Two years without Google

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The articles of Cassandra Crossing I'm under license CC BY-SA 4.0 | Cassandra Crossing is a column created by Marco Calamari with the "nom de plume" of Cassandra, born in 2005.

Cassandra celebrates two years with hers Fairphone degoogled and we can only wish her well! 🥳

This article was written on November 21, 2022 from Cassandra

Flashes of Cassandra 524/ Two years without Google

Two years ago Cassandra and her smartphone left Google's walled garden, never to return; how did it end?

“Practice - it was once said - It's more important than grammar.”.

It is for this reason that for today Cassandra puts aside her prophetess hat to tell what her last two years have been like without Google, more precisely with a completely de-googled Android smartphone.

The most prepared of the 24 indomitable readers will remember a couple of Cassandra's previous video statements on the matter, first when the adventure began with the installation, The data and app transfer, and also when she was momentarily abandoned by her phone and he had to repair it with his own hands. Finally when he told about how to use the Shelter app for segregate “meddlesome” apps but necessary.

There are also some short videos on the /e/ operating system that paved the way for Cassandra, in the minivideo series “/e/ OS pills”, created by the excellent Leandro Botter.

No, Cassandra definitely wasn't idle.

All success stories, but not without effort, which have given great satisfaction, but which above all have really made it possible to "detach" the smartphone from Google's lethal information ecosystem, and therefore substantially reduce the damage to privacy that we inflict on ourselves every day, particularly due to smartphone use.

This article, full of Cassandresque links that I invite you to view, will be quite short, because it wants to tell the experience "negatively", and since it is a largely positive experience, there are few negative things to say.

What's missing most?

Certainly Google Maps. The use of wifi networks to improve location detection and integration with the Search engine and points of interest make Maps an incredibly simple and powerful application to use. The Magic Earth replacement, which only uses GPS positioning and Open Street Maps, is much more basic and cumbersome to use. But 10 years ago it would have been considered a miracle of computing, and it still gets you where you want to go. It's a sacrifice that was definitely worth making. Look for restaurants with a Search engine.

What are the 4 golden rules to follow to avoid falling back into the temptation to reconnect to Google?

First: install an application only when you really need it, and delete it if you realize you don't use it;

Second: (understandable only to those who have tried, but oh well) never, and I repeat NEVER, log in to Google from microG.

Third: install Shelter as soon as you can and segregate all the applications that are not super guaranteed from a privacy point of view, but which are necessary for you.

Fourth: Install apps only from F-Droid and Aurora Store. Don't even consider the Google Play Store; pay attention to privacy scores and tracers indicated in the application description. Use sideloading sparingly and only if you realize what you are doing.

To conclude. It was worth it?

Absolutely and enthusiastically yes, two years well spent, and the result fully achieved; furthermore, even Cassandra learned a lot of things she didn't know, not least the existence of the magnificent community of "LeAlternative.net”.

Special thanks to the developers who created the operating system /e/ and their brothers and fathers who began this adventure creating LineageOS and before that CyanogenMod. The non-profit organization E-Foundation it also makes it possible for newbies to find everything they need in one place.

And Cassandra concludes with her congratulations to the producers of the line of "ethical" and repairable smartphones Fairphone.

Now it's your turn!

Marco Calamari

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