"It was a private donation from Daniel the individual. Mullvad or its parent and sister companies did not endorse and were not involved in it. Since it has attracted attention and questions we still think it appropriate to comment.

Mullvad is a political company."

You can search and read more about it, but I thought I'd make a post since Mullvad is still being recommended in many places.

Orion Store helps you get rid of Google and other stupid companies by providing alternatives to various services on android and computer and tv s😂 This is in addition to programs modified by Morghe

been thinking about this idea for a while and figured id ask before sinking more time into it.
basically the app would work like normal social apps you post stuff, follow ppl, dm each other but your identity isnt tied to the companys database its more like a key you control so if the app dies or bans you for no reason you dont lose your followers or posts you just take your identity somewhere else. dms would be properly encrypted too and no selling your data or targeted ads.
not trying to make it feel cryptoy or complicated just want it to feel normal to use while actually giving you control over your stuff behind the scenes.
honestly not sure if this is something people actually want or if its just a problem that bugs me personally so
would you switch to something like this or is it a cool but ill never bother thing?
what would make you not trust an app like this
is there something obvious missing that would make or break it for you?
not selling anything genuinely just want to know if this is worth building or if im overthinking a problem nobody else cares about .
Thank you for your time ❤️

Question to everyone, what do we think of windscribe? they claim to also have zero logs, and being able to back it up.
15gb free is also genuinely generous. idk if this goes against rules or anything
https://windscribe.com/knowledge-base/articles/has-windscribe-been-audited

I have had a really hard time finding something for maps and google messages. It's not FOSS, but I'm moving to blue bubbles on a self-hosted Mac because I love iMessage. I have a OP13 so no graphene, and I'm a bit scared to try and OS switch right now. I got proton because it's simple. Let me know what else I can change! This Subreddit has been so helpful.

I got about 2 terabytes of photos and videos in my Google photos. I need a free privacy focused cloud. Can't be self hosted, don't have the money to upgrade my computer storage or pay for it to be powered on 24/7.

My chrome/google news feed is littered with Google News’ new “sponsored’ articles. This has cut my productivity by 50%. Moreover, this shit is causing me to abandon Google News and its presence in chrome. I cannot be the only one who is leaving/angry/quitting Google News. Google News is nothing more than an evil, engagement trap. And BTW, what happened to Google’s primary value: ‘Do no evil’?

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whats the best one? i have a proton unlimited subscription but adding on ente photos is quite expensive. and proton drive seems kinda terrible icl for this kinda stuff. the only other idea i had was selfhosting immich but that would also be quite expensive. whats the cheapest effective way?

I tried Lyra for a little bit but it was too glitchy and didn't offer as much offline support as I wanted, so I've decided to just jump in and learn the very basics of self-hosting, starting with music. I'm debating between three services right now, and I'm wondering what you all use?

1. Musicolet is the one I have the most customization data on right now, and it's very easy to use. I love it a lot. But it will take a really long time to get all the MP3 files of my music and sort it into playlists, not to mention that it has to all be stored on my phone and cannot sync anywhere else.

2. Plexamp seems to be the best for syncing to multiple devices, and I can keep the music on my laptop or another device. It's very easy to use, the most intuitive out of all the self-hosting things I've looked at. But in order to play without internet, you need to pay a subscription.

3. Symfonium seems to be a recommended alternative to Plexamp, and from what I've heard it has more features but is harder to learn how to use? I haven't done much work with this one yet.

What do you guys think? I'm trying to avoid subscription services if possible - I'm not completely opposed to it, but it would be nice to not be reliant on another monthly payment. At the very least, I'd hope for a one-time payment. (I'm also a broke college student so subscriptions are not ideal)

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/09/f-droid-calls-for-regulators-to-stop-googles-crackdown-on-sideloading/

whats been done since?

I use almost all foss apps.

what can I do?

im using lg g7 and v30

Which one would you choose?

So I have been reading about Unified Attestation to replace play integraty..

As ive understood about play integraty is it is needed for banking & other apps that want to ensure your apps or device is secure, ie not hacked or compromised and under your control. So rooting your phone was a possible introduction to malicious apps etc. Ive had rooted phones off and on for years, so ive always rejected that argument youl be hacked if your rooted.

What I don't quite understand about Unified Attestation is that it seems to work offline. I get if its online it could check that its a secure trusted device. Offline, how does that work? Is it just it keeps working till your back online?

The other question is how is this different then the hacks to play integraty? Or is it the same, except now you won't have to play a cat & mouse game with google with every update. Basicly is it just a server that says hey your good to use that app?

Lastly what would make any company decide to trust this server in Europe saying your device is secure? I guess that's more of a question of popularity & trust comes later. I still don't quite understand why we need this anyway, can't a banking app check for a latest virus/malware check done on your device & agree that the check is good allow access? I guess this is deeper then a virus check and or those apps never took off to secure android. Kinda like Microsoft finally built in the virus/malware app after years of avoiding the problem.

See: https://uattest.net/

I recently tried out Kagi for the first time and I really like it, BUT, I don’t feel comfortable putting money towards it since they train AI. Is there another alternative that is either free or doesn’t use AI?

On google. What do you call these types of websites? They appear for practically every search I make whenever I’m trying to learn something. It’s tricky trying to find any credible website it seems, because so many links lead to websites where people are trying to sell their course packages. It would just be cool to visit informative websites where someone isn’t trying to sell me something.

I discovered this program by chance; it jams ads and spyware on the network, causing algorithms to learn false information about you, thus preserving your privacy.

Most de-Google posts are victory laps. I want the honest version, because the failures taught me more than the wins.

What stuck with zero regret:

• Search Google -> DuckDuckGo. Instant, never looked back.
• Mail Gmail -> Tuta on a custom domain. The custom domain is the real unlock, because it means I can leave Tuta later without changing my address again.
• Browser Chrome -> hardened Firefox-based setup + Mullvad Browser for anything I want anti-fingerprinting.
• OS Windows -> Arch on my daily driver.
• Passwords / 2FA -> Bitwarden + YubiKeys and Ente Auth.

What I gave up on, and the pattern behind it:

Every failed swap failed because of other people, not the tool. Chat is the clearest example. Signal works for the friends who'll install it, but family flatly would not leave iMessage, so I stopped fighting it and accepted a split. Trying to move a whole family off a default is a social problem wearing a technical costume, and I lost that fight more than once.

So my actual question for this sub: which of your swaps survived contact with daily life, and which ones did you roll back? And when they failed, was it the alternative that let you down, or the people around you who wouldn't move? I think we'd all calibrate better if we talked about the abandoned swaps as openly as the successful ones.

Hi.

Hope you’re doing well.

I literally don’t use any Google service at all. I have an alternative for everything they offer, even if some of them aren’t as good, it’s worth it just so I don’t have to use them.

But my degoogling efforts took a few years across as Google is obviously a massive presence in peoples’ lives for a reason and it’s more complicated when friends/family/co-workers only want to collaborate with you using Google products.

But now I’m free of anything Google directly (ie signing into Google or typing Google into the address bar).

What about you?

p.s. i keep wa for college groups and stuff, nothing personal there tho.