps
  • OsmAnd + Editor
  • Maps.Me (uses OSM data)
  • Waze (suggested at April 25 meetup)

Alternative to ChromeBooks

  • PineBook Pro (Arm arch)
  • Purism Librem 14 (Intel arch)
  • kde-slimbook-14 (Intel/AMD Arch)

PineBook Pro

  • Modular
  • Runs any Arm64 Linux
  • Can switch off hardware from a DIP switch
  • Cheap (I paid $300 for mine)

Alternative to Google Pixel / Nexus / Android

These are all OSS Projects

Alternative to Stock Android

  • LineageOS
  • GrapheneOS
  • CalyxOS

LineageOS Supported Devices

Most device support, see https://wiki.lineageos.org/devices/ before making a purchase

One of our community members uses the Xiaomi 10T pro

CalyxOS Supported devices

  • Pixel 2, 2XL, 3, 3XL, 3a, 3a XL, 4, 4XL, 4a, 5, 4a (5G), 5a (5g). 6
  • Xiaomi Mi A2

Graphene OS (Supported Devices)

Source: https://grapheneos.org/faq#device-support

  • Pixel 3a (sargo), Pixel 3a XL (bonito)
  • Pixel 4 (flame), Pixel 4 XL (coral), Pixel 4a (sunfish), Pixel 4a 5G (bramble)
  • Pixel 5 (redfin), Pixel 5a (barbet)
  • Pixel 6 (oriole), Pixel 6 Pro (raven)

GrapheneOS

My Journey part 1 (Pixel 5a)

  • Notifications not 100% working
  • Some apps that rely on google play services do not work)
  • Some apps do not launch properly
  • Android Camera sucks (or maybe need to find a better Camera app)

GrapheneOS

My Journey part 2 (Pixel 5a)

  • Despite the negatives there are some nice benefits
  • Benefits such as
    • Installing and verifying/building an APK from source
    • Bitcoin apps work better
    • Termux + SyncThings is cool

Other stuff

My Journey (Pixel 5a)

  • Could not get CalyxOS to work despite following the instructions
  • Have not tried LineageOS yet
  • Make sure you check the versions of the devices before buying it!
    • Cheaper devices not to work
    • Xiaomi devices can be a pain

Useful apps

Part 1

  • Alternate App Stores
    • F-Droid
    • Aurora
    • Amazon App Store
  • Shelter (facilitating "Work Profile" mode)
  • microG

Useful apps

Part 2

  • Bitcoin (installable from source)
    • Samourai Wallet
    • Sentinel
    • Zeus
    • Blixt Wallet
    • SBW
  • Termux (With shared storage enabled)

Useful apps

Part 3

  • Internet/Comms
    • ProtonMail
    • ProtonCalendar

Useful apps

Part 4

  • KeePassDX
  • Social Media
    • Telegram FOSS (yes telegram has censorship)
    • FluffyChat / Element
    • Briar
    • Sphinx

My contact information

  • PGP Key f6287b82CC84bcbd
  • Matrix @nolim1t:matrix.nolim1t.co
  • Twitter / Gettr / bitcoinhackers.org (mastodon) / Instagram / stacker.news / Telegram / LINE / GitHub / GitLab: @nolim1t
  • Other Privacy networks (include Matrix QR, Nostr, Briar) (See below)

Sovereingty Meetup (Advanced edition)

Please join our community, the group is self-hosted on a Matrix

Sovereingty Meetup Community (Easy mode)

Search for "CNX Sovereignty Meetup" on Facebook

Or on "cnxsovmeet" on Telegram or Twitter

Thank you for listening

Please find a copy of this presentation

https://degoogle.nolim1t.co/

Next Meetup on October 10th 2022

Topic: Nostr, what is it?

Experimental Movie night

October 3rd - "How to Change your mind" movie series on Psychedelics

Corner Bistro (Our Hosts) Other Events (part 1)

  • Every Wednesday: Pub Trivia night
  • Thursdays: Game night
  • Every Friday: Takeover fridays (Free Shots and Fries)
  • Every Saturday: Rampage Drum & Base nights (Free shots)
  • Every Sunday: Open Mic & Live Music

Corner Bistro (Our Hosts) Other Events (part 2)

  • Friday 30th September: F&HH B-Boy dance off - 3000 baht for the winner
  • And likely something for Halloween, Corner Bistro's anniversary, and a special dispatch records event